Jan is the guy we have been looking for since 1996

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Originally Posted by EdwardDrayton

Not quite ready to annoint him at that level yet. We are a much improved team but we have in-game stretches of shifting into low IQ lapses. We're a solid top twenty team but we will have to be better to beat top ten teams more often than not.

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Jan got 2 teams to the NCAA's that couldnt ****ing shoot. That is more impressive than what is going on right now. He has players that can shoot it now. Notice nobody is complaining now about FT shooting? We shoot 70% as a team now because we have players that can put the bal in the basket. It's always irked me fans blaming the HC about FT shooting. FT shooting will always correlate with a team's shooting percentage from the field

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Originally Posted by Political Hack

He hasn't earned it yet. Williams made a Final Four. But we have an elite coach and I think he's about to prove it. We are fundamental and incredibly tough defensively, even against teams that move the ball well. We have bigs that can run the court and play end to end with soft hands and good feet. We understand how to move the ball and play with leverage on offense. And we can shoot. And we don't $?|+ the bed at the free throw line. I really like this squad.

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We were MUCH better from the line against Vandy. But we're either last or next to last from the line in the conference. Hoping the Vandy game begins a better trend but at the moment it's still a concern.

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Originally Posted by EdwardDrayton

We were MUCH better from the line against Vandy. But we're either last or next to last from the line in the conference. Hoping the Vandy game begins a better trend but at the moment it's still a concern.

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They look much improved to me coming out of the break. Numbers are still bad overall, but it looks like they've put in some work and are getting more comfortable. And we have shooters. Over 75% as a team with 1 or 2 guys you can get the ball to at the end of games that don't miss is all you need.

We are up almost 4% at the line over last year

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Originally Posted by Coach34

The 1995 and 1996 basketball teams were the best basketball teams we have had in modern history. We have been looking for that formula ever since and it looks like we finally found it.

Richard Williams was a really good basketball coach. Structured. Disciplined. Preached defense and toughness. His offenses were good when he had players and tough to watch when the talent level decreased. The down side of Williams was that he hated recruiting. Williams had to have a guy that could do the lionshare of that part for him. In the early years of his tenure he had John Brady handling most of that for him and that brought us our first SEC basketball title in 28 years in 1991. Once Brady left he brought in Rick Standsbury as his main recruiting guy along with Robert Kirby. Those guys brought in the bunch that led us to the great teams of 95 and 96

Exit Williams and Stands gets promoted to HC. He and Kirby continue to scour the lands for players and did pretty well. However, losing the quality coaching of Williams hampered the program from achieving previous heights. They were able to add another SEC title to the rafters but unfortunately wilted each March.

It's been another 29 years now since 1996 with us being unable to revive that magic until now. State has found their coaching/recruiting combo this time in one guy. A guy that has the X's and O's game but also has the vision and drive to bring in the players to make that vision happen. Enjoy what we are watching this season fellas. It's been awhile.

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Richard Williams is my favorite all time MSU basketball coach.

We'll see how this season plays out but it looks really good so far.

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Originally Posted by Coach34

We are up almost 4% at the line over last year

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We rank 223rd in FT%.

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Originally Posted by Coach34

Jan got 2 teams to the NCAA's that couldnt ****ing shoot. That is more impressive than what is going on right now. He has players that can shoot it now. Notice nobody is complaining now about FT shooting? We shoot 70% as a team now because we have players that can put the bal in the basket. It's always irked me fans blaming the HC about FT shooting. FT shooting will always correlate with a team's shooting percentage from the field

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Said every coach ever to their AD. "I'm not responsible; you can't hold me accountable." Coaches are responsible and accountable for every aspect of their team's performance. It's their job and they get paid handsomely for it.

FT% in many cases goes back to the players junior high days when they weren't properly taught how to shoot the free pitch.

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Originally Posted by EdwardDrayton

We rank 223rd in FT%.

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because our two worst shooters- Matthews and Nwoko have taken about 1/3 of our FT attempts. Remove those 2? The rest of the team shoots 79.3%

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Originally Posted by Political Hack

We're going to lose games. Some of them will be a players fault. Some will be on Jans. And there will be 10 meltdown threads between now the final buzzer of the SEC tourney. But this team is going to be an incredibly tough out come NCAA tournament time.

I hope we travel well as a fan base this post-season. It'll make a HUGE difference. If the committee is friendly, we could make a big run.

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Then we better hope for the regional in Lexington or Raleigh. I just don't see our fan base traveling to Providence, Seattle, Wichita, Cleveland, Denver, or Milwaukee. And we need to find a way into the South Regional and get to play in Atlanta for a possible S16 and E8.

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Originally Posted by Political Hack

We're going to lose games. Some of them will be a players fault. Some will be on Jans. And there will be 10 meltdown threads between now the final buzzer of the SEC tourney. But this team is going to be an incredibly tough out come NCAA tournament time.

I hope we travel well as a fan base this post-season. It'll make a HUGE difference. If the committee is friendly, we could make a big run.

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Agreed on all counts.

ESPN had an article yesterday basically re-ranking the top 75 teams. They had 4 teams in tier 1 (natty contenders) about 10 teams in tier 2 including Memphis and we were at the top of tier 3. They seemed to indicate that we still needed to show more and the outcome of our first 5 games would tell the tale. Head scratcher.

We seem to ALWAYS fall into the show us more category no matter how good our teams are. The metrics AND head to head already show that Memphis isn?t at our level. It?s a damn joke with some of these publications

Historically about 80% of the NCAA's budget came from the basketball tournament so they've always prioritized getting butts in seats. Hopefully we're the top 3 or 4 seed rather than the last 2, 3, or 4 seed.

Raleigh -> Atlanta
Lexington -> Atlanta

Either of those happen, watch out.

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Originally Posted by Lord McBuckethead

2003-2004 dawgs were as good. They just ran into Xavier.
this team really has the parts. Stay focused boys for 3 months. Take care of your bodies and stay away from the skirts except for the night after the game.

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Absolutely. They got to #2 in the country. Yeah we lost in tourney but that might be the best overall team assembled. Road warriors 8-0 on road in SEC. Roberts, Vincent (Cam is modern day Vincent), Bowers, Power, Frazier, and a good bench.

The Rhodes, Gordon teams were pretty good too.

Stans had some good teams just lost it in the end, kinda like Jackie but both had the longest stretch of success in MSU history in their sport.

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Originally Posted by RockyDog

Agreed on all counts.

ESPN had an article yesterday basically re-ranking the top 75 teams. They had 4 teams in tier 1 (natty contenders) about 10 teams in tier 2 including Memphis and we were at the top of tier 3. They seemed to indicate that we still needed to show more and the outcome of our first 5 games would tell the tale. Head scratcher.

We seem to ALWAYS fall into the show us more category no matter how good our teams are. The metrics AND head to head already show that Memphis isn?t at our level. It?s a damn joke with some of these publications

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Ha, and OleMiss only shows a cup cake schedule but they get a pass.

Going to be 12 sec teams in the big dance and none of the first weekend host sites are in the south. That sucks. All 12 will be hoping for Raleigh or Lexington.

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Originally Posted by Coach34

Jan got 2 teams to the NCAA's that couldnt ****ing shoot. That is more impressive than what is going on right now. He has players that can shoot it now. Notice nobody is complaining now about FT shooting? We shoot 70% as a team now because we have players that can put the bal in the basket. It's always irked me fans blaming the HC about FT shooting. FT shooting will always correlate with a team's shooting percentage from the field

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We've been very post play focused for many of those past years. => Post players getting fouled => Post players shooting a large percentage of free throws => lower free throw percentage.

Now we have lots of shooters getting fouled => higher free throw percentage.

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Originally Posted by Political Hack

Historically about 80% of the NCAA's budget came from the basketball tournament so they've always prioritized getting butts in seats. Hopefully we're the top 3 or 4 seed rather than the last 2, 3, or 4 seed.

Raleigh -> Atlanta
Lexington -> Atlanta

Either of those happen, watch out.

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TV Revenue is a much bigger deal than butts in seats. I does still count, though.

This aged well...

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Originally Posted by HancockCountyDog

This is a top 10 team plain and simple. I think we end up a 2-3 seed and I may be underestimating this team.

First time in almost 20 years I'm going to be hoping the 2nd weekend of where MSU could play is somewhere in the South.

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Whewww amazing what a month can do.

😂😂 We all get caught in the moment! But when you go back and read things we've said... yea we all sound kinda dumb.

I still think Jans is a solid coach and feel like this team can still make some noise but we should all probably pump the brakes a little on how good of a coach alot of us thinks he is, including myself.