LOL that’s why I said if you ask then you wouldn’t understand anyway. I wonder if Bert Stare knows who are next Basketball Coach will be*
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I?m sure Cohen would never consider him because he?s a fantastic coach. But I want DeVries from got to love the Drake
Stands was not hired coming off the sweet 16 and final four. That final four was March of 96. The next year, 96-97, we had 5 new starters and sucked. Were .500. Then Stans was hired prior to the 97-98 season.
But yea, it took him 4 years to get it rolling. By 2002 through 2005, we were really good. I'm not sure Ben will get the program there. But honestly, if he can just make the tourney as often as he misses it, I think that will be acceptable.
I loved nothing more than our basketball program from mid 90's through 2009-10. We were consistently successful, our home court atmosphere was terrific (before every game on TV) and we were receiving some national media recognition, but I will be the first to acknowledge that era is gone, that culture and desire for basketball from our fanbase has declined greatly and I believe the recruiting areas from which we were successful then are also gone (Jackson, specifically and most of Mississippi) for players that can consistently compete today. The urban areas are where the recruits are mostly now and the cultural difference between Starkville and urban America is vast; thus, they likely have little interest in coming to Starkville if they have many other options. I believe other coaching prospects are also conscious of these facts and consider them true risks in taking a job in Starkville; thus, as a program, we need to be careful in just thinking we can change coaches and get alot of improvement there because I have my doubts. My most realistic desire is for Howland to improve his assistant staff at least to one that can teach guard oriented offensive strategy and how to attack the different types of defenses and maintain Howland for a longer period of time. Surely we can have one assistant who can specialize in offensive teaching and not just be another recruiter leaving Howland to teach defense and rebounding.
Stands inherited a loaded team. 2 guys got a cup of coffee in the NBA. Dietrick White was a beast. That team when Williams was the HC was expected to be an NCAA team that season. Williams had to step down and Stands made an NCAA Tourney type team an NIT team
Stands was 39-41 in SEC play after 5 seasons. Then the Baylor scandal happens and Lawrence Roberts drops in his lap, we have the wonderful '03-'04 season with the Road Warriors, lose 1 key player (Bowers) for '04-'05 and go 9-7 in league play. How do you go 9-7 with Roberts, Power, Ervin, Frazier and Harper???? Yeah, we made the NCAA - But that team had enough talent to win the league again.
The stans hate by some is so obvious. Did he bang your mothers? Just admit he had our program relevant and an impassioned fan base. The decision to fire him killed our program.
I'm prob one of the only persons on here that can acknowledge that who also is a supporter of Howland. I don't think Ben will ever reach the ceiling stans reached here (4 straight tourneys), but I do think he can get us to be a consistent bubble team.
I'm not a Stans hater - I've always looked it as a Stans realist. He was a good coach for us. But, people placed an unrealistic expectation on our program under him and Howland. Your last sentence even shows it - we've been a bubble team for 3 years now and "you think" he can get us to that level??
We are nowhere close to a bubble team right now.
But I do think coming into this year it was fair to say Ben had gotten us to that point. And I think next year should be a tourney team. He is getting close to where stans had us, he just needs a few more tourneys. Stand made the ncaa 37.5% of the time here. Ben is at 17% unless he makes it this year.
If Stans and Howland had the records they had at MSU with under rated kids and didn?t get a bunch of 4 and even 5 stars then their work would?ve been great. Both of them are great recruiters but average coaches at best. This is why I would take Buzz Williams and Frank Martin any day. They might not know how to recruit, but they always get max effort out of their talent. Other coaches in this bucket include Bob Huggins, Chris Beard, Tony Bennett etc. Brad Underwood is another good one. I just wish we could find a coach that always maximized talent
The excuses for Howland on these threads are just mind boggling. Yes, we're poor old MSU and we just can never be more than mediocre. So we never are.
Stans had down years too. So did Williams.
And everyone expected this to be a down year because we lost 4 starters. We were picked 12 in the SEC for a reason and yet are currently tied for 6th. We have a damn good shot at finishing top half of the league - and people want to ignore that that is a positive.