To see the previous teams ranked in the 82 in 72 series, please see below:
60. Nevada Wolfpack
61. TCU Horned Frogs
63. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
65. Syracuse Orange
68. Iowa Hawkeyes
70. Butler Bulldogs
71. Princeton Tigers
74. Oklahoma Sooners
75. West Virginia Mountaineers
76. Georgia Bulldogs
77. UAB Blazers
80. Missouri Tigers
Here’s where our college basketball analysts have the Mustangs ranked:
| Steven | Maxwell | Kam | Cody |
| 52 | 65 | 67 | 62 |
New Conference, who dis? The new-look Mustangs go from the American Athletic Conference to the ACC. The idea of SMU in the ACC was appealing enough for former USC head coach, Andy Enfield. SMU’s poaching of Enfield started the coaching carousel that caused Eric Musselman to go to USC, John Caliper to go to Arkansas, Mark Pope to go to Kentucky, and Kevin Young to leave the Brooklyn Nets head coaching job on table to coach at BYU. With this said, this Mustangs roster will look a lot different than Mustangs teams of the past. First of all, SMU has one of the best backcourts in the country with Wake Forest transfer, Kevin “Boopie” Miller, as well as Chuck Harris. Harris shot 40.7% from 3 last season, while Boopie Miller is a career 36.5% 3 point shooter. Miller played in the ACC last season and ranked amongst the top in the league in both points and assists. The guard rotation is rounded out by BJ Edwards, a steady-handed guard who shoots it well and rarely turns it over. Edwards started most of last season but will take a bench role behind Miller and Harris this season.
The remainder of this starting five will likely be rounded out by Oregon transfer, Mario Oquendo, Matt Cross from UMass, and Yohan Traore from UC Santa Barbara. Traore is a former five star recruit that played his freshman year at Auburn before transferring to UCSB. While Traore isn’t a great rebounder for a center, Cross is. Cross averaged 15/8/3 at UMass last season and was a very productive player. Meanwhile, Traore, despite the recruiting pedigree, is still a huge question mark. If Traore doesn’t prove to be a starter at the high major level, then SMU also recently got a commitment from Samet Yigitoglu from Turkey. Yigitoglu, with his massive 7’2″ frame, has played three years professionally in Turkey but still has room to improve. The first big off the bench will be Keon Ambrose-Hylton, whose motor runs high and can relieve either Traore or Cross in spurts.
Other transfers worth mentioning are AJ George from Long Beach State, Tibet Gorener from San Jose State, and Jerrell Colbert from Kansas State. Gorener, who is playing in his fifth year of college basketball, isn’t shy when it comes to shooting 3s. Honestly, his career 33% from 3 does not do his ability justice. George, on the other hand, has a career 38% from 3 but on very limited volume. Colbert is a former 4-star recruit who was coached by Will Wade at LSU and Jerome Tang at Kansas State.
Many college hoops fans were critical about realignment and SMU’s ability to join the ACC. While the football program had a large part to do with that decision, SMU basketball has consistently been successful over the past 11 years or so (basically since joining the AAC). SMU had a winning record in 9 of 11 seasons in the AAC, and they may be pretty competitive in the ACC as soon as this year. While the ACC is now an 18 team league, SMU may be close to the top half.. around the 10-12 range this upcoming season. Honestly, between like teams 6-13 in the ACC, it seems like a crap shoot, and the Mustangs are in this range. Being located in Dallas, SMU is an excellent spot to recruit talent both in the portal and out of high school, and despite the luxury and appeal that Enfield had previously of coaching in Southern California, it seems like he’ll be just fine at the helm of SMU.
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