Basketball program destroyed - long 11 years

[EdwardDrayton]

Jans will be fine. Total faith in that guy.

Running stans off remains one of the dumbest moves in our history.

Total faith at this stage is unfounded; he has to show he can recruit.

Stans had to go and it was his fault he had to go.

[Rawdawg]

Jan’s is a good coach for sure. Just worried the long term damage incurred from Ray and Howland will carry over during his tenure. Hard to remove the demons.

There is no long term damage from the Howland era. I hate to tell you this but the best players on this team Howland signed.

[Coach34]

Running stans off remains one of the dumbest moves in our history.

Wrong. People still dont get that we would have hit rock bottom the next year with him as coach. I wish we had so that we wouldnt have this doubt by a few people today. Our admin tried to fix it before it hit rock bottom but instead hired an anchor. Their bad hire to replace him doesnt mean he didnt need to be replaced

[PGHBulldogBG]

Jans will be fine. Total faith in that guy.

Running stans off remains one of the dumbest moves in our history.

The same Stans that has been unsuccessful at WKU in a conference they should dominate? Or the one that lost to a 2 win Louisville team?

[Coach34]

The same Stans that has been unsuccessful at WKU in a conference they should dominate? Or the one that lost to a 2 win Louisville team?

Its not an accident Stands hasnt done shit since leaving State

[Cooterpoot]

11 years? We haven't beaten a top 10 team in 21 years. Twenty 17ing one years! At this point, we could eliminate basketball and our fans wouldn't even know.

[Cowbell]

11 years? We haven't beaten a top 10 team in 21 years. Twenty 17ing one years! At this point, we could eliminate basketball and our fans wouldn't even know.

And our finances would be better off....

[CaptainObvious]

And our finances would be better off....

Could build a hell of a parking garage in that space. 8 floors for 2400 cars.

[BuckyIsAB****]

I used to be all in for it. Watched every game I could when I was a kid of Lawrence Roberts and Shane Power. Charles Rhodes and Ravern Johnson. But at some point mainly after the fight in Hawaii and the refs hosing us vs UK in Starkville I just lost it and it has never came back. I just think the product itself is so bad. March madness is fun but only to root for the smallest of small schools. Like the fighting golden retrievers beating Virginia that year. Its close to unwatchable

[msu15]

Stands let it rot from within and then we made an absolute terrible hire behind it. So you can say it started with Stands and the Cheerleader helped kill it

Cant blame Ray- he never should have gotten the job

Bingo. I'll always go back and forth on whether we should have fired Stans or not, but you absolutely can not make that move and proceed to hire a Rick Ray.

[BuckyIsAB****]

I will add that I do like Jans. Those kids play hard every night and that is what has to come first. Howland didnt always demand that. You can be Bear Bryant or Adolph Rupp but you better have some players regardless of sport

[SpaceBully]

No.

Anytime we come close to turning a corner a team will come out and shoot 80% from 3 like tonight. This program is cursed, and im done investing my time and give-a-shit. Im out

And Vescovi didn't even play.

[SpaceBully]

I'd give Jans more than a fair shot at it. What have we got to lose. We can't keep turning over the program. Think I'd give him at least 5-6 years.

[NCMSTFAN]

Basketball in today's age is easy to get turned around if you have good coaching, the biggest question is can you bring in recruits. I have faith is Jans as a coach, especially on the defensive side of the ball but I just don't know how many highly ranked recruits he can get to Starkville. Our best players are all currently Howlands guys, one thing Howland was doing was bringing in 4 star guys and even a few 5 star. I just don't see Jans getting those guys right now but that's how you win games in this league.

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

Basketball in today's age is easy to get turned around if you have good coaching, the biggest question is can you bring in recruits. I have faith is Jans as a coach, especially on the defensive side of the ball but I just don't know how many highly ranked recruits he can get to Starkville. Our best players are all currently Howlands guys, one thing Howland was doing was bringing in 4 star guys and even a few 5 star. I just don't see Jans getting those guys right now but that's how you win games in this league.

Really hoping we are spenders for some transfers.

[LC Dawg]

Our last three ADs all played a part in hurting our basketball program. Byrnes reseated the Hump which hurt a damn good atmosphere with the students on the side and later led to a near completely empty lower level, Stricklin hired Rick Ray, and Cohen basically moved baseball ahead of basketball in importance. Add that to the fact that a lot of Mississippi State fans and even athletic administrators think baseball is more important than basketball and it's not surprising where our program is. Richard Williams was a good coach and had a talented team that got hot at the right time and went to the Final Four and I enjoyed every second of it but that was 27 years ago. We will never get back to the Final Four without significant changes in our athletic department. Schools that care about basketball build new arenas - not throw a little money at an almost 50 year old relic.

[EdwardDrayton]

Our last three ADs all played a part in hurting our basketball program. Byrnes reseated the Hump which hurt a damn good atmosphere with the students on the side and later led to a near completely empty lower level, Stricklin hired Rick Ray, and Cohen basically moved baseball ahead of basketball in importance. Add that to the fact that a lot of Mississippi State fans and even athletic administrators think baseball is more important than basketball and it's not surprising where our program is. Richard Williams was a good coach and had a talented team that got hot at the right time and went to the Final Four and I enjoyed every second of it but that was 27 years ago. We will never get back to the Final Four without significant changes in our athletic department. Schools that care about basketball build new arenas - not throw a little money at an almost 50 year old relic.

Yep. Time to stop putting lipstick on the pig. Build new.

[Political Hack]

We have an identity. We have a system. We have a program. That's a start. Jans is actually doing a good job with what he has, but he's got to go recruit some scorers. Defense is great and we have a solid identity to build off of, but we have to be able to score more consistently.

[Coach34]

Our last three ADs all played a part in hurting our basketball program. Byrnes reseated the Hump which hurt a damn good atmosphere with the students on the side and later led to a near completely empty lower level, Stricklin hired Rick Ray, and Cohen basically moved baseball ahead of basketball in importance. Add that to the fact that a lot of Mississippi State fans and even athletic administrators think baseball is more important than basketball and it's not surprising where our program is. Richard Williams was a good coach and had a talented team that got hot at the right time and went to the Final Four and I enjoyed every second of it but that was 27 years ago. We will never get back to the Final Four without significant changes in our athletic department. Schools that care about basketball build new arenas - not throw a little money at an almost 50 year old relic.

Agree about the 3 AD's contributing but I do think you are slighting the 1996 team a little. Did they get hot at the right time? Sure. But they were also a very good basketball team that had been to the Sweet 16 the year before returning 4 starters. Dontae was added and ended up being just the right catalyst.

[LC Dawg]

Agree about the 3 AD's contributing but I do think you are slighting the 1996 team a little. Did they get hot at the right time? Sure. But they were also a very good basketball team that had been to the Sweet 16 the year before returning 4 starters. Dontae was added and ended up being just the right catalyst.

Absolutely. They were a national championship caliber team. It wasn't meant as a slight but to point out that it is doable at Mississippi State but that was 27 years ago and some things will have to change at Mississippi State for it to happen again.
Richard Williams did a great job building the program to that point. I liked the '91 SEC champion team as much as the Final Four team. Maybe even a little more.