MBK opener vs west GA

[msstate7]

Interesting starting lineup with jones. Guess Jans likes his defense with the scoring at 3 spots

[RockyDog]

Cam bringing last year vibes. Missed layup and 2 missed FT

[NCMSTFAN]

Kugel not starting?

[msstate7]

Cam will be fine. He will play great D, handle the ball well, and unfortunately, miss a crap load of FT

[msstate7]

Kugel not starting?

Clary
Hubbard
Jones
Cam
Murphy

[msstate7]

Kugel not starting?

Wasn't in first sub group either. Guess he probably got some sort of discipline deal

[NCMSTFAN]

Wasn't in first sub group either. Guess he probably got some sort of discipline deal

I just got home turned on the game.. thats concerning. He was is supposed to be a big part of this team. I do like what I'm seeing from other guys though

[RockyDog]

Where Kugel at?

[msstate7]

I just got home turned on the game.. thats concerning. He was is supposed to be a big part of this team. I do like what I'm seeing from other guys though

Dressed out. I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure he'll be in second half or game 2

[msstate7]

Don't wanna take too much in a small sample vs a bad team, but our shooting looks much improved

[PMDawg]

.

[msstate7]

Kugel in

[Thick]

I forgot about Melendez. Clary looks like Shak, but haven’t seen that jumper yet. I like what I’m seeing regardless of the competition. Riley in the game now

[LC Dawg]

Of some of these guys can shoot like this against better competition and take some focus off Hubbard it's going to be a fun year.

[msstate7]

Who is #0? I'm having to watch with no sound.

Harris

[PMDawg]

.

[Thick]

Need to finish around the rim!

[msstate7]

Chol and Murphy on court together is interesting.

[msstate7]

Let's scrap this lineup combo

[RockyDog]

Are our rims just made of concrete? We miss more gimme layups seemingly than other teams

[msstate7]

Kugel has been terrible so far

[PMDawg]

.

[msstate7]

I know kugel is a good player, but this crap stretch started when he was subbed in.

[Thick]

NVM…..looks just like last year. (First game I know)

[PMDawg]

.

[msstate7]

I'm not a fan of the Murphy 3 pt shots

[RockyDog]

New offense? Still looks like ugly Jansketball

[msstate7]

We can't get an offensive rebound against scrubs. Not good.

No cam out there

[HoopsDawg]

I know kugel is a good player, but this crap stretch started when he was subbed in.

Also when Cam picked up his 2nd foul.

[msstate7]

Also when Cam picked up his 2nd foul.

Good call. Also going with twin tower lineup

[ZedFedder]

Jans is playing a lot of guys. I would not worry yet.

[NCMSTFAN]

We don't look great right now. But it's the 1st game of the season so I'll wait. Still not a huge fan of Shawn Jones starting

[msstate7]

Jans is playing a lot of guys. I would not worry yet.

Basically everyone in some weird lineups. I'm not worried at all

[msstate7]

I'd like to see clary, Hubbard, Harris/kugel, cam, and Murphy on court together

[LC Dawg]

Damn, look at Harris.

[NCMSTFAN]

I'm loving Claudell Harris!!!!! He defends and hits shots!

[civildawg]

Hey, we have 3 point shooters

[msstate7]

Absolutely love clary being unselfish there. Keep in mind that clary is a big time scorer.

[HoopsDawg]

Way too early take, embrace the 3 guard lineup of Hubbard, Clary and Harris.

[NCMSTFAN]

I'd like to see clary, Hubbard, Harris/kugel, cam, and Murphy on court together

Surprisingly Cam sat the bench alot in the 1st half..

[MoreCowbell]

Is Harris expected to be a big contributor? Or is this performance reminiscent of the Miss. Juco kid first game last year who we thought was going to show out after he scored 20 in the opener

[msstate7]

Surprisingly Cam sat the bench alot in the 1st half..

2 fouls

[msstate7]

Is Harris expected to be a big contributor? Or is this performance reminiscent of the Miss. Juco kid first game last year who we thought was going to show out after he scored 20 in the opener

He was a double digit scorer at BC last season

[NCMSTFAN]

It's early but Kugel looks to be the 4th Gaurd behind Hubbard, Clary and Harris

[NCMSTFAN]

Is Harris expected to be a big contributor? Or is this performance reminiscent of the Miss. Juco kid first game last year who we thought was going to show out after he scored 20 in the opener

He's the real deal.. he scored alot at Boston College last year

[msstate7]

Wanna see kugel step up this half

[RockyDog]

Definitely upgraded the backcourt.

I’m sure Jans is tinkering and trying to keep players happy to start but I would bet the subs tighten up later down to Hubbard, Clary, Harris, Cam, Kugel, Murphy, Nwoko and Melendez.

[EdwardDrayton]

Cam's footwork looks MUCH improved!!

[NCMSTFAN]

Wanna see kugel step up this half
Me too! He had the "NBA potential" and I'm ready to see what he can do

[RockyDog]

We got much better shooter results from the portal this time around than the quitter from last year.

[msstate7]

Warren in the game

[msstate7]

Nwoko looks alright

[HoopsDawg]

Nwoko looks alright

Moves pretty well. Should be a decent reserve at the 5.

[NCMSTFAN]

Nwoko looks alright

Yes he does

[civildawg]

Harris on fire

[EdwardDrayton]

Claudell Harris with the "I'm here for a job!" LOL!!

[msstate7]

Harris' offense and jones' defense gonna make it hard for kugel to play if he doesn't step up

[Thick]

Go on Claudell with your bad self!

[NCMSTFAN]

Harris' offense and jones' defense gonna make it hard for kugel to play if he doesn't step up

I was literally just thinking the same thing! I wanted to see Kugel be great but he has a couple guys ahead of him

[msstate7]

A good play from kugel

[civildawg]

Get Matthews and Hubbard out of the game

[StarkVegasSteve]

Turned it on in the second half. Hopefully Harris isn't Trey Fort 2.0 and can actually maintain the start.

[msstate7]

Warren 2 steals and an assist. This kid gonna be ready to contribute this season?

[NCMSTFAN]

Turned it on in the second half. Hopefully Harris isn't Trey Fort 2.0 and can actually maintain the start.

Trey Fort was a JUCO guy. Harris did the same at Boston College

[msstate7]

Turned it on in the second half. Hopefully Harris isn't Trey Fort 2.0 and can actually maintain the start.

Harris put up like 13 a game last year in ACC, not juco like fort

[EdwardDrayton]

Well that was fun.

[ZedFedder]

This team definitely looked different, and I truly don't think they played their best game.

[LC Dawg]

Jans has some very good pieces to play with. I'm looking forward to the season.

[gtowndawg]

They played a bad team, so it's hard to say for sure, but there's no doubt Jans has pieces to pick from. We're a solid top 25 team.

[Cooterpoot]

No post play = disappointment
Not sure how bad that disappointment will be

[Rawdawg]

We scored 95 points and you’re concerned about post play? We had 19 assists on 36 made buckets and we played around 15 players. Jans was out there playing with his food tonight.

[Cooterpoot]

We scored 95 points and you’re concerned about post play? We had 19 assists on 36 made buckets and we played around 15 players. Jans was out there playing with his food tonight.

We played a terrible team who hasn't been D1 long.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Melendez dropped maybe 5 balls out of bounds. Dude needs to make sure he keeps his arms clear from the poke out.

[RockyDog]

Post play is dying in college and pro ball. We saw last year what happens when you can get a big man going or have trouble feeding the post. We needed to make the change to better guard play and being more active 4s and 5s.

I’m curious to see how that giant skinny kid plays at Florida because I just see him getting beat up and down the floor by SEC athletes.

[parabrave]

One stat that I noticed was almost 50% 3pts. Hell thats better than practice. Bad part is we still suck at FT. 9-16 got to do better than that/

[PMDawg]

.

[basedog]

We played a terrible team who hasn't been D1 long.

Have to give this win an A, did what we needed to do. Yes, we can get better and competition will get better, but his team has potential to make a good run.

[Cooterpoot]

Have to give this win an A, did what we needed to do. Yes, we can get better and competition will get better, but his team has potential to make a good run.

Agree, I just don't know what I'm looking at yet. Bigs are going to eat up on the boards, but we probably break records with 3 pt shooting. Ball handling will be much improved too. It's a wait and see how they play against better, bigger teams.

[trob115]

Warren 2 steals and an assist. This kid gonna be ready to contribute this season?


Jans really likes him. It can't hurt to have a 3rd point guard. If he can get his feet wet in non-conference, he has a chance to play 5-7 minutes a game for us.

I wish we got to see Clary, Hubbard, Harris together. Maybe that'll come later.

Nwoko looks like a great active defender. Need him to avg 7 boards a game.

[RockyDog]

Blocking out was a bit lazy at the start but it seemed like a lot of shots took really high and crazy bounces off the rims. If we are going to play smaller, the wings and “bigs” that are in definitely have to fight harder. But I don’t doubt that Jans and Brooks beat that into their heads pretty quickly.

[HoopsDawg]

Jans really likes him. It can't hurt to have a 3rd point guard. If he can get his feet wet in non-conference, he has a chance to play 5-7 minutes a game for us.

I wish we got to see Clary, Hubbard, Harris together. Maybe that'll come later.

Nwoko looks like a great active defender. Need him to avg 7 boards a game.

They played together end of first half.

[HoopsDawg]

Agree, I just don't know what I'm looking at yet. Bigs are going to eat up on the boards, but we probably break records with 3 pt shooting. Ball handling will be much improved too. It's a wait and see how they play against better, bigger teams.

I think we look like one of those fun mid major teams that is capable of making a NCAAT run. Gotta get there thru the SEC though.

[DawgFromOxford]

Even if it was a scrub D1 team, we put up 95 points which we only did 1 time last year and we held them to 60 points which was more or less our MO when our defense was clicking. I'd call that a success when still mixing and matching the 5 on the court.

[NCMSTFAN]

I like what I saw last night. Yes there are a few things we could have done better but every team in America will say that after their first game. We have some scorers! Hubbard, Clary, Harris and Melendez can all get buckets, Kugel can also but as I said before I'm a little concerned about how he fits in, especially with Harris playing so good on both ends of the floor and Jans loves Shawn Jones, it looks like Kugel has two guys ahead of him.

I've heard a few people mention they are worried about post play but I'm not. Nwoko and Chol give us enough down there in my opinion, they do need to rebound a little better but I think we will be ok, traditional back to the basket big men aren't as prominent in todays game.

[gtowndawg]

As others have said, something feels off about Kugel. He's arguable the most talented on the team? I'd like to know more about how things fell through for him at Kansas. I mean he was being touted as a major part of a big transfer class for Kansas. Then all of the sudden Coach Self said it was "up in the air" and then he decommits and lands in our laps. The whole thing seemed a bit strange.

He's still listed as a possible first round draft pick in the 2025 draft according to NBA Draft Room. We have a lot of good players, will he accept his role and play within it? I think that is a development to watch. No matter what, I still think he will have some games where he goes off.

Also, I loved Harris after seeing open practice and last night confirmed it. Hard worker, good player and a veteran presence.

[ZedFedder]

Clary was much shiftier that I anticipated m, too.

[RockyDog]

As others have said, something feels off about Kugel. He's arguable the most talented on the team? I'd like to know more about how things fell through for him at Kansas. I mean he was being touted as a major part of a big transfer class for Kansas. Then all of the sudden Coach Self said it was "up in the air" and then he decommits and lands in our laps. The whole thing seemed a bit strange.

He's still listed as a possible first round draft pick in the 2025 draft according to NBA Draft Room. We have a lot of good players, will he accept his role and play within it? I think that is a development to watch. No matter what, I still think he will have some games where he goes off.

Also, I loved Harris after seeing open practice and last night confirmed it. Hard worker, good player and a veteran presence.

Thought it was the fact that he couldn’t get thru admissions at KU. Nothing to do with hoopsball

[StarkVegasSteve]

Thought it was the fact that he couldn’t get thru admissions at KU. Nothing to do with hoopsball

Yea he couldn't get in to Kansas. Nothing to do with basketball.

[gtowndawg]

Thought it was the fact that he couldn’t get thru admissions at KU. Nothing to do with hoopsball

That's good - but still, it adds even more of a ??? So Kansas really wanted him to be part of their class (just didn't work out due to grades). So a blueblood wanted him, he has huge potential. I still think we will see it.

[NCMSTFAN]

Kugel had somewhat of a Sophmore slump at Florida and was moved to the bench there. I still think he has the potential to turn it on and be huge for us, if you look at his tape he looks like an NBA guy

[trob115]

Kugel could end up being Dontae Jones for us this year if it clicks.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Murphy could take this team to a whole other level, if he can become a master of using space on offense. Seems like he is basically in the way most times. Dude is very athletic. We need him living on the edge of the key and moving correctly in response to drives. He could be a 16-20 pts a game type of guy, if he can figure out how to move without the ball in his hands.

[HoopsDawg]

Kugel could end up being Dontae Jones for us this year if it clicks.

Too bad we don't have an Erik Dampier

[StarkVegasSteve]

Too bad we don't have an Erik Dampier

Our Dampier is Cam Matthews. He can do everything Dampier did. The game is just played differently now. It's funny because we have our Darryl Wilson and our Dampier. Now we just need a Dontae Jones to emerge and a Marcus Bullard to emerge.

[RockyDog]

Our Dampier is Cam Matthews. He can do everything Dampier did. The game is just played differently now. It's funny because we have our Darryl Wilson and our Dampier. Now we just need a Dontae Jones to emerge and a Marcus Bullard to emerge.

Agreed. Nobody runs their offense thru the center like we did last year. It’s why we were a low scoring team for the past several years and couldn’t keep up with Florida, South Carolina, Alabama and Kentucky last year.

Having some shooters and getting athletic points from Kugel, Cam, Jones and Murphy is what we need. Big guys these days are for rebounds, lobs and putbacks. Nobody has centers that back down the post. This isn’t 1988.

[gtowndawg]

Kugel could end up being Dontae Jones for us this year if it clicks.

That though has already crossed my mind. Very similar styles. Fingers crossed he shows that potential.

[NCMSTFAN]

That's good - but still, it adds even more of a ??? So Kansas really wanted him to be part of their class (just didn't work out due to grades). So a blueblood wanted him, he has huge potential. I still think we will see it.

Good points and I agree. I just hope he can get things figured out because if we get the best version of Kugel to go along with this team we are going to be tough to beat

[NWADAWG]

Even if it was a scrub D1 team, we put up 95 points which we only did 1 time last year and we held them to 60 points which was more or less our MO when our defense was clicking. I'd call that a success when still mixing and matching the 5 on the court.

It seems logical we would give up more points this year. It does not appear that we will be running down the shot clock very often => more possessions for both teams.

I'm curious though nto see what happens when we push 1/2 court teams to speed up their game. More steals (got a ton against directional GA), wear down teams with less depth leading to lower shooting % in later part of game, have to score 80+ now because will be give up 70+ now?

[Coach34]

Our problems the last few years has been lack of shooters period. You can run your O thru a Center if you got guys outside to make them pay when they help or drop to the paint. We didnt have that as a team. We shot 32.5% from 3 last year thanks to Hubbard after shooting 26.6 from 3 in 23

Watch- it wont be a coincidence our FT shooting jumps this year also. Got to have shooters

[EdwardDrayton]

Is it Friday yet?!!??

[R2Dawg]

Our Dampier is Cam Matthews. He can do everything Dampier did. The game is just played differently now. It's funny because we have our Darryl Wilson and our Dampier. Now we just need a Dontae Jones to emerge and a Marcus Bullard to emerge.

We don't have a Damp. Cam is more like Jones but he doesn't have the outside shot. Cam is a special player though and a major part of our success. Cam is the swiss army knife.

I agree Murphy and Kugel may be the two keys for this team going far. We know pretty much who everyone else is and what they bring.

[HoopsDawg]

We don't have a Damp. Cam is more like Jones but he doesn't have the outside shot. Cam is a special player though and a major part of our success. Cam is the swiss army knife.

I agree Murphy and Kugel may be the two keys for this team going far. We know pretty much who everyone else is and what they bring.

Yep. Cam is much more Brandon Vincent than Damp.

[LC Dawg]

Yep. Cam is much more Brandon Vincent than Damp.

If we are comparing to the '96 team Cam is a much more athletic Russell Walters. We don't currently have a Damp and in reality we have had only one. He was a big time difference maker and that sometimes gets overlooked because he was such a low key player.

[gtowndawg]

Spekaing of Damp, any chance we could sign his son (he's only in 9th grade but I'm just thinking ahead)? He will be able to go anywhere he wants.

[PMDawg]

.

[NCMSTFAN]

I love how every time we have a decent team we immediately start making comparisons to the '96 team. lol

That era is over. We'll never have another team like that, even if we win it all. This looks like a good team, but it still has weaknesses. The good thing is we appear to have good guard play and defense, and that can be a recipe for postseason success.


Agreed, those two things are essential to make deep runs and I think we have the best rotation of guards we have had in a very long time.

[PMDawg]

.

[msstate7]

Apparently Lunardi wasn't impressed. Moved us down to the 4th team in "last 4 byes" and down to a 10 seed. I know, it's early and doesn't matter. I'm just curious to know what about our game led him to do that.

Probably what someone else did more than us

[NCMSTFAN]

Apparently Lunardi wasn't impressed. Moved us down to the 4th team in "last 4 byes" and down to a 10 seed. I know, it's early and doesn't matter. I'm just curious to know what about our game led him to do that.

Who knows, after one game there is no way for him to come to that prediction. As we all know its way too early to know anything that will happen... One thing I do know is the SEC will be as tough as its ever been, out of 16 teams in our league 9 are ranked not including us. Every game will be a dog fight.