New seasons begin this weekend for Men's and Women's Basketball
SMU Women's and Men's Basketball teams open their seasons this weekend in Moody.
The Women will play the Acorn State Lady Braves at noon Saturday and the Men will play the Loyola Marymount Lions at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Sunday will mark Larry Brown's first game as head coach of the Men's Team. Brown was named head men's basketball coach at SMU on April 19, 2012. He arrived on the Hilltop as the only head coach to win both an NCAA title and an NBA Championship, having won an NBA title with the Detroit Pistons in 2004 and an NCAA title with Kansas in 1988. Brown was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach on Sept. 27, 2002.
Brown is the sixth-winningest coach in NBA history with 1,098 career victories, and led his teams to 18 playoff appearances, eight 50-win seasons, seven division titles, three conference championships and one NBA Championship. Brown was most recently head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats and guided the Bobcats to the franchise's first-ever playoff appearance in 2010. Charlotte was the eighth different team he led to the postseason — an NBA record.
The Mustangs' first non-conference schedule under Brown (@LarryBrownSMU) could include up to nine games against teams from the Big 12, Pac-12, A-10, Mountain West, West Coast Conference, SEC and Missouri Valley. SMU is also part of the Hoops for Hope Classic and the 46th annual Cable Car Classic.
The Women's basketball schedule features seven games in the first 19 days, including six home games to open the season. The Mustangs will play 10 of their 13 non-conference games in Moody Coliseum, which is undergoing a $40-million renovation.
The Women's annual Hoops for the Cure Classic is scheduled for Nov. 23 and 24.
Rhonda Rompola first took over the SMU women's basketball team as head coach in 1991. In her 21 years as head coach, Rompola has tallied a 366-236 mark, earning her 300th career victory on Jan. 13, 2008, in a nationally televised win over Southern Miss.
Rompola, who graduated from SMU with a business degree in 1983, originally played at Old Dominion. She played on the Monarchs' AIAW national championship teams in 1979 and 1980. In two seasons, Rompola averaged 10.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists while shooting 51.6 percent from the floor and 83.9 percent from the foul line. She recently was honored with honorable mention honors on the all-time Lady Monarch basketball team.
All SMU basketball games are broadcast on the Mustangs Radio Network; which includes the flagship KAAM 770 AM in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and SMUMustangs.com. For season ticket information call 214-SMU-GAME (214-768-4263), visit SMUMustangs.com, call the Ticketmaster Charge-By-Phone line at 214-373-8000, or go to ticketmaster.com.
* indicates conference game
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