Building For Success
I know we talked about it last week, but I just can’t say enough about the great seasons our basketball teams are having.
Our men's team is 6-1 and ranked No. 9 in the nation in the RPI. The RPI is a formula that is one of the principal tools used by the NCAA selection committee uses to determine the field for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships. I won’t bore you with how it’s computed, but if you really want to know, click here. We’ll be back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. when Prairie View visits Moody.
Our women improved to 6-2 with a 70-53 victory over North Texas on Saturday night. We had four players in double figures and showed a lot of balance on offense. The women will head to Fayetteville for a big game against the 9-1 Arkansas Lady Razorbacks on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. You can listen to the game on 1630 AM or online through SMUMustangs.com.
In addition to their on-court successes, we’ve now “got a shovel in the ground” on our new Crum Basketball Center. We officially broke ground on the Center on Friday and plan to have it finished for our first practice in mid-October 2007. It’s truly a top-25 facility. It’s 43,000 square feet and will include two full-size practice courts, players' locker rooms and lounges, fully-equipped training and strength & conditioning rooms, coaches' offices and film editing rooms. We’ll even use it during home games, as an underground tunnel will link the Center to Moody Coliseum.
And back on the gridiron, I want to congratulate Justin Willis, who was named a third-team Freshman All-American by The Sporting News last week. Justin had previously been named Conference USA's Freshman of the Year by both the media and C-USA coaches and is just another example of the top-notch student-athletes we have coming back in 2007. I’m sure we’ll be adding to the stable with National Signing Day just around the corner.
Finally, you may have seen that I added Kris Lowe and Craig Shaver to our staff recently. Kris will be our Assistant A.D. for Business & Finance, while Craig will serve as Associate A.D. for Athletics Development. Kris was a four-year basketball letterwinner and team captain for our basketball team and returns to SMU after almost three years at Ernst & Young as an accountant (Hmmm… a former student-athlete who worked as an accountant and returns to athletic administration… Seems like I’ve seen that somewhere before…). I thought about posting a photo of Kris from his days as an SMU student-athlete like I did for Richard Sweet, but Kris looks the same as the day he graduated in 2004!
Craig comes to us from Baylor, where he was the Athletic Department's Director of Development. His background in athletics and corporate development and athletics administration will serve us well as we raise the funds necessary to make needed capital improvements to our athletics facilities and support the annual operations of the department. I’m also excited about the partnership with University Development that helped bring Craig aboard. While the University has always supported our efforts, the new structure should produce a "1+1=3" result, as I like to say. Craig and the Mustang Club will be overseen by Associate Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs Mark Petersen with a heavy “dotted line” to me.
Until next time, check out SMUMustangs.com for all the latest on our teams and I’ll see you at Moody.
Go Mustangs!
I know we talked about it last week, but I just can’t say enough about the great seasons our basketball teams are having.
Our men's team is 6-1 and ranked No. 9 in the nation in the RPI. The RPI is a formula that is one of the principal tools used by the NCAA selection committee uses to determine the field for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships. I won’t bore you with how it’s computed, but if you really want to know, click here. We’ll be back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. when Prairie View visits Moody.
Our women improved to 6-2 with a 70-53 victory over North Texas on Saturday night. We had four players in double figures and showed a lot of balance on offense. The women will head to Fayetteville for a big game against the 9-1 Arkansas Lady Razorbacks on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. You can listen to the game on 1630 AM or online through SMUMustangs.com.
In addition to their on-court successes, we’ve now “got a shovel in the ground” on our new Crum Basketball Center. We officially broke ground on the Center on Friday and plan to have it finished for our first practice in mid-October 2007. It’s truly a top-25 facility. It’s 43,000 square feet and will include two full-size practice courts, players' locker rooms and lounges, fully-equipped training and strength & conditioning rooms, coaches' offices and film editing rooms. We’ll even use it during home games, as an underground tunnel will link the Center to Moody Coliseum.
And back on the gridiron, I want to congratulate Justin Willis, who was named a third-team Freshman All-American by The Sporting News last week. Justin had previously been named Conference USA's Freshman of the Year by both the media and C-USA coaches and is just another example of the top-notch student-athletes we have coming back in 2007. I’m sure we’ll be adding to the stable with National Signing Day just around the corner.
Finally, you may have seen that I added Kris Lowe and Craig Shaver to our staff recently. Kris will be our Assistant A.D. for Business & Finance, while Craig will serve as Associate A.D. for Athletics Development. Kris was a four-year basketball letterwinner and team captain for our basketball team and returns to SMU after almost three years at Ernst & Young as an accountant (Hmmm… a former student-athlete who worked as an accountant and returns to athletic administration… Seems like I’ve seen that somewhere before…). I thought about posting a photo of Kris from his days as an SMU student-athlete like I did for Richard Sweet, but Kris looks the same as the day he graduated in 2004!
Craig comes to us from Baylor, where he was the Athletic Department's Director of Development. His background in athletics and corporate development and athletics administration will serve us well as we raise the funds necessary to make needed capital improvements to our athletics facilities and support the annual operations of the department. I’m also excited about the partnership with University Development that helped bring Craig aboard. While the University has always supported our efforts, the new structure should produce a "1+1=3" result, as I like to say. Craig and the Mustang Club will be overseen by Associate Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs Mark Petersen with a heavy “dotted line” to me.
Until next time, check out SMUMustangs.com for all the latest on our teams and I’ll see you at Moody.
Go Mustangs!
posted by SMU Athletics at 11:46 AM
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