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SMU Missing the Postseason is a Basketball Tragedy

By Paolo Santamaria

Feb 16, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Southern Methodist Mustangs head coach Larry Brown during the second half against the Temple Owls at the Liacouras Center. Temple defeated SMU 71-64. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 16, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Southern Methodist Mustangs head coach Larry Brown during the second half against the Temple Owls at the Liacouras Center. Temple defeated SMU 71-64. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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A postseason ban and a suspension of their head coach came down just this morning, and it’s already upsetting me as to why we have to see SMU miss out on the postseason.

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Okay, maybe not all of SMU, but for two seniors, Markus Kennedy and Nic Moore, it’s especially upsetting.

After 22 years straight of missing the NCAA Tournament, the two seniors were part of something special, leading the team as juniors and setting even higher hopes for this upcoming season.

But with Keith Frazier, the star guard whose ineligibility started this whole mess, looking more and more likely to miss the season, the Mustangs would have been crippled regardless. Still, though, in a weaker American Athletic Conference, Louisville poses as their only real competition. It was almost a certainty that SMU would have been leading the pack and in position to earn anywhere from a four to a six seed (in my estimation).

Kennedy and Moore both averaged double digits in scoring and led the team in rebounds and assists, respectively. Kennedy put up just around 12 points per game and 7 rebounds per game last season while Moore threw in 14 points per game and around five assists per game.

For those two, their legacies at SMU will always have an asterisk of what could have been. For Frazier, his play will forever be overshadowed by a scandal that Brown tried to divert every which way.

For Larry Brown, it really doesn’t matter, for his NBA accomplishments will forever overshadow his faults in the NCAA. He handled Allen Iverson in Philadelphia. He won a title with the grittiest defense in NBA history in Detroit.

Everything about this situation is a tragedy in every sense of the word. The players don’t get the chances they’ve earned, an athletics’ program that’s been through more than enough (Pony Express anyone?) finds itself on the other end of bad news once again and a coach with questionable morals escapes almost unscathed.

Sure, Brown’s in the news now but clearly the problems at UCLA and Kansas, which both led to either bans or a vacating of wins (and probation in both cases), were less notable than his 1,098 wins in the NBA.

And really, Brown’s mark on this is still probably the least tragic thing. Two seniors who led SMU out of their two-decade long postseason drought will miss their last chance at something special.

After three years of building themselves and their program up to national recognition, they have no choice but to sit at home and watch March Madness pass them by. They could go 40-0 for all intents and purposes and still miss out on the postseason.

What SMU did was wrong no doubt, but it still doesn’t change the fact that hardworking players are getting punished. And that’s the biggest tragedy of it all. As far as we know, they’ve done nothing wrong. And now they have to spend their last year of college basketball playing like they did.

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