Interesting nugget I just heard

[Coach34]

Since 2004- teams ranked 1-12 in the Week 6 AP basketball poll have gone on and won the National Championship.

[msstate7]

Maybe #17 wins it this year. When I was in Vegas in October, I bet us winning a natty.

[SteelCurtain74]

I won't go so far to predict a championship, but I do think this team has a good chance for sweet 16 and possibly elite 8. Current stats for the team:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/teams/MISSST/mississippi-state-bulldogs/stats/regular/

The Marquette win is going to be huge for us. They are averaging 81.1 ppg. Jans held them to 55.

I would like to see us get our FT % over 70%. Also, I would like to get our ppg up to around 75, currently at 69.7

We seem to defend the 3 well, so that offsets somewhat our poor shooting from 3.

Regardless, this is a much more entertaining brand of basketball to watch than what we've endured the last few years.

[Saltydog]

I won't go so far to predict a championship, but I do think this team has a good chance for sweet 16 and possibly elite 8. Current stats for the team:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/teams/MISSST/mississippi-state-bulldogs/stats/regular/

The Marquette win is going to be huge for us. They are averaging 81.1 ppg. Jans held them to 55.

I would like to see us get our FT % over 70%. Also, I would like to get our ppg up to around 75, currently at 69.7

We seem to defend the 3 well, so that offsets somewhat our poor shooting from 3.

Regardless, this is a much more entertaining brand of basketball to watch than what we've endured the last few years.

That PPG isn't likely to go up considering we're starting league play in 10 days. Shooting or lack thereof will keep this team in the middle of the pack in the league. Great D can't completely mask our offensive ineptitude. We get a guy or two in foul trouble and we're in deep doo doo.

[HoopsDawg]

Gonzaga, UCLA and UK are all capable of winning the title this year.

[SteelCurtain74]

That PPG isn't likely to go up considering we're starting league play in 10 days. Shooting or lack thereof will keep this team in the middle of the pack in the league. Great D can't completely mask our offensive ineptitude. We get a guy or two in foul trouble and we're in deep doo doo.

I don't expect us to start shooting lights out, but if we can be more proficient at the free throw line and also find ways to get to the line more often I think we can improve it some.

We are currently 8th in the league in free throw attempts. Alabama is 1st and has almost 100 more attempts through 11 games, which translates into almost 8 more attempts per game.

Tolu is going to be double teamed and unless we are having a good night outside, the defense will be packed in. He's should get plenty of opportunities to get to the line.

[TUSK]

I don't expect us to start shooting lights out, but if we can be more proficient at the free throw line and also find ways to get to the line more often I think we can improve it some.

We are currently 8th in the league in free throw attempts. Alabama is 1st and has almost 100 more attempts through 11 games, which translates into almost 8 more attempts per game.

Tolu is going to be double teamed and unless we are having a good night outside, the defense will be packed in. He's should get plenty of opportunities to get to the line.

nB4RECdoinWerk.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

I figure since we cant hit the broad side of the barn from outside we will drive to the hoop more

[TaleofTwoDogs]

Alabama is 1st and has almost 100 more attempts through 11 games, which translates into almost 8 more attempts per game.



Do the Refs favor Bama in basketball too??? Asking for a friend.

[smootness]

Since 2004- teams ranked 1-12 in the Week 6 AP basketball poll have gone on and won the National Championship.

Wait - what does this mean, exactly? Are you saying that every champion since then has been ranked in the week 6 top 12?

[Coach34]

Are you saying that every champion since then has been ranked in the week 6 top 12?

yes

[starkvegasdawg]

I don't expect us to start shooting lights out, but if we can be more proficient at the free throw line and also find ways to get to the line more often I think we can improve it some.

We are currently 8th in the league in free throw attempts. Alabama is 1st and has almost 100 more attempts through 11 games, which translates into almost 8 more attempts per game.

Tolu is going to be double teamed and unless we are having a good night outside, the defense will be packed in. He's should get plenty of opportunities to get to the line.

When is the last time we were a good FT shooting team? It just seems like we've sucked at the line since Stansbury.

[SteelCurtain74]

When is the last time we were a good FT shooting team? It just seems like we've sucked at the line since Stansbury.

We were decent under Howland. His teams were routinely over 70%. His highest year, we shot 75% for the year. In his 1st season, we finished tied for 1st in the league in FT%. We finished 4th another year and 6th another year. To be fair, we had some horrible years at the line. One year we finished last.

My point with improving our free throw percentage and attempts is I don't see us improving greatly from 3 or from the field. Maybe DJ or Davis gets on a hot streak but as a team, I don't think it improves that much. The defense will be there but we will have to keep teams under 65-70 ppg to be competitive. The question then is how can you generate more offense/scoring especially if Tolu is doubled? As someone mentioned, our guards have to drive to the basket more and/or you have to get to the FT line more.

[Coach34]

We are actually improving our FT shooting already. The last 5 games we are 81/108 off the line- which is 75%