Another basketball season is quickly approaching with head coach Larry Brown at the helm, but before anyone takes the court, all that should be said is well done.
In a little over one year of work, Brown has quickly put the men’s team on the map through an incredibly strong recruiting base which should keep the squad relevant for the foreseeable future.
Brown came to the Hilltop with an incredible resume of success in both the college and professional game. He’s the only coach in the history of the sport with both an NCAA title and a NBA Finals trophy to his credit; things that carry quite a bit of weight in the process of convincing young athletes where to play.
Take SMU-commit Emmanuel Mudiay’s remarks before his decision was made public during a live broadcast on ESPNU on the choice of playing for the Mustangs versus some of the other top talents in the land.
“Coach Brown is a legend,” he said. “There are a lot of great coaches out there, but he’s one of the best.”
No one mentioned anything such as this before Brown arrived before last season. SMU’s transformation has the world of college basketball talking like it hasn’t in over 20 years, which conveniently was the last time the Mustangs were in the
NCAA tournament.
Several articles by the likes of ESPN and USA Today have mentioned the great leap forward in the ability of SMU basketball, even going so far as to call the 2013/14 team a dark horse and a sleeper to make some noise in late March.
It’s not just a matter of Brown’s recruiting ability, but his ability to manage the existing roster of athletes was something else the coach was able to pull off during a tumultuous 2012/13 campaign.
Using only seven players for the majority of the season, Brown was still able to keep his team floating above water until depth concerns and exhaustion finally took their tolls on the team.
Brown’s first attempt at success at SMU ended with a 15-17 season, but many of the Mustang faithful saw what the coach was attempting to create: a winner for years to come.
With the new line of prospects coming into SMU’s pocket, this team might see a transformation similar to what the University of Memphis became half a decade ago. It would be hard to not see this team reaching heights no other Mustang team has gone before it with Larry Brown at the helm.
