@wrwlumpy self got off the bus w/players, no Cliff! Isn't it spring break? Think he went home?
Crimsonorblue22
42577 posts
@brooksmd copied from holly-sports siren's- twitter.
@JayHawkFanToo I like that kind of thinking!
@ParisHawk 🙏🙏🙏
@SoftballDad2011 he is the highest recruit Marshall has RECRUITED?
@SoftballDad2011 asst Indiana coach, Steve McClain won a national championship at Hutch juco.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
SMU's Larry Brown in 1st NCAA Tournament since the 1988 title at Kansas
By Stephen Hawkins
The Associated Press
FILE PHOTOGRAPHS/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
At left, in a Dec. 12, 1979, file photo, UCLA basketball coach Larry Brown jumps off the bench as his seventh ranked Bruins go ahead of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. At center, in a March 1, 2015, file photo, SMU head coach Larry Brown calls out to his team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Connecticut in Hartford, Conn. At right, in a March 14, 1985, file photo, Kansas head coach Larry Brown screams out instructions to his team during their first round NCAA tournament game against Ohio University in South Bend, Ind. SMU is back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1993, meaning coach Larry Brown returns to the Big Dance for the first time since leading Kansas to the national title.
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DALLAS — Larry Brown discovered something about his new iPhone when SMU finally ended its two-decade NCAA Tournament drought.
“I didn’t realize how many text messages it would accept, so that kept me kind of busy,” the 74-year-old Hall of Fame coach said.
Maybe the texts will keep on coming.
While the Mustangs are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1993, Brown returns to the Big Dance for the first time since leading Kansas to a national title 27 years ago.
“I hope it’s like it was in ‘88,” Brown said, before quickly trying to divert the attention from him to the SMU players, who weren’t even born then.
“At my age, I enjoy every day. I don’t think about the NCAA personally,” he said. “I think about our seniors, and what they’ve been through and now they get this opportunity. I think about last year, that Sunday, just how disappointed we were.”
Ah, yes. Brown’s disappointment at the Mustangs being left out last season after a loss in the American Athletic Conference quarterfinals is well known.
After winning the conference regular-season and tournament championships to leave no doubt about an NCAA berth this season, the Mustangs (27-6) are the No. 6 seed in the South Region. They play Thursday in Louisville, Ky., against UCLA (20-13), a team Brown took to the national championship game in 1980.
Asked what his emotions were when he realized the opening opponent was UCLA, Brown quipped, “I thought I coached everybody.”
This is Brown’s 40th season as a head coach, a resume that includes a record nine NBA teams among his 14 coaching jobs. He is the only coach to win both an NCAA championship and NBA title (2004 Detroit Pistons).
Brown is in his third season at SMU, which last won an NCAA Tournament game in 1988, the year of the coach’s national title with the Jayhawks before returning to the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs.
“I think he’s just proud of us as a team, fighting through adversity,” senior guard Ryan Manuel said. “It’s just big for the school that we haven’t been here in a long time. I think it just puts SMU back on the map as far as basketball.”
The Mustangs made it to the NIT championship game last season, after the bitter disappointment of being left out of the 68-team NCAA field. They never heard their name called while watching the NCAA selection show last March with more than 1,000 of their fans.
“It means a lot. It’s the same group that was sitting at Moody last year,” senior center Yanick Moreira said. “We’ve been talking about this the whole year since we came back. We just used that as a motivation for us.”
Not that everything has gone smoothly since then.
Prized recruit Emmanuel Mudiay, a 6-foot-5 McDonald’s All-American point guard from the Dallas area, decided last summer to play professionally in China instead of at SMU.
Big man Markus Kennedy, named most outstanding player in the AAC tournament last week, missed the first 10 games of the season because of academic ineligibility. Xavier transfer Justin Martin left the team in January, not long before guard Keith Frazier was lost for the season because of academic issues.
“I don’t think any team’s been through as much adversity as this team,” Brown said. “We lose the No. 1 recruit, I thought, in the country just prior to the season. Marcus is ineligible, then all of a sudden we lose Keith and lose Justin. And we just keep moving on. I think we’re most proud of the fact that the kids have all responded to adversity.”
SMU has won 25 of its last 28 games. The Mustangs clinched the AAC tournament title Sunday by beating defending national champion UConn in Hartford, Connecticut.
“Nobody had to win a conference championship final on a visiting court, and when you consider the program we were competing against, and how well they play when the game really is meaningful, we’re hopeful that will help,” Brown said. “Our kids handled it great, and made me proud.”
@JRyman track doesn't offer many scholarships!
@HighEliteMajor gang signs, Christian too!
KU bb on the way💙❤️🏀👏👏👏!image.jpg ↗
@wrwlumpy great story!! My boys and I do that too!!!
@joeloveshawks please don't! We need you!!
@JRyman can't complain! You still have friend w/kid in the relays? Working that again. Take care, check in!🙏💙❤️
@JRyman not 5 minutes ago I was thinking of you. How are you? Nice post!
@RockChalkinTexas not going to happen! Wear your Jayhawk gear proud!
@jaybate-1.0 really good, know a lil about struggle. Wanted to share a note I wrote down during a church message last sun about suffering. Suffer for a purpose.
@JayhawkRock78 awesome!!
I think every game you told us you went to this year, they won, right!!!!! I think they will be playing like the Texas game w/u there. Only problem, you will have to keep going!
@drgnslayr or he needs to get a fresh hair cut
@HawkInMizery fun times though!
@Lulufulu I think you are crazy!!😜
@Lulufulu so even if they leave it on the court you think they will lose? That's depressing!
@HawkInMizery fun!! Update us!
@Lulufulu did you not just contradict yourself?
@Lulufulu games!
@JayHawkFanToo I think Cliff wants more than what he would get now, and that's the humbling experience he's going thru now. I don't know the whole story, but I do feel sorry for them. I haven't walked in their shoes, but know many who have. Sad!
@JayHawkFanToo BG also said that his hip was bothering him and his legs didn't feel right on his jump.
@HawkInMizery cool story!! Don't be a stranger!
@JayHawkFanToo then why wouldn't Cliff come back? I do ask a lot of questions!
@JayHawkFanToo I just don't understand that if he could get thru this season, we could still be penalized at some pt.
@wissoxfan83 unc sure had a tough road playing KU!!!
@JayHawkFanToo so if, and I mean a big if, Cliff knew he needed to stay another year, there might be that possibility for him? Besides having to sit these games and repaying loan, maybe he could? In the long run, for Cliff, wouldn't that be better? I'm sure he knows his future looks pretty bleak if he has to leave. I would think the ncaa would want that too.
@JayHawkFanToo that weird uncle!
@benshawks08 loved this!! Double the fun and double the trouble!
@drgnslayr Ewww, I just got 2teeth pulled last week!!! But, thank heaven you can't see where!!!
@HawkInMizery I was at the wv game too, was hoping you didn't leave early. Did you get the bobble head? I bet your nephew was excited! Awesome experience, I get goose bumps every time!
@HawkInMizery haven't heard from you! Didn't you go to wv game? Or was it Texas? Have fun?
@wissoxfan83 this is getting worse by the minute. Have you seen the pic of coach Crean kissing his son? Gross
@nuleafjhawk now, if she would suck out all the words of Fran and mushy!!!! And......
@wrwlumpy I w/#1!
@truehawk93 sorry, I think he decided to come back next year, before this mess. I don't think he can now. I also wonder if him deciding to come back awhile back if that's not what caused the problems w/loan or agent or whatever. Just guessing!
@truehawk93 I meant he was going to come back next year.
@drgnslayr think I posted that
@JayHawkFanToo jmo, but I think this happened before season started. There was still hope.
@JayHawkFanToo I love it!!
@REHawk could his play be any worse? Self said he was really looking good these past weeks. Figures! I still think Cliff was going to come back.
@Bwag they kill my brackets every year! Do I dare?
Signed Lucy