Ben Howland on next years BB team............

[Saltydog]

I don?t understand the reasoning behind automatically thinking D Smith would have helped with breaking the press with any level of consistency. There was a reason we had to stop using him at point. However I do agree we still more help in the area. I just don?t think D Smith would have been the answer.

Absolutely he was inconsistent but who do we have that?s better? The answer is, we don?t and it?s very late in the game to get anyone that is going to be better.

[captaindog]

Absolutely he was inconsistent but who do we have that?s better? The answer is, we don?t and it?s very late in the game to get anyone that is going to be better.

I see your point. Ultimately I think the fact we are actively still looking for a point guard highlights that.

[NCMSTFAN]

A fair shot? She had elite 8 talent last year and took the largest bed shit I have ever seen. Even JoMo was shaking his head at the size of the turd she left between the sheets.

Thats the narrative that you and others want to paint but did she really have elite 8 talent? Aside from Rickea and Carter who else has really been that good? Matharu had times where she looked good, same for Mingo, Cooks wasn't what we thought etc... those girls weren't a Jordan Danberry, Jazzmun Holmes, McGowan type player. She has her girls in now and they are all highly rated and recruited.... so now you can judge her fairly and if we still look horrible, I'll be the 1st to speak up... but u have to give her that chance

[NCMSTFAN]

Not to hate on NMP but there may be some truth to the premise of women's basketball attendance having an impact on the men's attendance. Starkville is a great place and I really enjoyed my time there because I like smaller towns. But, with that smaller population, it makes it harder to fill 10k seats as often. If the women's program is down, then it likely will help attendance for men's games.

On the flip side, I live in Northwest AR where I think the area could fill multiple 10k seat events on the same night often. Along with that there are tons of people and traffic everywhere you go, want them or not. Many of those are idiots transporting from California. Can suck for people that like things simple - good for coliseums that want to fill seats.

I've never thought of it that way and there may be alot of truth there. Either way I've always supported every program whether I liked the coach or not.. And yes I will call a coach out as well... but I give them all a fair chance and 1 season without players she recruited isn't a fair chance

[NCMSTFAN]

That's a legit concern.

Opposing teams are gonna have to figure out how to rebound against us. Smith and brooks are gonna beat teams up on the boards. I think Molinar has a huge year

Smith and Brooks on the glass together will be great! We do lose Ado's defense there but we upgrade alot on the offensive and

[CadaverDawg]

A fair shot? She had elite 8 talent last year and took the largest bed shit I have ever seen. Even JoMo was shaking his head at the size of the turd she left between the sheets.

Lol yep

[captaindog]

Thats the narrative that you and others want to paint but did she really have elite 8 talent? Aside from Rickea and Carter who else has really been that good? Matharu had times where she looked good, same for Mingo, Cooks wasn't what we thought etc... those girls weren't a Jordan Danberry, Jazzmun Holmes, McGowan type player. She has her girls in now and they are all highly rated and recruited.... so now you can judge her fairly and if we still look horrible, I'll be the 1st to speak up... but u have to give her that chance

I?m going to try and look at the points as objectively as possible. This season we lost J Danberry, C Bibby, and A Espinoza-Hunter. There were times Coach Schaefer?s last season that I thought we would have been sunk if J Danberry had not gained another year of eligibility. Likewise, in hindsight, C Bibby also ended up helping a lot. However, in fairness, she also lost a lot of minutes as the season progressed.
This season we gained S Cooks and M Hayes. Hayes turned out to be a very solid player and probably was about an even swap with Bibby. Therefore the biggest keys were the lose of J Danberry and the change in the system. Coach Schaefer was also bringing in size and a seasoned point guard so he recognized we had holes to fill that never got filled.
However we went from 27-6(13-3) to 10-9(5-7). That is a monster drop from the previous consistency. Further the body language from the team was terrible.
That is the reason I am extremely guarded with any hope she can turn this around. Don?t get me wrong. I?m pulling for her because her success is MSU?s success. She has had a great offseason too. I still just don?t know if I believe she is the one that can get the job done.

[parabrave]

Meh, we'll see.....Until we get someone who can consistently break a press and handle the ball, I'm not buying just yet......I don't care what anyone says, losing Devion Smith hurt......

Dam you stole my thought. But you forgot to add can they defend a 3?

[OLJWales]

My goodness do the Nikki Mccray haters have to come in every basketball topic with negativity? If you don't want to support them then don't, and if they turn out to be good keep that same energy and don't support them then either. I will support all of our programs, that's what fans do. A new coach with a new system doesn't always work year one.

Back to the topic, I am excited about bringing in Jeffries and Brooks, 2 proven players from high level teams to go along with Molinar Tolu and Hopefully DJ. That starting 5 would be scary. And Fountain, Matthews, Davis and Garcia are good bench players. Plus our Freshman, We still need to get another Gaurd

Many of us didn't pay too much attention to Women's Hoops till our previous coach started doing great things and have never seen how big a difference a weaker coach makes. I see no problem bringing it up every now and again.

[thf24]

Meh, we'll see.....Until we get someone who can consistently break a press and handle the ball, I'm not buying just yet......I don't care what anyone says, losing Devion Smith hurt......

Deivon will probably get better as a sophomore as most tend to do, but strictly based on what we saw last year, he wasn't the guy to bring the ball up under pressure any more than DJ or Iverson.

He really wouldn't have fit very well even as a willing backup on next year's team anyway. He's an aggressive score-first point guard whose outside shot isn't quite there yet. In contrast, since we're suddenly loaded with veteran scorers, what we need out of a backup point next year is a reliable handler looking to distribute first who can knock down open spot up shots when they're there. Assuming we can find that guy in the portal, we'll be better off than if we had convinced Deivon to stay.

[Joebob]

What, is Howland suddenly going to learn to coach?

I hope he's right, but I'll believe the hype when I see it.

[OLJWales]

What, is Howland suddenly going to learn to coach?

I hope he's right, but I'll believe the hype when I see it.

yep, I was wondering though, has BH ever been this confident in front of a mic?

[Cowbell]

What, is Howland suddenly going to learn to coach?

I hope he's right, but I'll believe the hype when I see it.

I hope I'm wrong and I will gladly eat crow, but I don't buy it either. I think we will get hopes up and then have them smashed in front of our eyes.

[R2Dawg]

Absolutely he was inconsistent but who do we have that?s better? The answer is, we don?t and it?s very late in the game to get anyone that is going to be better.

D. Smith was the best we had last year breaking the press. He got better throughout the year. Expect he gets better next year.

Molinar picked his dribble up too soon and would TO, DJ dribbled too far out and being 6-6 tough task. He also made lots of bad passes. Hopefully they both improve here. Smith was ahead of both knowing when to dribble drive and dish. Having a good burst drive in half court like DJ and IM have is total different thing that breaking the press.

[NCMSTFAN]

I?m going to try and look at the points as objectively as possible. This season we lost J Danberry, C Bibby, and A Espinoza-Hunter. There were times Coach Schaefer?s last season that I thought we would have been sunk if J Danberry had not gained another year of eligibility. Likewise, in hindsight, C Bibby also ended up helping a lot. However, in fairness, she also lost a lot of minutes as the season progressed.
This season we gained S Cooks and M Hayes. Hayes turned out to be a very solid player and probably was about an even swap with Bibby. Therefore the biggest keys were the lose of J Danberry and the change in the system. Coach Schaefer was also bringing in size and a seasoned point guard so he recognized we had holes to fill that never got filled.
However we went from 27-6(13-3) to 10-9(5-7). That is a monster drop from the previous consistency. Further the body language from the team was terrible.
That is the reason I am extremely guarded with any hope she can turn this around. Don?t get me wrong. I?m pulling for her because her success is MSU?s success. She has had a great offseason too. I still just don?t know if I believe she is the one that can get the job done.

I can respect that completely, everything you said had valid points. But alot of fans on here say things without truly understanding how sports work or have personal feeling towards a coach or player, so they speak out with those feelings no matter the situation and let's just call it what it is.... she stepped into that 1st game with people hoping for her to fail. If we all call ourselves MSU fans you pull for the program regardless of personal feelings. If she continues putting out the product we saw last year, I'm right along with people saying she has to go... but she has to have a fair opportunity

[99jc]

I can respect that completely, everything you said had valid points. But alot of fans on here say things without truly understanding how sports work or have personal feeling towards a coach or player, so they speak out with those feelings no matter the situation and let's just call it what it is.... she stepped into that 1st game with people hoping for her to fail. If we all call ourselves MSU fans you pull for the program regardless of personal feelings. If she continues putting out the product we saw last year, I'm right along with people saying she has to go... but she has to have a fair opportunity

BULLSHIT...........name one poster who said they wanted her to fail. She failed on her own we just expect more now! She better turn it around this season or her tic tok ass is gone.

[tireddawg]

I can respect that completely, everything you said had valid points. But alot of fans on here say things without truly understanding how sports work or have personal feeling towards a coach or player, so they speak out with those feelings no matter the situation and let's just call it what it is.... she stepped into that 1st game with people hoping for her to fail. If we all call ourselves MSU fans you pull for the program regardless of personal feelings. If she continues putting out the product we saw last year, I'm right along with people saying she has to go... but she has to have a fair opportunity

Damn dude give it a rest. You don't have to be a professional to know she is in over her head. Just because some of us recognize that, doesn't mean we aren't pulling for her. She had a loaded team, regardless of what you say, and failed miserably. It doesn't take an MSU engineer to know that. I have ZERO personal feelings toward her, don't know her, but I do know she's not SEC material. Not this year, not next year, and probably not any year. If she proves me wrong (she won't) I'll gladly eat a big plate of crow. Yeah give her another year, but you don't have to white knight for her every time her name is mentioned.

And no State fan wants her to fail. That's bs.

[Saltydog]

Deivon will probably get better as a sophomore as most tend to do, but strictly based on what we saw last year, he wasn't the guy to bring the ball up under pressure any more than DJ or Iverson.

He really wouldn't have fit very well even as a willing backup on next year's team anyway. He's an aggressive score-first point guard whose outside shot isn't quite there yet. In contrast, since we're suddenly loaded with veteran scorers, what we need out of a backup point next year is a reliable handler looking to distribute first who can knock down open spot up shots when they're there. Assuming we can find that guy in the portal, we'll be better off than if we had convinced Deivon to stay.

You know what they say about assuming........

[Rawdawg]

Howland knows how to coach. He?s done a great job here and people give him so much shit. He inherited a steaming pile of shit and has turned it back into a respectable product. ?Yeah but one ncaa tournament in 6 years?. The SEC has come a long long long way since Stans was here. We don?t even have divisions anymore. Reason being? To balance the league and strengthen the schedules instead of the western division being significantly easier than the east. Everyone has invested into their programs significantly as well. MSU isn?t an easy job by any stretch of the imagination. In fact it?s arguably one of the toughest in the conference. The guy knows what he?s doing, knows what he has to work with and I promise you knows what a damn good team looks like.