By Terry Davis, Special to The New Tri-State Defender
Tubby Smith had his post-season meeting on Tuesday with the media and reflected on the University of Tigers basketball season and took a peek ahead.
“We did not finish the season the way we wanted to,” said Smith of the 19-win, 13-loss campaign.
“We certainly had our ups and downs. We wanted to be in post-season play, but we didn’t get there. I thought our players gave it all they had. We had great support from our fans.”
The first-year U of M coach with Hall of Fame pedigree, acknowledged that the Tigers hit a wall late in the season and thought they had turned it around with the win over Tulane on Senior Day. Then came the perfect storm in the regular season finale at SMU. On the Mustangs’ Senior Day, they clinched the American Athletic Conference regular season title with an abundance of dignitaries in attendance for that game.
What will it take for the Tiger faithful to return in masses?
Will star big man Dedric Lawson return next season?
Will any other Tigers decide to transfer before next season?
Will the staff be back in its current form?
Stay tuned.
The Tigers have three open scholarships available for next season. That could change if Lawson opts to enter his name into the upcoming draft. Craig Randall announced via Twitter that he will be transferring from Memphis after this season. And there has been much been speculation that Markell Crawford has been pondering his options.
Lawson has until April 23 to enter the NBA draft. He can keep his name in the draft, but has until the first week in June if he wants to withdraw his name and return to college. During that time frame, Lawson can be interview and evaluated by NBA player personnel to get a better feel on where he could be possibility taken in the draft.
“Whatever he and his parents decide to do, I will be very supportive of, because he has been a major part of this program,” Smith said. “He had an excellent season. I am proud of what he has accomplished.”
Smith is on the recruiting trail trying to shore up the depth of the team. Last season Smith and his staff added two players as fifth-year seniors Christian Kessee and Chad Rykhoek – to bolster the team’s depth.
The new Tigers practice facility will open this fall. It will allow the Tigers to practice and have the coaching staff and weigh room all housed in the same location on the south campus. This will also be used a recruitment piece for the Tigers.
Smith said he did not do a good job last season handling the outside pressure that some of the players received from their friends and family. He vowed to do better.
“I need to do a better job of engaging all of the entities involved with the student athletes’ lives, from the parents, relatives, coaches and workout people. There are a lot of people pulling and talking. We have done a lot of outreach to the community so we can be more involved.”
