Anyone else starting to get excited about basketball again?

[engie]

With everything else going on today, I still find myself really looking forward to the game tonight at Tennessee. It's a good measuring stick game to see how far we've come, and I feel a little confidence in the team starting to creep in.

9 point dogs and I feel decent about it, although I hate how we matchup with Tennessee's 2-3 full court zone they hardly ever rotate out of. If we manage to pull this one off, I don't think I'll be able to prevent letting myself buy back in...

[It_Could_Happen]

I've bought back in. I was there Saturday and it was nice to see signs of life back in the Hump. If we can get one win out of these next 2 there could be some decent crowds to finish the home season.

[Political Hack]

no. Have we won some games recently or something?

[Coach34]

I am- but I'm worried about their zone tonight. They are all zone all the time- hopefully we can make some 3-balls

[engie]

It's really the worst matchup for us in the league. Outside the inevitability that is UK, obviously...

About the 5th missed jumper to start the game, I may change my tune... We'll see...

[Liverpooldawg]

No.

[msstate7]

I am. We certainly haven't been great, but we're getting better. I think we win tonight

[MadDawg]

Are we on the bubble?

[JohnnyQuid]

Excited? .500ish overall and sub .500 the sec, since when did our basketball fanbase become so easy to appease. We're playing better and games are watchable as we're actually making shots, but excited no.

[99jc]

I am. We certainly haven't been great, but we're getting better. I think we win tonight

SEC Network of Stan and the road warriors this current team still looks like and smells like SHIT! And i don't care if the road warriors did not make sweet 16 they were 25-2 let that sink in 25-2 reg season.:rolleyes:

[mparkerfd20]

SEC Network of Stan and the road warriors this current team still looks like and smells like SHIT! And i don't care if the road warriors did not make sweet 16 they were 25-2 let that sink in 25-2 reg season.:rolleyes:

Sarcastic or not, several of us do feel this way.

[engie]

Sub .500 in the SEC is not a given at this point.

We went 9-7 in conference or worse in 7 of the final 8 years of the last guy. This team could potentially make it to 10-8 in conference with a win tonight.

[Liverpooldawg]

Excited about a team that is sub .500 in the league and what is really appaling, overall? Ask again in a few weeks.

[engie]

Got your answer the first time... Gonna need a new grinder for that ax of yours...

[Dawg61]

Sub .500 in the SEC is not a given at this point.

We went 9-7 in conference or worse in 7 of the final 8 years of the last guy. This team could potentially make it to 10-8 in conference with a win tonight.

That'd leave you one game short. 11-7 is what you need to keep having basketball breath on here. Stupid bet bro. I'll be watching tonight. Tennessee is the surprise team in the SEC imo. Richardson, Punter and Moore can all play. They aren't very tall though and they have shit depth so I see no reason why we can't win tonight.

[msstate7]

Some of you dudes are pathetic. You actively pull against your university bc a coach you love is gone. My best advise would be to get a graduate degree from aTm and continue pulling for stansbury.

[CadaverDawg]

Definitely not excited yet, but I am back to caring a little. I am back to actually knowing the schedule and watching the games. Baby steps. A win tonight would go a long way

[engie]

We're 10-11 right now.

10-8 in the SEC = 17-14 entering the conference tournament. The Clayton St game counts as a regular season game, just not for RPI purposes. Per MSU official website and also NCAA official website.

I'll live up to my end of the bargain if I lose -- but you have to be pushing a really hard agenda to deny that this team, healthy, is somewhere close to a 20 win team. It's basically become what I expected it to be for the last month plus(and Sword still isn't healthy). The SEC is better top to bottom than I expected it to be as well. Tonight plays a big role in whether or not I have a chance. Lose this one and the odds go way down.

[defiantdog]

SEC Network of Stan and the road warriors this current team still looks like and smells like SHIT! And i don't care if the road warriors did not make sweet 16 they were 25-2 let that sink in 25-2 reg season.:rolleyes:

You trip me out..... it's like you're always drunk when you post about our basketball team.

[RougeDawg]

No. His inept coaching almost blew it this past Saturday. LSU had a horrible game and we won despite Ray. His personnel decisions and our non existent "in bounds" plays are horrific. We had to shoot 44% which was much better than LSU's 38% and take 14 more free throws to beat them. Bottom line LSU had an extremely off day. We just happened to benefit from it.

[Dawg61]

We're 10-11 right now.

10-8 in the SEC = 17-14 entering the conference tournament. The Clayton St game counts as a regular season game, just not for RPI purposes. Per MSU official website and also NCAA official website.

I'll live up to my end of the bargain if I lose -- but you have to be pushing a really hard agenda to deny that this team, healthy, is somewhere close to a 20 win team. It's basically become what I expected it to be for the last month plus(and Sword still isn't healthy). The SEC is better top to bottom than I expected it to be as well. Tonight plays a big role in whether or not I have a chance. Lose this one and the odds go way down.

Team is Jekyll and Hyde. Right now we are the good version but we're one injury away from being Hyde the team that lost to Upstate, McNeese and Arky St. Did you know the last time we played Tennessee we shot 44 free throws and only scored 48 points. We would of still lost to them 61-58 if EVERY fg we made had been a three. So Engie it's pretty damn hard for me to "buy in" to this team when we are an IJ Glass **** hair away from being the same 350th in assists team we were the first half of the season.

[RougeDawg]

Team is Jekyll and Hyde. Right now we are the good version but we're one injury away from being Hyde the team that lost to Upstate, McNeese and Arky St. Did you know the last time we played Tennessee we shot 44 free throws and only scored 48 points. We would of still lost to them 61-58 if EVERY fg we made had been a three. So Engie it's pretty damn hard for me to "buy in" to this team when we are an IJ Glass **** hair away from being the same 350th in assists team we were the first half of the season.

Exactly. This thread reminds me of people who try to prove global warming by one week of above average temperatures.

[HoopsDawg]

No. His inept coaching almost blew it this past Saturday. LSU had a horrible game and we won despite Ray. His personnel decisions and our non existent "in bounds" plays are horrific. We had to shoot 44% which was much better than LSU's 38% and take 14 more free throws to beat them. Bottom line LSU had an extremely off day. We just happened to benefit from it.

I do think Ray cost us the UGA game by not going box-in-one or denial earlier in the game on the kid that scored 37 points and went 7-7 from 3.

The key tonight will be IJ Ready. He has to limit his turnovers, particularly the unforced ones and he has to control the tempo and make open 3's. Now that Sword is back healthy, we go as IJ goes. And then you have the Fred/Travis duo. One can be off, but not both.

[Political Hack]

Exactly. This thread reminds me of people who try to prove global warming by one week of above average temperatures.

you don't believe in climate change?

[engie]

We were still a really bad team when we played Tennessee the first time...

[DudyDawg]

Excited, yes. Happy, no. Mainly excited bc I love the sport and am looking for any type of hope. Not happy with where we are. Those don't have to go hand in hand

[engie]

Excited, yes. Happy, no. Mainly excited bc I love the sport and am looking for any type of hope. Not happy with where we are. Those don't have to go hand in hand

Exactly. No one even remotely said they were happy with where we are at right now... That was straw man bs in order to shit on the thread.

[bobcat91]

No. Call me when we get a real coach and some players that look like they have seen a basketball before. The longer we waste our time on this cluster will be that much longer till we can be proud of winning again. This coach and team is beyond pathetic. Stans had to go but Strucklin self imposed the death penalty and some of you don't mind the scraps he throws you from the table.

[drunkernhelldawg]

No. His inept coaching almost blew it this past Saturday. LSU had a horrible game and we won despite Ray. His personnel decisions and our non existent "in bounds" plays are horrific. We had to shoot 44% which was much better than LSU's 38% and take 14 more free throws to beat them. Bottom line LSU had an extremely off day. We just happened to benefit from it.

You may know basketball better than I do, but you're plain old wrong here. It's absurd that you give our defense zero credit for the "extremely off day" that tourney contender LSU had Saturday. One bad game by us and you'll see that as proof that you're right. And you'll still be wrong.

[drunkernhelldawg]

Exactly. This thread reminds me of people who try to prove global warming by one week of above average temperatures.

The people who say there's global warming base their opinions on science. It's the deniers that use today's damn cold weather to say, "Hey look Alfred. No Global Warming here. What's with these freaky tree huggers?"

[msstate7]

Exactly. No one even remotely said they were happy with where we are at right now... That was straw man bs in order to shit on the thread.
As good as this site is, it's still impossible to have good basketball discussion here

[IMissJack]

We have improved over the last few weeks. However, that this team could conceivably go .500 in league play accentuates how bad the SEC is in Basketball overall. That is not a slap at our team, but the conference as a whole.

[TheRef]

The people who say there's global warming base their opinions on science. It's the deniers that use today's damn cold weather to say, "Hey look Alfred. No Global Warming here. What's with these freaky tree huggers?"

I'm not going to touch this one, guys....let's keep that to the Political board, shall we?

[Dawg61]

As good as this site is, it's still impossible to have good basketball discussion here

What we have here is a big gross stinky turd. Some like to put wrapping paper around it and call it a gift. Just call it like it is and it won't be difficult for you to have a basketball discussion on here. We are 3-5 in the SEC. We are 10-11 overall. We have losses to Upstate, McNeese St., Arkansas St. and TCU. We will miss postseason play for the third straight year barring a miracle. Are we playing better? Yes. Will I be watching tonight? Yes but I'm still very pissed about the unacceptable losses we had this year that have already eliminated us. We beat LSU but lost to three horrible teams. Ray doesn't get a pass for that. He's the HC. We can't fire Stansbury again so guess where blame falls this time. If you want everyone to be where you are with Ray then he has to hold up his end of the bargain and BEAT shitty OOC teams. I don't care that Sword, IJ and Ware were banged up. RAY MAKES MORE MONEY THAN UPSTATE, MCNEESE ST. AND ARKANSAS ST. HEAD COACHES COMBINED.

[engie]

We have improved over the last few weeks. However, that this team could conceivably go .500 in league play accentuates how bad the SEC is in Basketball overall. That is not a slap at our team, but the conference as a whole.

The SEC is hugely improved in basketball this year. Hugely improved. Palm has us getting 6 bids right now. One fewer than the Big12 and Big East, and the same number as the ACC and B1G.

[bgover4]

I'll be at the game tonight so lets hope for a big win!!!!! Not that i expect it, but i am hoping. Truthfully i just hope the good team shows up and we play a close game. I have little desire to watch the team that showed up at home to play UT.

[TheRef]

I'll be at the game tonight so lets hope for a big win!!!!!

I'll be watching...should be an interesting game for sure. Let's hope the men fair better than the women did in Knoxville.

[DudyDawg]

What we have here is a big gross stinky turd. Some like to put wrapping paper around it and call it a gift. Just call it like it is and it won't be difficult for you to have a basketball discussion on here. We are 3-5 in the SEC. We are 10-11 overall. We have losses to Upstate, McNeese St., Arkansas St. and TCU. We will miss postseason play for the third straight year barring a miracle. Are we playing better? Yes. Will I be watching tonight? Yes but I'm still very pissed about the unacceptable losses we had this year that have already eliminated us. We beat LSU but lost to three horrible teams. Ray doesn't get a pass for that. He's the HC. We can't fire Stansbury again so guess where blame falls this time. If you want everyone to be where you are with Ray then he has to hold up his end of the bargain and BEAT shitty OOC teams. I don't care that Sword, IJ and Ware were banged up. RAY MAKES MORE MONEY THAN UPSTATE, MCNEESE ST. AND ARKANSAS ST. HEAD COACHES COMBINED.

I completely agree. Our team has been flat out bad and ALL the blame goes on Ray. Those losses were utterly embarassing. But we are playing better (for what that is worth) and that has made me excited that maybe, just maybe, we can become at worst average enough to compete and then go hire someone to get us where we wanna be. Again, completely unhappy in the program, excited to see us play bc I want us so desperately to win games and I love the sport.

[Goat from MSU]

We can not ,you are right .Engie why bring this up .Are you trying to pissed Dawg61 off ,well it worked. The last 6 games we have gotten better each game ,but to lead Georgia by 8 and Ole Miss by 13 are games that we should not lose. I can now watch on tv and not get sick at my stomach so i will be watching tonight. We could go 7 and 3 out of last 10 ,so we will see.
As good as this site is, it's still impossible to have good basketball discussion here

[tcdog70]

The SEC is hugely improved in basketball this year. Hugely improved. Palm has us getting 6 bids right now. One fewer than the Big12 and Big East, and the same number as the ACC and B1G.


i am more excited than I have been. I have seen some good things. The truth is we should be competitive, we are an experienced team. Juniors and Sophs make up our team. Roq is a Sr. along with Bloodman. So this year we should have easily been a NIT team (and we might still be one). But we are a long ass way from where we once were. Talent will Help but better coaching is a must.

[msstate7]

What would we have to do to get in the CBI tournament?

(I'm not predicting a big run of wins. Just curious)

[CadaverDawg]

What would we have to do to get in the CBI tournament?

(I'm not predicting a big run of wins. Just curious)

Exist?

[msstate7]

Exist?

Be nice if just a winning record (still possible, but longshot) would get us in. Pretty sure aTm got in it last year and has seemingly gotten their program on the right track.

[thf24]

I'm fairly sure we got a CBI or CIT invite at least one of the two previous years and declined.

[Goat from MSU]

Will the SEC let us play in it ? I believe a break even or wininng record
What would we have to do to get in the CBI tournament?

(I'm not predicting a big run of wins. Just curious)

[engie]

Let's just get by UT tonight. It's a huge game. Win it and we can consider starting to have actual postseason aspirations again...

[msstate7]

Will the SEC let us play in it ? I believe a break even or wininng record

aTm was in it last year. They were 17-15.

This wasn't a good goal to start the season, but I think it's a good goal for us now. I hope we can get it done

[engie]

i am more excited than I have been. I have seen some good things. The truth is we should be competitive, we are an experienced team. Juniors and Sophs make up our team. Roq is a Sr. along with Bloodman. So this year we should have easily been a NIT team (and we might still be one). But we are a long ass way from where we once were. Talent will Help but better coaching is a must.

I'm actually with you on all this...There's been some head scratching stuff at times for sure...

I saw where my boy Jacobson took down Gregg Marshall by 16 Saturday too...

[engie]

aTm was in it last year. They were 17-15.

This wasn't a good goal to start the season, but I think it's a good goal for us now. I hope we can get it done

17-14 is what I'm hoping for.

The scary part is that a couple of Ray's best coaching jobs have been SEC Tourney games. We had no business making it through the first round the past 2 years. I dunno why we couldn't reel off a victory or two there this year if things went right...

[MadDawg]

What would we have to do to get in the CBI tournament?

(I'm not predicting a big run of wins. Just curious)

Be a very bad team.

[MadDawg]

Are you guys serious when you say you think we will go 7-3 in the SEC down the stretch? Assuming a loss to UK, that leaves 7-2 in the remaining 9 non-UK games. Y'all really think that's possible?

[engie]

@ UT
@ Arky
Bama
@ Mizzou
OM
Arky
Kentucky
@ SCe
@ Vandy
Mizzou

Quit projecting what you want to see. No one said they think we "will" go 7-3 down the stretch. Just that it's possible -- making it a logical goal. Goals and expectations are not the same thing. Lose tonight, no we can't. Win tonight, and it's very possible.

I do think tonight is the 3rd toughest remaining game, and matchups may bump that to 2nd toughest. Next toughest is @ Arky. After these next 2 on the road, I think we "can" win every game sans UK. That doesn't mean that I think we will. But I'm not conceding either one of the next two, nor anything else sans UK from here on out...

[TheRef]

I know it won't happen, but could you imagine if we WERE able to beat UK this year? Christ....the nation might explode with that.

[engie]

I just want to play them well and stick around for a half. We've jumped on em pretty good a few times under Ray only to run out of gas...

[msstate7]

I know it won't happen, but could you imagine if we WERE able to beat UK this year? Christ....the nation might explode with that.

There'd just be 100 posts saying ray almost cost us the win here

[Dawg61]

We are going to win tonight!! I feel it.

[engie]

Bump for more discussion...

We gonna get some up at Bud Walton on Saturday and watch Humphrey Coliseum spring back to life for the elephants!

[TheRef]

Bump for more discussion...

We gonna get some up at Bud Walton on Saturday and watch Humphrey Coliseum spring back to life for the elephants!

If we beat Arky at Bud Walton (which we haven't done often at all), then I think we might have to rethink this whole "Fire Rick Ray" thing

[Dawg61]

If we beat Arky at Bud Walton (which we haven't done often at all), then I think we might have to rethink this whole "Fire Rick Ray" thing

Ray has already earned next year for me with his win in Thompson-Boling tonight. We were damn fun to watch win tonight.

[msstate7]

Ray has already earned next year for me with his win in Thompson-Boling tonight for me. We were damn fun to watch win tonight.

This was surprising

[Dawg61]

This was surprising

Tonight I saw them in person. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them tonight. We shot the absolute lights out tonight.

[bgover4]

That was a fun time tonight. Glad I got to be there. I liked watching the team keep fighting. The place got a bit rowdy a time or two but they hung on and kept ut from building too much momentum. A lot of fight in this group. If Ray gets some recruits he will be alright. Ut is no push over this season. Proud of the dawgs tonight.

[Barking 13]

I know it won't happen, but could you imagine if we WERE able to beat UK this year? Christ....the nation might explode with that.

28-1*** lol