It's nice to be excited about basketball again. I really hope this team can make a run next year.
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It's nice to be excited about basketball again. I really hope this team can make a run next year.
Listed (special listing) Charles Rhodes with Lawrence Roberts on that 2004-5 team a large part based on the player he ultimately became at Miss. State ....2005-6 season and beyond. In retrospect, he and Roberts were a great duo. Even at the time...observers could tell that they were witnessing a future Miss. State standout...in Rhodes. Also, he came in, played very well in limited action..helping Roberts and Miss. State matchup against Duke in the nationally televised 2nd round of the NCAA Tourney that season. He didn't score much in that game, but brought much energy, help, intangibles against a very dominant Duke frontcourt. My opinion, that was actually his breakout game, huge catalyst for him moving forward in his career. Imagine if the older version (2005-6 through 2007-8 ability wise) of Rhodes played beside Lawrence Roberts that season? Especially the 2007-8 season version.
I agree. I said this last year coming in when we only had Molinar and Deivon as our only 2 true ball handlers. DJ Stewart played some there too but he just isn't a PG, he is a slasher/scorer/defender. You win with guard play in College basketball. You need 3, preferably 4 guys on the team that can push the ball up the court and create for themselves and create for others. It's nice to have 2 true PG's and a couple of combo guards that can play PG, SG (Timmy Bowers, Zimmerman, Jamont Gordon, Barry Stewart, Quinndary an Nick Weatherspoon type utility combo guys). We definitely need to go get a ball handler or two to add to this. I think we are pretty solid in the post with Garrison, Tolu, Post, Davis and our Freshman Murphy..plus we have long forwards like Fountain and Garcia who can play some PF if we go small. We did just pick up a combo guard who played at Oak Hill so he may help some there, but he will only be a Freshman
You get DJ Jeffries and this team should be a 6 seed in the tourney at minimum.
That was sort of the point of my original post though. If we have DJ and Iverson both back then yes, we are really just looking for a backup PG. If we had kept Devion but then lost DJ to the draft, Devion and Iverson could have been the starting Guards. But my point was, now that we've lost Smith, goal number one has to be getting DJ back for another year way above anything else. If not, now you aren't just looking for a backup guard, you are most likely looking for an experienced guard in the portal that can start, plus you STILL need another backup G as well. Take away both DJ and DS and, looking at our roster, there is not another guy currently on there that I would feel good about starting alongside Molinar at the 1 or the 2. Overall, we are really Guard poor at the moment. Getting Brooks and Jeffries doesn't solve that. And as I said, guard play is the biggest success factor in college basketball.
Fine if you want to do that, but usually when people say "duos" they are talking about guys that played together and complimented each other on the court. I wouldn't say Antonio Jackson and Timmy Bowers were a great duo in 2000, it was Jackson and Markel Patterson. Sure Jackson was our best scorer that year and Bowers went on to be an all time great, but they were basically ships passing in the night sort of like Roberts and Rhodes.
No big deal obviously, just an interesting viewpoint. We have so many good actual duos, that one just caught my eye. All good players and fun to think back on them. Roberts and Rhodes together in their prime would indeed have been a sight to see.
So DJ Jeffries tweeted something that Steve retweeted with the eyeball emoji, but has since been deleted.....
Anyone know what it was?
You forgot Wiley Peck on that last group. Ray White was more of a 2 guard.
Left Wiley Peck off because he was a big 6-7, 220 pound guard (including listed by Miss. State as a guard). Rickey Brown (6-10 power forward/center/guard), Gary Hooker and Ray White were all frontcourt players. Ray White was more of a hybrid 2/3/4. All of these players were outstanding rebounders, multu-skilled players.
Wiley rebounded and did other things like or better than top level post player though...
(He averaged a double double in his final season at Miss. State....1978-79 season)
14.5 points per game
11.3 rebounds per game
64% field goal
Could easily list Wiley Peck with the frontcourt (especially power forward) and Ray White with the guards (either 1 or 2). Though, Miss. State had/has Peck listed as a guard (some games media referred to him as a power forward, some games they called him a guard). NBA had/has him listed as a shooting guard, and media called him a shooting guard. Ray White was listed as a forward at Miss. State. Though, was at times referred to as a guard, at other times...a forward. Also, Ray played point guard in games or at times as well. Mostly had Al Perry at the point though, and Greg Grim...in a combo guard type role.
Our best lineup next season could very well be a new transfer PG (assuming high quality,ie Oregon), Jeffries, Molinar ,Brooks, and Smith,with Stewart staying in the draft possibly
If Jeffries commits on Monday, it tells me that Stewart has told the coaches and maybe even Jeffries that he is staying in draft. Molinar, Stewart, Brooks, Smith and Jeffries will imply to Jeffries and/or Stewart that this is too many scorers who expect a lot of shots and scoring opportunities for themselves.