UNIVERSITY PARK — Basketball season is nearly here.
While SMU’s football team continues to battle through its ACC schedule, another team on campus is gearing up to do the same.
SMU’s men’s basketball team welcomes a new head coach in Andy Enfield and almost an entirely new roster with just five returning players, only three of which were rotation players last year.
Entering one of the nation’s top basketball conferences, SMU has just a month to prepare for its season opener and just two months remaining until ACC play begins on Dec. 7 against Virginia.
The team held its annual media day Wednesday at Moody Coliseum, and here are five things we learned:
Andy Enfield’s arrival drew transfers, kept top talent
In a new era in the ACC, SMU brought in Enfield from USC to lead the program.
That was a pivotal move for the program, both to keep three key returners and bring in some high-level transfers.
For returners Chuck Harris, Keon Ambrose-Hylton and B.J. Edwards, they saw his success at USC and felt he could translate that to SMU, providing them a chance to reach the NCAA tournament.
“He talked to me a little bit about the guys he was trying to bring in,” Harris said. “Obviously, it’s my final year in college, so I was hoping to go out on a high note and make the NCAA tournament, and he has similar plans to me. We connected pretty easily on that.”
A handful of transfers spoke similarly of Enfield, saying his hands-off, mellow approach is allowing them to play to their strengths in his system. For many that feel they didn’t reach their full potential at other schools, they say he’s helped them feel comfortable and confident over these past few months.
“He believes in me and believes in all of us,” Kansas State transfer Jerrell Colbert said. “The staff was telling me how they wanted me to bring my real self, my real basketball self out. They’re bringing my confidence out for sure.”
Transfers Kevin “Boopie” Miller, Matt Cross to play key roles
SMU is poised for unfamiliar territory when it enters the ACC, but it welcomes two transfers very familiar with the conference.
Wake Forest transfer Kevin “Boopie” Miller and UMass transfer Matt Cross, who played at Miami and Louisville before, are two of the top transfers SMU brought in through the portal this year.
Miller, a junior guard, averaged 15.6 points, 3.5 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals last season in the ACC. Cross, a senior forward, averaged 15.3 points, 8.3 rebounds 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals last year at UMass.
“SMU is transitioning to the ACC, and we have two players on our team that have already played in the ACC, so that’s a big advantage,” Enfield said. “But a lot of our guys have power-conference experience, and they have transferred once or twice and now they’ve all come together here to try to compete for an ACC championship.”
Those two players say they’re pleased with what they’ve seen so far for how the team could stack up against conference competition.
“I feel like this group has all the pieces to go really far in not just the ACC but into March,” Cross said. “It’s just going to come down to what I feel like a lot of teams come down to — how you plan on the court and how you handle adversity.”
Returners leading the charge
SMU’s three returning rotation players are all going to play important roles in a program with a new head coach and mostly new roster.
Harris has been a leader Enfield said he’s turned to in his first few months in Dallas.
“Chuck is an outstanding shooter, playmaker,” Enfield said. “We’ve been very, very impressed with him really since the first day we worked out together in April.”
Harris, who transferred to SMU from Butler ahead of last season, was the team’s second-leading scorer with 13.4 points per game and leader in minutes with 29.9 on average.
Ambrose-Hylton and Edwards are the two other returners, who contributed 6.9 and 3.7 points per game last year. Ambrose-Hylton is one of the more vocal players on the team leading a new group of forwards with more height than last year.
“They’ve been seasoned. They’ve been in college for a long time,” Miller said of the returners. “So they’re definitely teaching the young guys all the little things that are gonna help us win big games down the road.”
Emphasis on building chemistry
The new look for SMU’s team will come with some changes on the court. Enfield’s style will lead to a faster tempo on offense and more of an emphasis on shooting.
However, the primary focus for the team in these coming weeks is building chemistry.
The team says it’s done so both on the court in early practices and off the court by going to football games together and trying to build a rapport.
While many are unfamiliar with one another, they come from a wide range of backgrounds — from midmajors to other major conferences to even international competition. That wealth of experience could serve them well in becoming a versatile group.
“I think it’s been going very well,” Ambrose-Hylton said. “At first, I was kind of hesitant because there were only three guys coming back and everyone else was transfers. But after the first week, things went great. A lot of guys knew each other from previous schools. … I think we’re in a very good place.”
Excitement is high around move to the ACC
As much as Enfield’s arrival enticed players to SMU’s program this year, the move to the ACC played a key role as well.
Players such as Cross and Harris said they want to play at the highest level as their careers wind down. Harris is still seeking to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in his career but will face an uphill battle in a conference full of blue bloods to do so.
“All any basketball player asks for is the highest level,” Harris said. “I’m hoping to just leave my mark on college basketball the best that I can.”
The move to the ACC was also important for Enfield’s decision, both to continue to coach at a high level but also to coach in a conference he grew up watching.
“My father was a high school coach and used to take me to ACC games all the time,” Enfield said. “The ACC was my favorite conference as a player, myself. I’ve always had a special place in my heart because I grew up an ACC basketball fan.”
From the big stages to the venues to the chance to make noise nationally, the new conference provides SMU with ample opportunities this year.
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