Free of NCAA ban, SMU steps into national equation — in post-Larry Brown era

SMU head coach Tim Jankovich is comfortable to report that not much has changed with his program.

Since taking over in July after four years as the coach-in-waiting under Hall of Famer Larry Brown, Jankovich says much of the culture and philosophyremain the same. And the goals — staying atop the American Athletic Conference and as a top-25 team that plays in the NCAA tournament regularly — are all the same, too.

However, his players have noticed the slight change between coaches.

"When coach Brown left, everyone was shocked," SMU forward Semi Ojeleye says of Brown leaving the program with one year left on his contract. "But coach Jank had been there all along. We all knew the change wouldn't be too big. They're both great basketball minds who were always on the same page. But the biggest difference, for me, is that (Jankovich) lets us play more freely. That's allowed us to grow this year big time."

Ojeleye also says Brown has remained in close ties with the team, serving as a mentor from afar as Jankovich steers the program to elite status. Yet the upward trajectory hasn't been easy because sanctions still handcuff Jankovich. SMU will lose four scholarships over the next two seasons as a result of NCAA sanctions under Brown; the Mustangs lost nine total. SMU's main annual goal of playing in the NCAA tournament — and going far — wasn't an option last season, when the Mustangs finished second in the AAC, because they were banned from the postseason by the NCAA.

Currently ranked No. 21 in the coaches poll, sitting atop the American standings — narrowly ahead of Cincinnati  — and as a projected No. 7 seed in USA TODAY Sports' bracketology, SMU (24-4, 14-1) looks poised to get back to the Big Dance. Jankovich notes that his team's motivation is more of a renewed sense of hunger, though.

"We talked about it beginning of year, but we don't revisit it and say, 'Hey remember when we couldn't play in (the NCAA tournament) last year?" Jankovich says. "I would say, we're very hungry to get to the tournament. But who isn't? Is there a little extra? I'd say there's a tiny, tiny bit. But I think we'd be playing with the same sense of urgency whether we went last year or not."

That sense of urgency is necessary for an elite team in the AAC, a conference the NCAA selection committee hasn't exactly respected in the past. Even though Connecticut won the national title in 2014 as a No. 7 seed and Tulsa was a surprise at-large bid last season, the seeding and inclusion of teams in the tournament haven't always been favorable. In 2014, for instance, the Mustangs were the most notable bubble team snubbed by the committee, and they went on to finish as the NIT runner-up.

The committee also hasn't been kind to Jankovich as a head coach. In his first season as head coach at Illinois State, the Redbirds were one of the "first four out" by national bracketologists in 2008's NCAA tournament. He took the team to four NITs in five seasons but has never been to the NCAA tournament as a head coach, including three seasons as the head coach at North Texas in the mid-1990s before serving as an assistant at Illinois and Kansas under Bill Self.

"I think if you ask any coach across the country, they'll tell you their conference deserves more respect than it gets," Jankovich says. "I would fall right into that category. As far as how we're perceived, I don't follow much outside our walls. It's hard to see us as under-the-radar because we're nationally ranked."

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Calling SMU underrated only feels necessary because the program, which has won 25 games in each of the past three seasons, has had its regular-season success overshadowed by omissions from the postseason. The one season SMU made the NCAA tourney, its first trip since 1993 as a No. 6 seed in 2015, the Mustangs were upset by UCLA on a controversial goal-tending call.

Jankovich is fully aware that a breakthrough has to take place in March Madness and not in the raucous, celebrity-frequented Moody Coliseum in Dallas, where the Mustangs are 23-0 under Jankovich — which encompasses the nine games he coached while Brown was serving an NCAA suspension last season. SMU has lost only four of 70 home games since the start of 2013-14.

"When you get to the tournament, it has very little to do with the name and school you play for and it's more of, 'Does your style fit their style?' It's about matchups, and I think we can be a hard matchup for a lot of teams," Jankovich says. "This group thinks big, which I love. But we keep reminding ourselves that our (regular-season) success is all wonderful, but we're trying to do bigger than that."

SMU, riding a 10-game winning streak, is particularly stellar on defense this season, limiting opponents to 58.9 points a game to rank third nationally in points allowed. The Mustangs also feature a wide arsenal of wing players, and Jankovich essentially starts five guards. After losing 6-11 big man Harry Froling, who transferred to Marquette, in mid-December, the team's identity has been guard-oriented. Its tallest player in the starting lineup is 6-8 senior Ben Moore (11.6 ppg, 8.4 rpg), who plays like a guard.

"Because of our personnel, I think we're a bit unconventional," Jankovich says. "We don't have one guy who is a point guard or a traditional big guy. We have seven scholarship players (due to the NCAA recruiting punishment) and they're all about the same size on the wing. They're all guards to me. Then there's an amazing chemistry and maturity with this group in terms of being united. Are we deep? Not really, but I'll take that liability and keep all our other assets."

Ojeleye, a Duke transfer, is one of those assets as a 6-7 wing. He's averaging a team-leading 18.3 points and 6.7 rebounds a game.

“We have guys who can all handle the ball, dribble, pass and shoot which allows us to get rid of pressure on offense and easily switch ball screens on defense," Ojeleye says. "When we give up size, we trap in the post and then take advantage of mismatches on offense. What we give up on the inside, we more than make up for by taking advantage of matchups."

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