A basketball net dangled off one of the rims inside the XL Center last Sunday, waiting for one of SMU's top seniors to climb the ladder and finish the customary championship ceremony.
Finally, senior guard Sterling Brown took a pair of scissors, snipped the last strands and waved the net around to commemorate the Mustangs' American Athletic Conference tournament championship in Hartford, Conn.
In the AAC title game against Cincinnati, the senior duo of Brown and forward Ben Moore ensured the Mustangs' late-season momentum wouldn't stop in Connecticut. And for sixth-seeded SMU to make it past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, they'll need the pair to replicate Sunday's performance.