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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, January 8, 2003

Mustangs embark on odyssey

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Was it something he said?

Perhaps something he did?

Did he inadvertently leave the Western Athletic Conference office staff off his Christmas card list or complain too loudly about officiating last season?

Southern Methodist University basketball coach Mike Dement has been left to wonder these things and more on a regular basis since the WAC schedule came out.

Yesterday's eight-hour-plus flight from Dallas to Honolulu for tomorrow night's Hawai'i conference home opener at the Stan Sheriff Center was merely another opportunity for reflection on the Schedule From Hell.

"I don't know who we made mad in the WAC to get this schedule," Dement has said of an itinerary that has the Mustangs opening the conference with not only five of their first seven games on the road but also going the 4,035-mile width of the WAC — Ruston, La., to Honolulu — to get in the first two.

Nothing like opening against the teams with the two longest home winning streaks among WAC members: Hawai'i's 19 in a row and Louisiana Tech's 17 in succession.

If you didn't know better — or, maybe, if you did — you'd almost suspect that somebody wanted the Mustangs out of the conference race before they ever got a chance to set foot in it. If they did, this is the perfect schedule with which to do it.

I mean, the WAC opener at Louisiana Tech, on to Hawai'i the next game and, two nights later, a stopover to play at San Jose State. Go back to Dallas just long enough to do laundry and play Fresno State and Nevada, then, it is back on the road to Rice and Tulsa.

"It definitely isn't the way you'd like to start a season," Dement said. Especially with a center, Nigel Smith, whose sinus problems prevent him from flying.

Not that Dement will get much sympathy in the WAC, where travel horror stories are traded like fishing tales. Everybody has one — or a couple dozen. You don't want to get Riley Wallace started, especially after the Texas-El Paso and Boise State trip.

SMU's problem, however, is potentially exacerbated by its split-personality performance to date. Perfect (5-0) at home and neutral sites this season, the Mustangs have been imperfect (0-6) on the road. This from a team that won seven road games with a largely freshman and sophomore team a year ago and was forecast to be in the thick of the WAC race this year.

It still can be, of course. If the Mustangs somehow survive their challenging early schedule, there is comfort in knowing that seven of the final 11 games will be at home.

That's if the WAC race hasn't passed them by before then.