DJ Jeffries

[Cloak]

To the Good Guys -

https://twitter.com/lildjj0/status/1384160060125827083?s=20

[BeardoMSU]

Booyah!

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

To the Good Guys -

https://twitter.com/lildjj0/status/1384160060125827083?s=20

BOOM!

[Cooterpoot]

One more piece left and we should find out if Howland is legit or not as an X and Os guy. The talent will be here.

[msstate7]

Team is shaping up nicely. I expect considerable jumps from cam and fountain too

[PGHBulldogBG]

One more piece left and we should find out if Howland is legit or not as an X and Os guy. The talent will be here.

I will exercise my right to remain silent on that, but he has done a great job getting Brooks and Jeffries. We will see how next year plays out and hopefully we can get back to the tournament

[Commercecomet24]

One more piece left and we should find out if Howland is legit or not as an X and Os guy. The talent will be here.

Yep no excuses this coming year.

[msstate7]

I will exercise my right to remain silent on that, but he has done a great job getting Brooks and Jeffries. We will see how next year plays out and hopefully we can get back to the tournament

What was your prediction, 0 of the 2?

[Todd4State]

Team is shaping up nicely. I expect considerable jumps from cam and fountain too
I'm wondering if Fountain can be our sixth man off the bench?

[IngomarDawg]

I saw someone post on another thread the possibility of adding another transfer. For someone not exactly connected, who else are we looking at?

[Cooterpoot]

I saw someone post on another thread the possibility of adding another transfer. For someone not exactly connected, who else are we looking at?

Looking for a PG. Oregon transfer leads the way.

[R2Dawg]

I am ready for some basketball - Mississippi State Style. We have something to look forward to next winter.

[Bulldog1]

Our roster is loaded but the rest the SEC is gonna be stacked as well. Will be a great year of basketball

[Hot Rock]

SEC may be the deepest league next year.

That will probably translate to lots of tourney teams and success and maybe just maybe State will get all these parts together to make a deep post season run. It does look promising.

[jdelta02]

Any thoughts on utilizing Cameron Matthews as a point guard? Remember Ohio State's Coach Thad Matta successfully moving 6-7 Evan Turner from the wing to point guard. Was mentioned that Turner had never played point guard and was prone to making mistakes as a ball handler. He ended up becoming one of the best point guards to come through their program.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Any thoughts on utilizing Cameron Matthews as a point guard? Remember Ohio State's Coach Thad Matta successfully moving 6-7 Evan Turner from the wing to point guard. Was mentioned that Turner had never played point guard and was prone to making mistakes as a ball handler. He ended up becoming one of the best point guards to come through their program.

No not at all. DJ Jeffries could be that type of player.

[Coach34]

Good job by the Miss State family stepping it up to get things done as well as Howland and the staff. We should be a good basketball team next year

[ZedFedder]

Saw where it is DePaul and MSU for Oregon PG transfer Jalen Terry. The only problem is that DePaul's new HC is a former Oregon assistant.

https://twitter.com/JalenTerry/status/1384901686641238017

[maroonmania]

One more piece left and we should find out if Howland is legit or not as an X and Os guy. The talent will be here.

Not sure there is any mystery about Howland as an X and O guy. We pretty much know the following:

1. Howland's teams will play a hardnosed fundamental man-to-man defense and will not, under almost any circumstance, play zone defense.

2. Howland's teams will operate offensively pretty effectively against a man-to-man defense but tend to struggle against any match up or zone type defense (probably because we never practice against it).

3. Howland's teams will often struggle against a pressing team but will only press themselves due to dire circumstances normally at the end of a game.

Howland is about the most old-school, straight forward, no frills, vanilla coach I have ever seen when it comes to Xs and Os. We are almost never going to beat an opponent because of some innovative in-game coaching move we make. Our adjustments are almost always limited to responding to things the opponent has decided to do against us. Doesn't mean we can't win with this approach but I personally wish we would do something every now and then that catches an opponent offguard that they didn't prepare for. That just really doesn't happen under Howland.

[Coach34]

We didn’t have problems against zone defenses when we had Peters and Spoon. Our problem against zone the last 2 seasons has been our lack of 3 point shooting.

[BayouDawg]

We didn’t have problems against zone defenses when we had Peters and Spoon. Our problem against zone the last 2 seasons has been our lack of 3 point shooting.

I dont know if thats correct. Shooting a team out of a zone isnt the best method. Dribble penetration and moving the ball from one side to the other. That was the killer against zone for us. Too often the ball never moved from one side of the court. You have to get into the teeth of the zone at the free throw line or short corner.

[maroonmania]

I dont know if thats correct. Shooting a team out of a zone isnt the best method. Dribble penetration and moving the ball from one side to the other. That was the killer against zone for us. Too often the ball never moved from one side of the court. You have to get into the teeth of the zone at the free throw line or short corner.

Plus Q could create his own shot against pretty much any defense. Not sure we have anyone like him right now although DJ got much better going to the basket this year. Peters was just super quick.

[Coach34]

I dont know if thats correct. Shooting a team out of a zone isnt the best method. Dribble penetration and moving the ball from one side to the other. That was the killer against zone for us. Too often the ball never moved from one side of the court. You have to get into the teeth of the zone at the free throw line or short corner.

A) Peters could penetrate the zone and help us break it down. We also had Carter and Nick could help as well.
B) Teams run zone to force more outside shots- and that is simply going to happen because of the way they pack it in. 2 ways to beat a zone- shoot them out of it (like Dook did to Stands in the NCAA Tourney or penetrate it and get inside. If you dont have the shooters to stretch the zone some- penetration is that much harder.

Bottom line- It takes shooters to take advantage of a zone. Nobody is saying you have to shoot 35 three-balls vs a zone- but if you go 3-13 against a zone from 3 you are going to have a long night. It's much harder to break down a zone when you dont have shooters. Which was my point

[BayouDawg]

A) Peters could penetrate the zone and help us break it down. We also had Carter and Nick could help as well.
B) Teams run zone to force more outside shots- and that is simply going to happen because of the way they pack it in. 2 ways to beat a zone- shoot them out of it (like Dook did to Stands in the NCAA Tourney or penetrate it and get inside. If you dont have the shooters to stretch the zone some- penetration is that much harder.

Bottom line- It takes shooters to take advantage of a zone. Nobody is saying you have to shoot 35 three-balls vs a zone- but if you go 3-13 against a zone from 3 you are going to have a long night. It's much harder to break down a zone when you dont have shooters. Which was my point

We werent good against a zone for the most part even with shooters. Too often we just passed the ball around the perimeter of the zone and throw up a contested 3. Peters was usually trying to go iso against a zone like a genius. Although Q was pretty good against a zone Ill give ya that.

[jdelta02]

If the men's basketball team had to play today......

- DJ Jeffries
- Iverson Molinar
- Derek Fountain/Cameron Matthews
- Garrison Brooks
- Tolu Smith

(Notes) DJ Stewart status pending. Also, Coach Howland indicated possibly adding to the roster.

[msstate7]

If the men's basketball team had to play today......

- DJ Jeffries
- Iverson Molinar
- Derek Fountain/Cameron Matthews
- Garrison Brooks
- Tolu Smith

(Notes) DJ Stewart status pending. Also, Coach Howland indicated possibly adding to the roster.

Jeffries can be the primary ball handler?

[jdelta02]

Jeffries can be the primary ball handler?

Coach Howland spoke very highly of his ability to play in the backcourt, his ball handing, and playmaking. Indicated that Jeffries is good at creating for his teammates....an option in the backcourt.

[BiscuitEater]

Any thoughts on utilizing Cameron Matthews as a point guard?

NO! Don't really think that is an option, thankfully! Do you think someone that shot 7 of26 (26.9%) 3 pointers and 10 of 32 (31.3%) from the Free Throw line being the 'primary' ball handler?

The 38 to 35 Assist to T.O. stat should tell you all you need to know.

This team is 'begging' for a true PG that can come in when needed like when the opposing team starts pressing. Howland teams historically 'panic' and give winnable games away. (See '20-'21 season home games with OM & Vandy).

[msstate7]

NO! Don't really think that is an option, thankfully! Do you think someone that shot 7 of26 (26.9%) 3 pointers and 10 of 32 (31.3%) from the Free Throw line being the 'primary' ball handler?

The 38 to 35 Assist to T.O. stat should tell you all you need to know.

This team is 'begging' for a true PG that can come in when needed like when the opposing team starts pressing. Howland teams historically 'panic' and give winnable games away. (See '20-'21 season home games with OM & Vandy).

Don't know about being our primary handler, but I think he's a really good passer. I think he's gonna have a good career here even after a really tough freshman year offensively

[BiscuitEater]

If the men's basketball team had to play today......

- DJ Jeffries
- Iverson Molinar
- Derek Fountain/Cameron Matthews
- Garrison Brooks
- Tolu Smith

(Notes) DJ Stewart status pending. Also, Coach Howland indicated possibly adding to the roster.

Stewart, Molinar, Fountain/Matthews, Smith could rarely beat a half/full court press against horrible teams last year; how does adding Jeffries and/or Brooks and substracting a true PG (Smith) beat one next year. Agree there will be an increase in talent BUT NOT ability to handle ANY type of press.

[BiscuitEater]

Don't know about being our primary handler, but I think he's a really good passer. I think he's gonna have a good career here even after a really tough freshman year offensively

He is one of our best defenders and may be our best on-ball defender BUT his shooting is horrid. He shouldn't be 'allowed' to shoot outside 4 feet (he also had problems completing lay-ups and dunks).

Hopefully, shooting improves BUT he is not a PG.

[R2Dawg]

Jeffries can be the primary ball handler?

That would be Molinar but Jeffries can play 2 guard - see NIT title game where he looked good.