Jan is the guy we have been looking for since 1996

[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.

[Coursesuper]

Richard would have been around a lot longer if he didn?t literally 17 it up.

[BrunswickDawg]

Richard would have been around a lot longer if he didn?t literally 17 it up.

Still the undefeated champ.

[msu15]

I'm not crowning him yet until he produces in March

[cheewgumm]

This is exactly right

[cheewgumm]

96 team was perfection

That?s probably my favorite team, any sport, at State.

[RockyDog]

96 team was perfection

That?s probably my favorite team, any sport, at State.

Perfection? Naw. They played perfect over about an 8 game stretch at the end of the season which is all you can ask for. But RW squeezed every ounce he could out of that team. Russell Walters had zero offensive presence and there was no bench. We had an academy all star, a freshman center, freshman guard, and a backup center with no knees who did all they could to spell the starters. Whit, Washington and Hyche turned into good players but they were all green, totally inexperienced during that season.

[cheewgumm]

Perfection? Naw. They played perfect over about an 8 game stretch at the end of the season which is all you can ask for. But RW squeezed every ounce he could out of that team. Russell Walters had zero offensive presence and there was no bench. We had an academy all star, a freshman center, freshman guard, and a backup center with no knees who did all they could to spell the starters. Whit, Washington and Hyche turned into good players but they were all green, totally inexperienced during that season.

Youre right, i overdid it a bit.

But, I loved that run. It was great.

[Political Hack]

Best team since 96' and best coaching we've ever had imo.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Best team since 96' and best coaching we've ever had imo.

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.

[parabrave]

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.

Yep the Zimmerman Bowers Teams were dam good but they just had a bad seed. Like the time they were the 2 seed in Dallas against Texas.

[R2Dawg]

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.

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.

[Tbonewannabe]

If Dontae didn't screw up his ankle and had more drive to get better then he would have played a long time in the NBA.

[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.

[klong-dog]

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.

Whewww amazing what a month can do.

[MoreCowbell]

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.

Jans also seems like the type of coach who works better with NIL type year to year roster transitions because I do not see him recruiting high school kids and kissing their asses. He picked experienced, tough, defensive minded guys from other teams maybe overlooked and sold a vision. Not easy getting guys to Starkville that is reality.

He would be a great NBA coach in my opinion.

[cheewgumm]

My brother and I went to watch Dontae Jones before that year in the JUCO playoffs. They were playing at MC. We were going to see if he was gonna be someone who could help us.

I think he had 35 pts and 20 rebounds.

He was as good a player as we'd seen in person.

So, we were excited for that year before the NCAAs. That team did have some struggles though.

[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.

[StarkVegasSteve]

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.

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.

[RockyDog]

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.

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