Basketball finish

[msstate7]

Vandy
At bama
At aTm
USCe
At om
Auburn

How many do you think we win? We have to win 3 to match last year's sec win total. To tell the truth, I'm pretty disappointed with our results so far. Last year, we lost 9 games by 6 or less, so these close losses this year are nothing new. All those close losses last year were supposed to become wins this year by adding a 5* and 2 more 4* players... It hasn't happened.

I'm not saying I want Howland fired or anything crazy like that, but I hope he steps up his game next year with all his own players save ready

[Coach34]

beat Auburn and thats it. Very disappointing 1st season for Howland

[Jacksondevildog]

Hard to win with Zappardo, Flat top don't want to shoot, and Daniels giving you shit off of the bench. Sword thinks he's Steph Curry and Newman won't step up consistently.

[klong-dog]

Yeah, I only see Auburn as a win. We might keep it close for awhile against Vandy, South Carolina and at OM but will still lose them in the second half. We'll lose double figures at A&M at Bama.

[MarketingBully]

The combo of Sword and Ready lost us 6-8 of the close games on the last possession so that isn't a Howland problem. This was all on the seniors why the season went the way it did. Disappointing? Yes, but in hind sight with these loser seniors should have been expected.

[CarolinaDawgs]

Im so over them. I seriously don't know what to expect from this team on a game to game basis. I almost wish that they wouldn't play anymore games so I didn't have to struggle through every one. These Ray boys needs to go on and get. I said Get!!! Im so sick of us being undersized and man handled every game with a lack of fire and emotion to go along with it. Simply they are getting beat on a lot of stuff they can control and thats the most disheartening thing.

[mstatefan91]

Disappointing season for sure but brighter days ahead.

On a different note, can we turn the lower level into a general admission type of seating once it becomes clear that 50% of the season ticket holders down there aren't going to show up for a game. It's ridiculous.

Want a better atmosphere? Let the fans fill the lower bowl.

[tcdog70]

I expected Better. But I have seen a team that couldn't guard my Grandmother in Mam to man defense turn into a team that now are decent in our defense effort and effectiveness. I have seen Q and Holman step up and become two players to build a winner with.

Everyone said Ray needed three years to recover from Stans and His team's that won twenty games every year. But you are disappointed with Howland after a partial year with Rays left-overs. WTF. Are y'all bat$hit crazy? Rejoice in Howland and the future that is coming soon to a Stadium near You. I am super positive about our basketball to come.

[HoopsDawg]

Disappointing season for sure but brighter days ahead.

On a different note, can we turn the lower level into a general admission type of seating once it becomes clear that 50% of the season ticket holders down there aren't going to show up for a game. It's ridiculous.

Want a better atmosphere? Let the fans fill the lower bowl.

Good point. If Stricklin isn't going to move the students back to mid-court, let everyone fill the lower deck at the under 16 timeout.

As for the season, we probably should have 3 more wins at this point, but does it really matter? This was always going to be a transition year. I thought we would get more from Malik and I expected improvement in Fred's shot, but those are the only surprises. Roq was very productive for us last year and Daniels hasn't filled that role. I expect a big jump next year.

[msstate7]

I expected Better. But I have seen a team that couldn't guard my Grandmother in Mam to man defense turn into a team that now are decent in our defense effort and effectiveness. I have seen Q and Holman step up and become two players to build a winner with.

Everyone said Ray needed three years to recover from Stans and His team's that won twenty games every year. But you are disappointed with Howland after a partial year with Rays left-overs. WTF. Are y'all bat$hit crazy? Rejoice in Howland and the future that is coming soon to a Stadium near You. I am super positive about our basketball to come.

I'm VERY happy that we have Howland as our coach. I'm not happy with this year though. I do think Howland will be much better when he has his own players

[cheat2win]

Howland has never had a very strong first year on the job win loss wise. Pumped for the future of this program. We get hurt so bad when our bench has to provide points, that will change soon. If Malik comes back next years team could be damn good.

[Coach34]

There's a reason we were predicted to be in the top half of the SEC this season- we have underachieved.

Recruiting is going extremely well though and better days are ahead

[Jacksondevildog]

Just think, we will have all of those 2016 signees together for at least two years plus we will have Brooks and Nic Weatherspoon signed for 2017. Robert Woodard is probably coming in 2018. The only player that will for sure not be here at that time, will be Newman. The talent level is about to increase exponentially.

[msstate7]

Just think, we will have all of those 2016 signees together for at least two years plus we will have Brooks and Nic Weatherspoon signed for 2017. Robert Woodard is probably coming too. The only player that will for sure not be here at that time, will be Newman. The talent level is about to increase exponentially.

It'll be interesting if Howland can keep his conference title streak in year 3 going. Hopefully Kentucky loses everyone after next season

[MarketingBully]

I'm VERY happy that we have Howland as our coach. I'm not happy with this year though. I do think Howland will be much better when he has his own players

Agreed. If the players actually did what Howland wanted them to do, we would have had a great year this year. You could tell we did everything he wanted against Arkansas and we crushed them. Howland knows his stuff but the players still have to go out and execute everything. Our seniors have let this team down both from a leadership perspective and not accepting their roles. We know they can do it because they have done it in a few of the games but they haven't done it consistently enough. Especially players like Daniels, Thomas, and Zuppado. If they could have contributed consistently 5-8 points a game at least every game, we win a lot more games. If Sword would have shaved 2-3 turnovers off his game, that would have made a difference. There are a lot of little things these seniors could have done and it would have made a difference in the total outcome of the season. They didn't and so we are where we are because of them.

[MarketingBully]

Just think, we will have all of those 2016 signees together for at least two years plus we will have Brooks and Nic Weatherspoon signed for 2017. Robert Woodard is probably coming in 2018. The only player that will for sure not be here at that time, will be Newman. The talent level is about to increase exponentially.

I'm almost wondering from a chemistry perspective if we would be better without Newman next year. Just something to think about.

[Jacksondevildog]

We will be better chemistry-wise without some of the seniors who never bought in to Howland.

[MarketingBully]

We will be better chemistry-wise without some of the seniors who never bought in to Howland.

See, I never understood this shit and I know the rumors are true regarding this because you see it on the court. We have seen what Howland wants to do on offense by sharing the ball in only a couple of games (Northern Colorado, Arkansas) and have seen what he wants to do on defense in only one game (the Arkansas game). Those two games will be what our offense and defense will look like consistently next year as the players that come in next year above else will want to win. This IMO is why the seniors were the biggest losers of all time.

[mstatefan91]

See, I never understood this shit and I know the rumors are true regarding this because you see it on the court. We have seen what Howland wants to do on offense by sharing the ball in only a couple of games (Northern Colorado, Arkansas) and have seen what he wants to do on defense in only one game (the Arkansas game). Those two games will be what our offense and defense will look like consistently next year as the players that come in next year above else will want to win. This IMO is why the seniors were the biggest losers of all time.

Chicken has no concept of passing back out to an open shooter after driving the lane. Instead, he takes on two or three defenders everytime.

IJ will try one play on offense. If it doesn't work then he dribbles till there is 5 or 6 seconds left.

Fred has killed us on fast break this year. If you pass to Fred out of a fast break then you essentially just reset yourselves to a half court offense because he won't be aggressive. He will pump fake and then pass it back. 9.999/10 times

[msstate7]

Chicken has no concept of passing back out to an open shooter after driving the lane. Instead, he takes on two or three defenders everytime.

IJ will try one play on offense. If it doesn't work then he dribbles till there is 5 or 6 seconds left.

Fred has killed us on fast break this year. If you pass to Fred out of a fast break then you essentially just reset yourselves to a half court offense because he won't be aggressive. He will pump fake and then pass it back. 9.999/10 times

Or Fred will pass, fumble, whatever it takes to do to turn the ball over on the break

[Billy17]

I see us winning 2 of those. I havnt followed much this year. Do we have alot of players coming back next year? im ready for some baseball! I cant wait to catch some games I havent lived in MS for over 10 years glad to be back

[Political Hack]

There's a reason we were predicted to be in the top half of the SEC this season- we have underachieved.

Recruiting is going extremely well though and better days are ahead

I agree with this. We should've been better with the personnel we had. Injuries hurt us early for sure, along with the lack of depth. However, the Sr's playing like freshmen at times and the freshman playing like freshmen at times was too much to overcome.

We should've pushed to get to .500 in conference play after a rough OOC schedule. You could expect growing pains early on, but you would've thought we'd have gotten into a good groove and found a rotation that works for us. I love Howland but I thought he could've used his matchups offensively in the half court sets much more effectively. Ido with IJ, getting Zupp the ball with his back to the basket when he's got an undersized guy in him, using Q as a swing man on the baseline, isolating chicken and letting him drive, running a hi-lo with Ware given how well he's shot, etc... That would've helped, but when your defense and rebounding is crap (can't out wit someone who just out rebounds you), all the offense in the world won't save you.

[Dawg61]

We are atrocious down low on defense. We have no depth there. We still need to sign another 4. Holman isn't ready to start.

[SDDawg]

Schedule was too tough, didn't have health earlier in the season and we underachieved. Tough combination. Time to clean house and move onto next season.

[BiscuitEater]

There's a reason we were predicted to be in the top half of the SEC this season- we have underachieved.

Agree that they have been disappointing. Not to start an argument but 'who' predicted a 'top half' finish? Media picked us 8th of 14 which is bottom half. Just curious.

Most I recall from preseason had us 8th, 9th or 10th.

[lachepas565]

Sword has had a weird career and I agree that he's mainly just a volume shooter that puts up some numbers, but I think many are too quick to write off this senior class, specifically Gavin Ware. Ware is having a really good season and I think he will leave a big hole next year. He's shooting 62% from the field, getting to the line, and rebounding well. Daniels and Thomas probably won't be as tough to replace, but have both had nice careers.

This year has been much worse than I expected. Maybe the seniors are at fault for some chemistry issues, but I don't think the play on the floor out of that group has been that bad.

[msstate7]

Sword has had a weird career and I agree that he's mainly just a volume shooter that puts up some numbers, but I think many are too quick to write off this senior class, specifically Gavin Ware. Ware is having a really good season and I think he will leave a big hole next year. He's shooting 62% from the field, getting to the line, and rebounding well. Daniels and Thomas probably won't be as tough to replace, but have both had nice careers.

This year has been much worse than I expected. Maybe the seniors are at fault for some chemistry issues, but I don't think the play on the floor out of that group has been that bad.

Ware is a pretty dang good offensive player, but he's equally as bad (maybe worse) at defense. You absolutely can't count on ware bc he gets in foul trouble so much. If herard and ado are even close to projected right, we'll be better off than with ware bc we'll have a true post player on the court at all times. Ware is our only true post presence this year... Who would've thought r. Johnson was gonna be such a huge loss?

[MarketingBully]

Ware is a pretty dang good offensive player, but he's equally as bad (maybe worse) at defense. You absolutely can't count on ware bc he gets in foul trouble so much. If herard and ado are even close to projected right, we'll be better off than with ware bc we'll have a true post player on the court at all times. Ware is our only true post presence this year... Who would've thought r. Johnson was gonna be such a huge loss?

Agreed, if we had Johnson this year, we would have at least six more wins. He was a glue guy who did what it took to win. We were banking on Daniels being that guy this year. As we saw, that thought turned out to be completely false and screwed us. In order to win, you need a Vincent/Johnson type.