The fall seasons are over and the spring seasons are underway, and the Mustangs are still making a name for themselves in both.
Justin Willis and Rachel Forish are two of the top Mustangs from fall 2006 If anyone is confused as to why a 6′ 1″ 170 pound freshman quarterback is joined with a 5′ 2″ junior cross country runner look no further than Conference USA honors.
On Wednesday Forish was named the C-USA Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year. Forish won the conference championship as well as the NCAA South Central Regional and earned a 35th place finish at the NCAA Championships at the end of November. Forish was also named to the 2006 NCAA All-America Cross Country team.
On Thursday C-USA coaches announced their players of the year. Willis’ 26 touchdown passes, 29 total touchdowns and his 67.4 completion percentage re-wrote the SMU record books and gave him the nod as the Conference USA Freshman of the Year. Last week Willis was named C-USA Freshman of the Year by the media that covers the conference.
The SMU volleyball team is still making news two weeks after the season’s end. The AVCA announced their All-Region teams and SMU’s Rachel Giubilato, a junior, was named to the Honorable Mention team. Giubilato was also named to the first team All-Conference USA and added her name to the SMU record books for both season and career achievements.
As for the seasons just beginning, the men’s basketball team is making news early.
With conference powerhouses Memphis and Houston dominating the off-season press, along with a disappointing season last year, many wrote SMU off for this year. Pundits wrote that even with a big name coach, the Mustangs didn’t posses the talent for new head coach Matt Doherty to make a difference.
But the Mustangs have earned some recognition. With a 6-1 record SMU has an RPI ranking of ninth in the nation, the highest in C-USA. The RPI ranking takes the teams winning percentage, the opponents winning percentage and the winning percentage of the opponents’ opponents.
The notable games for the Mustangs so far this season are a 53-48 win over Dayton, who is 6-1 and has an RPI of 71, a 57-55 win over Illinois State who carries and RPI of 42 and a close loss to Florida State, who ranks 11th in the RPI. The overall strength of schedule for the Mustangs is 18th in the nation.
On an individual note, Mustang senior Donatas Rackauskas currently leads C-USA with 9.1 rebounds a game.
Head coach Matt Doherty is also getting a little more involved in the SMU community. This past weekend Doherty was made an honorary member of the Pi Kappa Alpha, Pike, Fraternity.
One thing you will hear Doherty talk about is the mess behind Moody Coliseum and the construction going on around campus. Most of that has to do with the new basketball practice facility being built. The SMU community is invited to go to the groundbreaking ceremony Friday Dec. 8, at 11:45 a.m. to learn more about the facility.
The Mustangs will return to the floor on Dec. 13 against Prairie View A&M.
The SMU women’s basketball team has also had an impressive start to the season.
The 5-2 Mustangs saw Janielle Dodds become the 15th Mustang to score 1,000 career points.
The SMU women will return to Moody just after finals with a 7 p.m. match up against North Texas on Saturday Dec. 9.
