What Does Jaden Toombs Bring to SMU Basketball?

SMU basketball got a boost when it hired former USC coach Andy Enfield, someone with pedigree that has won at other stops along his career.

Though the Mustangs have had their fair share of regular season success, they have not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2015, when Larry Brown was on the sidelines. They had a very good team in 2016-17, earning a 6-seed, but lost in the first round of the tourney, coincidentally to Enfield's USC squad.

With Enfield in charge in Dallas, SMU has begun to recruit at a higher level, bringing in an excellent crop of prep and transfer talent in 2025-26 that could elevate the Mustangs into a competitive team in the ACC. Their highest-rated high school player is Dynamic Prep center Jaden Toombs, an undersized but highly skilled big man that can help SMU both on the glass and with facilitation from the block.

Toombs is an efficient scorer with solid touch around the rim and from the free-throw line – though not the type of player to lead his team in scoring, he can certainly make the most of his physicality in the paint with good positioning, allowing him to get easier baskets. The aforementioned physicality also lends itself to excellent rebounding, and his lengthy wingspan helps make up for the fact that he may be undersized at 6-foot-9.

The most underrated part of Toombs' skillset is his feel for the game from a passing standpoint. He can make reads out of the post and pass to the perimeter, and the combination of this plus his rebounding could potentially allow him to push the break in transition off opponents' misses. He can also play out of the short roll out of pick-and-roll sets, helping set up teammates for shots.

On the defensive side of the ball, Toombs can be highly effective due to his high IQ and comfortability with contact. His strength makes it difficult to back him down in the post, and his quick hands allow him to force steals and block shots.

Areas of improvement for Toombs are mostly in offensive versatility in the sense of scoring. If he can lean into his stretch big capabilities and develop an outside shot, which is possible due to his high free-throw percentage, he can sneak into the lottery after one collegiate season. Otherwise, he will still be a highly effective player due to the confluence of factors listed above.