Editor's Note: Dick Weiss, a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame, has covered college sports in Philadelphia and New York for more than 40 years. He will be providing regular commentary for the American Athletic Conference during the 2014-15 season.
After waiting 22 years to regain conference glory, SMU finds itself primed for a long postseason run
by Dick Weiss
DALLAS -- As soon as the final buzzer sounded in SMU's 67-62 showdown victory over Tulsa yesterday, the video screens that were planted throughout renovated sold-out Moody Coliseum began to light up with congratulatory messages, proclaiming the Mustangs the 2015 American Athletic Conference regular season champions.
The audio system busted loose with, "We Are The Champions.'' The band played the SMU fight song and the university alma mater.
It was 22 years in the making, but SMU finally owns a college basketball championship again. And Larry Brown's team got to cut down the nets and accept the trophy from Dan Leibovitz, The American's associate commissioner for basketball, in front of a loud sellout crowd that included President George W Bush and his wife Laura, who were seated at midcourt.
The Mustangs (24-6, 15-3), who finished runner-up in last year's NIT, have locked up the first seed in what should be a wild American tournament this week in Hartford. With Cincinnati, Tulsa, Temple, Memphis and UConn in the mix, it is hard to tell how many teams from this league will earn invites to the NCAA tournament. But the 20th-ranked Mustangs will be deservedly one of them.
"If we don't get into the tournament, there's something wrong,” SMU's Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown said. "But I never rest easy. Last year, we won 23 games before postseason but we didn't get in because we lost to Houston and Memphis. I don't think the committee put much stock in our conference. And I don't think they do again.
"I felt pretty good enough the league last year, but then Louisville, who won the conference tournament, got a fourth seed in the tournament. This year, Louisville is half the team they were last year and they got a double bye in the ACC tournament. We beat Cincinnati after they had won 17 straight games. We beat Connecticut twice and they won the national championship. Temple has tradition. Tulsa has a history of unbelievable coaches. I don't know how to politick for other teams. But tonight I thought we played a great team."
Junior power forward Markus Kennedy scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds and 6-10 center Cannen Cunningham, who got a start on Senior Day, finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds as the Mustangs used their length and athletic size to rally from adversity and a 36-31 deficit to win their 22nd of the last 25 games. SMU outscored Tulsa, 28-16, in the paint.
The game was not without drama. Tulsa guard James Woodard ripped the Mustangs for 30 points, making 10 of 16 3-point goals, and personally kept the game close, making two threes in the final 23 seconds as the Golden Hurricane cut the Mustangs’ lead to 65-62 with eight seconds to play.
"We knew the championship was on the line,” Woodard said. “We came into this game focused. I think they did an outstanding job defensively. But my teammates were finding me and Shaquille (Harrison) was driving, putting pressure on the defense and I was able to knock down the shots.''
Kennedy finally put the game away with a pair of free throws on the next possession.
Tulsa played hard and did a good job neutralizing Nic Moore, who has been the best player in the league. Moore scored 14 points, but only shot 3 for 11 and was just 1 for 5 from the three.
"SMU is a terrific team,” Tulsa coach Frank Haith said. "They've got Nic Moore at the point and four terrific guys on the front line. A lot of teams don’t have that kind of size. And they had a Hall of Fame coach. I think there's no question in my mind they can do a lot of damage in the tournament.''
Tulsa (21-9, 14-4) will get the second seed in the conference tournament, but their future is more cloudy than it should be.
"It's a little bit of the eye test,'' Haith said. "If the selection committee watched this game, I think they saw two teams that deserved to be in the tournament. Our league doesn't get enough credit. I don’t know what the criteria is. We finished second in a league where there's a fine line between winning and losing.''
The American is coming into its own. It is a lot more fluid at the top than most felt it would be in this year of transition
Last year, the league got four bids-- Louisville, Connecticut, Memphis and Cincinnati. This year, SMU and Cincinnati appear to be locks. Temple is on the right side of the bubble. But, with a soft bubble, everything is up for grabs in the American's 11-team tournament. SMU, Tulsa, third seed Cincinnati, fourth seed Temple and fifth seed Memphis will all get byes into Friday night's quarterfinals at the XL Center. UConn, the sixth seed, will play USF in a first round game Thursday.
For SMU, it was the finishing touches to an incredible turnaround.
"It's incredible,'' Cunningham said. "When I got here four years ago, I didn’t expect anything like this. When Coach Brown came in and was talking about winning championships, me and Ryan Manuel didn't really believe it. Now we're here and we couldn't ask for anything more.
''During the national anthem, i was looking up at the banners, and this has been the longest stretch without a conference title, so it means a lot for us personally, but also for the school.”
The 74-year old Brown has been a miracle worker at the other two colleges he worked at as a head coach. He took UCLA to a national championship game in 1980 and won a national title at Kansas in 1988. But SMU was considered a stagnant program going nowhere fast before Brown began to change the culture.
Sadly, the one person who could have been truly appreciative of his accomplishment was no longer around. Dean Smith, the Hall of Fame coach at North Carolina and Brown's mentor, passed away two weeks ago.
"Every time you do something that's special, you realize how much he had a part in it,” Brown said. “I think I appreciate things a lot more now, then maybe three weeks ago. Not a lot of guys my age are allowed to do this. So, hopefully, I can continue to do this a little longer.”
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