WE'RE BACK!!!!!!

[Political Hack]

thank you for making basketball a priority again. Howland, Malik, etc... the Hump will be rocking again. I'm jacked.

[msstate7]

Outstanding

[Dawg496]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDX30qbVAAENmyx.jpg

[coastdoglover]

Me too! The 3 year de emphasis of basketball is over and brighter days are ahead


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDX30qbVAAENmyx.jpg

[smootness]

Anybody else's heart sink when he said 'University of...'? Dang.

On a side not, those jerseys need to be our permanent jerseys. Adidas puts out some crap, but they also put out some great stuff. If we can make that permanent like the Anniversary jerseys for football, we'll be in business.

[Political Hack]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDX30qbVAAENmyx.jpg

Kid was destined to wear maroon. We're going into March Madness with a purpose next season. It's been so long!!!

[preachermatt83]

How land has done more here in 2 months than Ray did in 3 years.

[mstatefan91]

How land has done more here in 2 months than Ray did in 3 years.

Preach!

[justwin]

Is it fair to say MSU just signed the 2 best players in MS this year?

Good job Howland.

Really hope Howland takes a page from Mullen and consistently lands the top 1-2 MS guys year in and out as it seems there is always at least 1 future NBA player coming out. Missed out on Booker last year and some others during Ray's tenure.

[hells bells]

Anybody else's heart sink when he said 'University of...'? Dang.

On a side not, those jerseys need to be our permanent jerseys. Adidas puts out some crap, but they also put out some great stuff. If we can make that permanent like the Anniversary jerseys for football, we'll be in business.

Smoot I was sitting on the side of the road and almost had a MI and dirty drawers at the same time.

[msstate7]

1 down, 1 to go...

Come on kasongo!

[fishwater99]

Is it fair to say MSU just signed the 2 best players in MS this year?

Good job Howland.

Really hope Howland takes a page from Mullen and consistently lands the top 1-2 MS guys year in and out as it seems there is always at least 1 future NBA player coming out. Missed out on Booker last year and some others during Ray's tenure.

Weatherspoon is pretty good too.

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

I know this is "creepy" to some, but what the hell. It's a brighter than normal Maroon Friday...

Who is the 9th grader at Columbus that I hear will be a top 10 player before he graduates? Anybody know who this is?

We need to make sure he is around the program a lot over the next three years.

[Coach34]

That's Woodard's kid in Columbus. He will be a dawg

[Raytoraid83]

I know this is "creepy" to some, but what the hell. It's a brighter than normal Maroon Friday...

Who is the 9th grader at Columbus that I hear will be a top 10 player before he graduates? Anybody know who this is?

We need to make sure he is around the program a lot over the next three years.

Brooks has him locked down

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

That's Woodard's kid in Columbus. He will be a dawg

Great. Good to know. Is he really projected to be that good...as in top 10? I know that's hard to answer on someone that young because you don't know who all else is out there at that age. But you can definitely spot a "can't miss prospect", as in if he continues to progress and keep his head straight, he definitely has the potential to be a great player.

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

Brooks has him locked down

One more reason to have kept him around.

[Dawg61]

Anybody else's heart sink when he said 'University of...'? Dang.

On a side not, those jerseys need to be our permanent jerseys. Adidas puts out some crap, but they also put out some great stuff. If we can make that permanent like the Anniversary jerseys for football, we'll be in business.

THIS!!! Love the jerseys anytime they don't have that terrible Mississippi State legal document banner on it. I wanna see this jersey with just MSU on the front.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Brooks has him locked down

Brooks son, Garrison is a 2017 PF who we have locked up too. Anybody who was complaining about letting Brooks go during the coaching search was just totally out of the loop.

[Political Hack]

Howland has the chance to make us a perennial Sweet 16 challenger. We may see a dip in year 2, but we're coming out the gate damn strong.

Remember when I constantly bitched about how poorly Ray managed our roster? This is what i was talking about. In year 1 we have legitimate big boy talent.

1/2/3 = Malik, IJ, Chicken, Fred, Weatherspoon, Houston
4/5 = Zupp, Kasongo, Ware, Black

That's a roster that can compete in the SEC... in year 1, despite the cupboard being bare when he arrived.

[HoopsCoach21]

Great. Good to know. Is he really projected to be that good...as in top 10? I know that's hard to answer on someone that young because you don't know who all else is out there at that age. But you can definitely spot a "can't miss prospect", as in if he continues to progress and keep his head straight, he definitely has the potential to be a great player.


I don't know where he will end up being ranked, but if he develops the way he is projected he will be an elite level prospect. I've seen him play a few times and coached against him a couple as well and I can tell you for his age he is very much legit.

[smootness]

I do NOT want to derail this thread or start an argument. But I just want to explain that when I, and I assume others, said the Stans move was a good one, this is what I meant. It was never a guarantee the hire after him would be better, but it still gave us the chance to take the next step. And even though Ray didn't work out, we still had the chance to make another hire and take the next step, and it looks like we have.

I will always support taking a risk to potentially get better over staying merely decent. Every time.

[Dawg61]

I do NOT want to derail this thread or start an argument. But I just want to explain that when I, and I assume others, said the Stans move was a good one, this is what I meant. It was never a guarantee the hire after him would be better, but it still gave us the chance to take the next step. And even though Ray didn't work out, we still had the chance to make another hire and take the next step, and it looks like we have.

I will always support taking a risk to potentially get better over staying merely decent. Every time.

Completely agree

[TrapGame]

How land has done more here in 2 months than Ray did in 3 years.

So sad...but so true.

[chef dixon]

So does Malik line up in the slot or do we put him out wide with his length? I mean we are getting log jammed in the slot now with Ross starting and a number of guys people are high on backing him up.

[smootness]

So does Malik line up in the slot or do we put him out wide with his length? I mean we are getting log jammed in the slot now with Ross starting and a number of guys people are high on backing him up.

He's 6'4", he's an outside guy all the way.

[C222]

Howland has the chance to make us a perennial Sweet 16 challenger. We may see a dip in year 2, but we're coming out the gate damn strong.

Remember when I constantly bitched about how poorly Ray managed our roster? This is what i was talking about. In year 1 we have legitimate big boy talent.

1/2/3 = Malik, IJ, Chicken, Fred, Weatherspoon, Houston
4/5 = Zupp, Kasongo, Ware, Black

That's a roster that can compete in the SEC... in year 1, despite the cupboard being bare when he arrived.

I don't think we will take too much of a dip in year 2. Our 2016 is going to be loaded. We will have 6 scholarships open and should have a top 10-15 class.

[smootness]

2016 will be very interesting. We'll have:

Ready - senior
Houston - junior
Black - junior
Weatherspoon - sophomore
Strugg - freshman/sophomore
Zuppardo - senior?
Kasongo - junior?
Ndoye - junior?
Dunlap - sophomore?

So probably 5-6 open spots with a decent, though not great, roster. We will definitely need a couple of immediate impact recruits (as in top 50) if we want to approach what we will probably do next year.

I think it will be a little step back but will set us up to be pretty good in 2017-2018.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

2016 will be very interesting. We'll have:

Ready - senior
Houston - junior
Black - junior
Weatherspoon - sophomore
Strugg - freshman/sophomore
Zuppardo - senior?
Kasongo - junior?
Ndoye - junior?
Dunlap - sophomore?

So probably 5-6 open spots with a decent, though not great, roster. We will definitely need a couple of immediate impact recruits (as in top 50) if we want to approach what we will probably do next year.

I think it will be a little step back but will set us up to be pretty good in 2017-2018.

I think the 2016 class starts with 3 guys. Lamar Peters, Mario Kegler, & James Banks. Those are the 3 guys we've targeted at PG, SF, & Center. They're essential to that 2016 team because they all fit a position of need. You fill in the remaining 2 or 3 spots with another big & 2 more wings. These 3 guys are top level guys that can contribute day 1 but will be in college a few years. I won't be surprised if 1 or 2 of those 3 are committed by the time their season started.

[smootness]

Certainly, landing those 3 would be huge.