The SMU men’s basketball team released its 2004-05schedule last week, and the team will open its season againstUT-Tyler.
Under the guidance of new head coach Jimmy Tubbs, the Mustangswill face three Big 12 teams (Oklahoma State, Baylor and TexasTech) before beginning WAC play.
The team is also set to tussle with TCU on Dec. 12 in FortWorth.
The conference play schedule includes 18 games.
SMU opens against Rice on Dec. 30 and will end conference playagainst Rice as well, on Mar. 5.
Also announced last week, the Mustangs will be part of the thirdannual Bracket Buster Saturday. The team was selected as a roadteam and will not host a game in the event.
The event, a one-day affair, pits teams vying for NCAA berthsagainst one another beginning Feb. 19 and will feature 11nationally televised games. Six of the games will air on ESPN andESPN2 while the other five will be aired in the markets ofcompeting teams through other ESPN outlets.
Sixty-four teams, representing 13 conferences, will play in theevent including all 10 WAC teams. “We continue to receive atremendous amount of commitment, cooperation and passion from theconferences and their member institutions,” Burke Magnus,director of ESPN Programming and Acquisitions, said in a pressrelease. “The purpose of this event remains to providenational exposure to NCAA Tournament hopefuls; however, now therewill be additional season-long interest as fans can track eachteam’s quest for one of the 22 Bracket Buster Saturdaybids.”
This year’s Bracket Buster Saturday pool features 24 teamappearances from the last two NCAA Tournaments, including two SweetSixteen squads — Butler (2003) and Nevada (2004).
This season, the Mustangs will return four starters from lastseason. SMU leading scorer, junior guard Bryan Hopkins (17.7points, 3.8 assists, and 1.8 steals per game) will look to continuehis success from his first two seasons. Senior forward PatrickSimpson averaged 11.3 points and a team-leading 6.0 rebounds pergame last season and will look to grab even more boards in hisfinal season as a Mustang. Also hoping to continue his success issenior forward Eric Castro who scored 9.9 points per outing andfollowed Simpson with 5.6 boards per game. One more senior lookingto wrap up a successful career at SMU is guard Justin Isham whoadded 7.8 points, 1.8 assists, and 0.9 steals per contest lastyear.
The Mustangs open play against UT-Tyler at 8:30 p.m. Nov. 19 inMoody Coliseum.
