Coach, you can get MSU and 20+ points tonight

[coastdoglover]

Ought to be easy since you guys think we are much better

[TheRef]

Wow. You seriously think that he meant that we could beat UK @ Rupp in year 2 of a long-term rebuild? Do I think we are better? Yes. Do I think we could beat UK? No. We need a perfect game and UK needs to have the worst game it has had in a long time in order for us to win against UK. No one who is sane thinks that we could beat UK tonight. All I'm going to be looking for is effort, limiting turnovers, and not putting up stupid shots. The post will be hard to control for us since UK has such dominant big men. This will definitely put our manhood on the line and we will see the mentality of the team this week with a game against UK on the road then come back home to face our arch-rivals without their best player. I think MSU loses and it won't even be close.

[smootness]

Well, they beat us by 30 last year, so beat that, and I guess we're right.

And UK is better this year than last as well.

[Coach34]

We gonna keep playing this game Grandpaw? I been spanking your ass at it for about 8 years now. I notice you arent making any snide comments about Cohen anymore are you?

Calm down and go eat some supper now that it's almost 4:30

[Political Hack]

there's no such hing as a long term rebuild in basketball. you do it in 2-3 years... four years TOPS. Football the bare minimum is 3 years.

[Coach34]

there's no such hing as a long term rebuild in basketball. you do it in 2-3 years... four years TOPS. Football the bare minimum is 3 years.

Some rebuilds take longer than others. We had to nuke our program- which cost us an extra year. Years 3 and 4 for Ray will certainly give a much clearer picture of what he can do than what we are showing currently.

[C222]

Is there anything worse than the Stansbury lovers? Man, ya'll are an annoying group.

[engie]

Because we beat Calipari-coached teams all the time under the previous regime**

[BeastMan]

there's no such hing as a long term rebuild in basketball. you do it in 2-3 years... four years TOPS. Football the bare minimum is 3 years.

I agree with this 100%. Speaking of that, why does MSU sometimes think it's acceptable to "tear down a program" before you rebuild? Nobody else does that yet we have done it in football and basketball in the last 10 years and it has caused years of pain in each respective sport. The coaches job should be to come in and win with what you have period. He should take more pride in getting problem guys of the past to buy in as opposed to just run all of them off and start from scratch and guarantee years of struggle? Auburn football was in the toilet 2 years ago and Malzahn didn't tear down anything. I do think that we needed a change in both instances but I'm not a fan of the self-imposed death penalties that Croom and Ray did. That's a bit strong but you get the point.

[TheRef]

Because we beat Calipari-coached teams all the time under the previous regime**

Haha. I notice the sarcastrics. Calipari is 7-0 against MSU.

[drunkernhelldawg]

Because we beat Calipari-coached teams all the time under the previous regime**

We played them better than just about anyone else

[drunkernhelldawg]

Ought to be easy since you guys think we are much better

This is a stupid and ridiculous post. Don't livie in the past.

[drunkernhelldawg]

I agree with this 100%. Speaking of that, why does MSU sometimes think it's acceptable to "tear down a program" before you rebuild? Nobody else does that yet we have done it in football and basketball in the last 10 years and it has caused years of pain in each respective sport. The coaches job should be to come in and win with what you have period. He should take more pride in getting problem guys of the past to buy in as opposed to just run all of them off and start from scratch and guarantee years of struggle? Auburn football was in the toilet 2 years ago and Malzahn didn't tear down anything. I do think that we needed a change in both instances but I'm not a fan of the self-imposed death penalties that Croom and Ray did. That's a bit strong but you get the point.

Great post. I hope nobody tries to answer it, however, as it's already been beaten into the ground a bunch of times.

[Coach34]

I do think that we needed a change in both instances but I'm not a fan of the self-imposed death penalties that Croom and Ray did. That's a bit strong but you get the point.

I'm gonna have to disagree here. Ray didnt impose anything. In at least 4 cases, the players ran themselves off because they couldnt stop smoking dope. They were removed per the school's official drug policy. Not Ricj Ray's policy. They refused to buy in and had been tainted by the previous regime. Now maybe Ray could have warned the guys before the drug tests like members of the previous coaching staff- but that kind of defeats the purpose of what he and his staff are trying to do

[engie]

We played them better than just about anyone else

Moral Victory U**

Convenient measuring stick too -- considering that the UK games were the rare ones that Stansbury teams actually "got up" for toward the end of his tenure. They would piss me off to no end -- because they would show how elite we should be game in and game out with the talent we had -- if we would have consistently played hard.

[engie]

I'm gonna have to disagree here. Ray didnt impose anything. In at least 4 cases, the players ran themselves off because they couldnt stop smoking dope. They were removed per the school's official drug policy. Not Ricj Ray's policy. They refused to buy in and had been tainted by the previous regime. Now maybe Ray could have warned the guys before the drug tests like members of the previous coaching staff- but that kind of defeats the purpose of what he and his staff are trying to do

I'm with you on this one. Cohen tore that program down as well -- but no one brings that one up.

I'm still in agreement with Hack and Steve though -- in that ultimately -- it doesn't take a "longterm" rebuild in basketball. Year 3 = Stansbury expectations for me. End of story. We need to be knocking on the door to the tourney next year. At the very least, I'll need to see some more clear progress and expectations of a tournament team to be in favor of giving him year 4.

[Schultzy]

There was nothing left to tear down.

[MetEdDawg]

+20 looking pretty damn strong right now. Foul trouble may allow them to get us pretty good in the 2nd half, but as has been stated before, if you aren't on board with Ray after seeing this basketball team up by 3 at the half at Rupp Arena on opening night of conference play, you have an agenda that doesn't correspond with the betterment of MSU.

This team has ZERO BUSINESS being in this game with a ranked Kentucky team on the road. But we scrap and play hard for Coach Ray and it's showing right now. Would be a very big win for this program if we were somehow able to pull this off.

[coastdoglover]

You never spanked my ass on anything. In fact you were so inaccurate on the basketball search that you must have forgotten about that. The only thing you did consistently was bash Stansbury. Yep, he is gone. I am over it but in year 3 of Ray next year let's see if your predictions are accurate. This Kentucky team cant shoot and I have been pleased with our effort, but we are still a long way from being a top echelon team and the SEC doesn't have many.



We gonna keep playing this game Grandpaw? I been spanking your ass at it for about 8 years now. I notice you arent making any snide comments about Cohen anymore are you?

Calm down and go eat some supper now that it's almost 4:30

[smootness]

we are still a long way from being a top echelon team and the SEC doesn't have many.

We were by the end of the Stans era, too.

[coastdoglover]

But we played better than .500 basketball and we won't get to that point in the league in this regime, Book it.


We were by the end of the Stans era, too.

[MarketingBully01]

Woohoo! 8 point improvement! We need a ****ing shooter!

[Coach34]

But we played better than .500 basketball and we won't get to that point in the league in this regime, Book it.

We'll get 7-8 this year...and probably 10 next year. I cant wait to throw yet another one back in your diaper on this one

[engie]

But we played better than .500 basketball and we won't get to that point in the league in this regime, Book it.

K. According to you, we were going to win what? 6 last year. Strangely, I didn't catch your predictions this year.

[MarketingBully01]

We need Fred Thomas to start playing much better and get some confidence for that to happen. You can rebound all you want but if you can't put the ball through the hole you are in deep shit. Best half followed by the worst half...

[coastdoglover]

Blame it on Stans, he committed Sword, Thomas, Ware, Roquez, and placed Bouchert at East Mississippi. It is all his fault.

[Dawg61]

We need Fred Thomas to start playing much better and get some confidence for that to happen. You can rebound all you want but if you can't put the ball through the hole you are in deep shit. Best half followed by the worst half...

Thomas is a worse ball handler than he is a shooter and we all see how he is as a shooter. Pollard will be a junior next year and so will Thomas. If y'all can call for Milton to move in football I'm calling for Thomas in basketball. Jacoby Davis can join him.

[engie]

Blame it on Stans, he committed Sword, Thomas, Ware, Roquez, and placed Bouchert at East Mississippi. It is all his fault.

I'm almost shocked that you aren't bitching about that devil Cohen and his cussing...

[Dog316]

We were by the end of the Stans era, too.

Yada, yada, yada. Same ole, same ole. If you actually go to the Humo and look up toward the ceiling you may actually be enlightened.

[engie]

Yada, yada, yada. Same ole, same ole. If you actually go to Dudy Noble and look up toward the outfield you may actually be enlightened.

FIFY

[NewTweederEndzoneDance]

But we played better than .500 basketball and we won't get to that point in the league in this regime, Book it.

the sad thing is that you are actually rooting for this.

[smootness]

Yada, yada, yada. Same ole, same ole. If you actually go to the Humo and look up toward the ceiling you may actually be enlightened.

What would I see that would disprove my point? Our NIT banner from 2012 or 2010? Our co-SEC West title from 2010, where we won 9 games? Our early NCAA exits in 2009 and 2008?

I said that by the end of the Stans era, we were far from an upper echelon team, and that is a fact. I loved Stans, probably more than most State fans. But I also wasn't blinded by that. I may have held on longer than I should have because of this, but eventually I want what is best for Mississippi State, and that was to make a change.

[MarketingBully01]

Yep to make a change but just any change wasn't good for Mississippi State. I'm giving Ray the benefit of the doubt for now but if he isn't winning and he doesn't bring a game changer in next season and if this crap happens again where we only get one recruit out of 4 we signed he really should be fired for incompetence. I mean really. When has that ever happened? I can't ever recall it happening since I have paid attention to basketball and that is well over 20 years.

[MarketingBully01]

Engie, I agree with you if he doesn't win or put us in position by next year then we should cut our losses and find someone else.

[engie]

Exactly. This is what pisses me off to no end about people trying to make sweeping judgements on Ray this season. It was ALWAYS going to be a rebuilding year regardless. Has he made some questionable decisions? Absolutely. But the margin of error is simply too great to try to define his overall tenure and ceiling based on what's happening during 2 rebuilding years. In this way, it is EXACTLY like Cohen's first 2 years. Not to say that Ray turns out that well -- just that it's WAY too damn early to be "making up minds" about him. I'm FAR from a "Ray lover" persay -- but I can see alot of ways in which we're an improved team -- and have hopes for him to figure out the rest.

Either way, year 3 will define him. And if the rubber doesn't start meeting the road in a major way, I'll be questioning him bigtime at best -- and at worst want him gone depending on how "close" I feel like we are going into year 4.

To me, the most agitating part is that this year's team is close to being VERY competitive. That was seen last night prior to the foul trouble when we led by 10 at halftime in Rupp compared to trailing by 23 against a much worse UK team last year. This year, they came on and beat us soundly after all our players were in foul trouble -- last year, they were on cruise control the entire second half.

If we had another 5 and a true shooting guard or two, this would be a team that we couldn't yet write off as potential a tourney team. Ray expected to have both of those things THIS year -- but Lewis and Steele obviously had other plans.

[Coach34]

Ray is going to get 4 years

[MarketingBully01]

Yes, we know Coach he will get four years. I saw a lot to get excited about in the first half last night but we really need for Thomas and Borchert to become more consistent outside threats. We actually rebounded better in the second half but we didn't hit any shots and stopped driving to the basket.

The best way this team can win is by creating turnovers and getting easy baskets on the other end, driving to the basket and drawing fouls, and for Borchert and Thomas to become legitimate outside threats. Also, it would help if Sword can hit FTs like he did last night. He could average 20 points a game if his FT% was at 70%. We also need to avoid foul trouble like the plague if we can. If Henderson doesn't play Saturday, I could see us beating Ole Miss by 10+ if we play like the first half in the Kentucky game. If we play like we did in the second half, Auburn could beat us...

[Raytoraid83]

Ray is going to get 4 years

I'm not so sure about this. If next year there are no signs of improvement and still losing conference games by 20+, I don't know how you can keep him. Eventually it comes to putting butts in the seats and being swac champions and beating maryland eastern shore every year isnt going to do it.

[Coach34]

I'm not so sure about this. If next year there are no signs of improvement and still losing conference games by 20+

He will. From what I hear- they dont even count last season as happening because of all the clean-up he had to do + injuries - this year is effectively Ray's 1st season from an Admin viewpoint. And we are improved as well as look like we are coached very well. We just need more players.

[JOHNHEVESYMADE]

He needs to get Pollard. Something that flew under the radar was that Ray signed a one year contract extension last year per an SEC assistant. Stricklin is going to go to ends of the Earth to make this work because ultimately this falls back on him wether it's success or failure. We need talent and signing guys that are barely averaging double digits points and rebounds isn't going to get the job done. Unless Ray learns how to recruit "the SEC way" then I don't see him succeeding.

[Coach34]

I agree on Pollard- need that type of player and Pollard needs a 2nd chance

[Thick]

One word to all problems with basketball....STRICKLIN!!!! I don't think he has the stones to can Ray after year 3, because he hired him. You can bet your house and your kids' college funds that behind closed doors after each loss he's hearing it from some donors...quietly.

[drunkernhelldawg]

I just hope to hell they actually give a damn about getting us back to the upper echelon of the SEC. I get the impression that they could give two shits about where our basketball program goes from here.