COMMENTARY: Discussing an SMU hoops season that gets an incomplete grade
No one really knows what would have happened with SMU and the AAC Tournament. And because of COVID-19, that question will never be answered.
This was supposed to be a weekend where college basketball would take us into the NCAA Sweet 16. And by Sunday, we would have known who our Final Four representatives would be.
Instead, the world -- and not just college basketball -- is at a standstill. We sit at the feet of COVID-19, frustrated yet almost helpless. "Lockdown" has become way more than another defensive term of endearment for someone keeping a top offensive player in check on the court.
For SMU, there's no guarantee it would have made it this far in the NCAA Tournament. There's no guarantee the Mustangs would have made the tournament at all. And to be honest, none of us even know if SMU would have made the NIT after a collapse that included five losses in six games to end the season, including the final three.
To make the NCAA Tournament, SMU would have had to win the American Athletic Conference Tournament first -- a doable task in a conference where, truly, the last-place team in the standings could have gotten hot enough to earn the automatic bid. The AAC was a conference where Cincinnati and Houston tied for the regular-season lead. It was also a conference where those teams -- and others -- took shocking losses.
SMU beat Houston at home, and had it shot better in the first half -- it scored a then-season-low 20 points -- it could have beaten Houston on the road, as well. Cincinnati lost to last-place Tulane in their only matchup this season. Sidenote: Tulane split with SMU, as well. The AAC, literally, could have belonged to any team.
Alas, there was no conference tournament. In fact, the AAC was the first major conference to cancel its basketball tournament.
"I wasn't concerned with what other conferences were doing," AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said during a March 13 press conference regarding the decision. "We simply wanted to do the right thing and in a timely manner. We also wanted to talk to our leadership on our board and our ADs, and we were able to do that."
That afternoon, the AAC announced the suspension of all spring sports. Minutes later, the NCAA put the cork on the remaining winter and spring championships.
And just like that, we're done with college basketball. And baseball. And softball. And track and field.
The SMU men's basketball team was one where you didn't know what you were going to get each time it stepped on the court. It won its first eight games, but lost its last three. It beat SEC team Vanderbilt, swept Memphis and scored wins over Houston and Connecticut, but it also lost a few games where it had double-digit leads at one time.
SMU finished 19-11 overall. It went 15-2 at Moody Coliseum -- and probably should have went 16-1 barring a Wichita State rally to forget. As good as they were at home, the Mustangs lost 9 of 13 road games -- and probably should have won four or five of those but couldn't hold on to leads.
Now SMU fans wait for a variety of internal decisions. What is head coach Tim Jankovich's future with the program? Point guard Kendric Davis and forward Feron Hunt both are planning to enter their names in the NBA Draft, but will they come back for another season, or will they hire agents?
And what about guys like Tyson Jolly and Isiaha Mike? Will they consider going the same route as Davis and Hunt? From a coaching angle, if Jankovich gets another year, can he hold on to assistants KT Turner, Jay Duncan and Yaphett King?
So many questions for a team that seemed to leave a lot on the table. But that could be said for a ton of teams in the country because of the destruction and chaos courtesy of the pandemic.
If -- emphasis on "if" -- SMU is able to return everyone from this team, it could be the first step to that turnaround season everyone is looking for. There were no seniors on SMU's roster. Of the 10 players who earned significant playing time, four -- Jolly, Mike, Ethan Chargois and Isiah Jasey -- are juniors. Everyone else is either a sophomore or a freshman.
And let's not forget the additions of Cal transfer guard Darius McNeill and 6-9 big Jahmar Young, who was redshirted this past season. Let's also remember that forward Everett Ray and guard William Douglas will be coming off injury and illness, respectively.
The signs of a productive 2020-21 season are there for SMU. Unfortunately, that's just it: We've been reduced to talking about 2020-21. This should be a time where we're talking about how March Madness 2020 plays out -- whether or not SMU would be a part of it.