No. 15 Mustangs Wait, Preparing For NCAA Tournament
Nov 11 | Men's Soccer
No. 15 SMU Men's Soccer is in somewhat uncharted territory after not advancing in the ACC tournament following Sunday's penalty kick shootout against Wake Forest in the quarterfinals.
The Mustangs aren't used to waiting this long between their final conference tournament game and the NCAA selection. Since Kevin Hudson took over as head coach in 2015, the only year SMU did not make at least the conference semifinal game was in 2016, when only four teams made the tournament.
"I don't know because we've never done this," Hudson said. "This weekend off, coming in and, well, I don't know where the RPI sits right now, I didn't look after the game. I don't know where we're really at."
What comes immediately next is the waiting game. The NCAA tournament bracket will be released at 12 p.m. CT on Nov. 18.Â
The Mustangs are currently No. 11Â in the RPI, which means they are basically a lock to make the tournament and should host, but none of that is for certain until their name is announced during the selection show.
After going through the most grueling schedule in recent history, if not ever, the extra time between matches might be a good thing.Â
"At this point in the season, we're really banged up. This could be a blessing here," Hudson said. "How do you stay sharp in a long break? I'm not exactly sure. But I do know how to recover. I do know how to manage the training load. So I think we can get our guys to a good place and then refresh ourselves and get ready for whatever's next."
Once their name is called, no matter who the Mustangs face, they'll be ready. That's what this schedule has done for them. SMU has played seven games against six teams in the RPI Top 26, including four in the Top 10.
"In one-off knockout tournaments, anything can happen. We've seen penalties, we've seen the best teams in the country," Hudson said. "I know there's other very, very good teams out there, but this team is seasoned for these moments now. We're not going to see anybody that's completely different than what we've seen.Â
"... Stylistically, we've seen everything. We've seen every different shape and structure of a team. So yeah, we're not going to know anything until eight days from now, so that's hard. But it's just time to concentrate on ourselves and get ourselves prepared and sharp and we'll dust ourselves off and go again."
The last time SMU made the College Cup was in 2005, that team lost in the quarterfinals of its conference tournament.
