So Hugh Kellenburger sees Ole Miss baseball as an 'elite level' program.....

[Goat Holder]

"The truth is that your past always precedes you, and Ole Miss is an elite-level program that has not advanced to a Super Regional since 2009 (also the last time it hosted in the postseason) and is led by a coach who was given the not-so-ringing endorsement of a one-year contract extension (through 2015) after a disappointing end to 2013."

From today's CL article here: http://www.clarionledger.com/article...nclick_check=1

THAT is the big difference in beat writers for Ole Miss and MSU.

Nothing about Ole Miss baseball is elite. They called themselves elite during the 2000s because, well, that's what they do. And depressed MSU fans believed it namely because our program was floundering. They had an elite team in 2005 and an above average team in 2009. They might would have been elite had Scott Bittle not gotten hurt. That's far from an elite program. A stadium does not make you elite, ask UCLA and the countless other programs that have big success without big facilities.

Ole Hugh needs a good lesson on what the definition of elite is.

[esplanade91]

Of all the SEC schools, aren't they on the longest CWS drought?

I don't know about elite, but Ole Miss is upper-tier. Big gap between upper-tier and elite though. The thing that pops out to me about Ole Miss baseball is all the "elite" individual talent they've had in the last 10 years. Seems like there are all sorts of young guys in the MLB from the same time as our dark days from Ole Miss, but again... they never did anything with it. Elite teams come together, theirs don't.

[ShotgunDawg]

The problem isn't what Kellenburger said, because I actually agree with them, that over the past 10 years or so, OM has been an elite level program that just hasn't gone to the CWS.

My bigger problem is that the MSU reporters likely wouldn't be just as fair to MSU if they were in the same situation.

[Jacksondevildog]

Until Ole Miss gets to Omaha, all of their claimed superiority is moot. They have a very nice stadium, but their attendance and frustration with Bianco is trending downward. They shot their wad in the mid to late 2000's when they couldn't get to Omaha. If Chris Ellis cannot be the dominant Friday night guy for them this year, they will struggle mightily. Ive heard that he's a head case. That's exactly what you do NOT want as your Friday night guy. Ole Miss was having a lot of success when the national media (ESPN, Perfect Game, etc.) started giving a lot of coverage to college baseball. It's not a fluke that when MSU was down, USM and Ole Miss were at the top of their game as a program.

[messageboardsuperhero]

A team that hasn't been to the CWS in 40 years and has won only one conference co-championship in that time span simply cannot be considered elite. I'm sorry to any UM fan who has delusions of grandeur, but UM doesn't have an elite baseball program.

Do they have the potential to be good? Absolutely- but to call them "elite" is laughable.

ETA: And their "top 5 attendance" talk is ridiculous. I've been to some of their games. We complain about our grandstand people not showing up, but they are just as bad, if not worse. The only reason they have higher attendance numbers than we do is because their stadium allows them to sell more tickets, plus they have a good student setup. I'd be shocked if we didn't have a higher actual attendance average than they do, and if we put in an actual student area, it wouldn't be close.

[esplanade91]

Every time Ole Miss is brought up everyone talks about their "nice" stadium. Says everything I can't about Ole Miss. Fancy pants who try to steer the conversation away from their on-the-field success.

4 years ago MSU and UM would have gotten their asses kicked in USM's high school stadium. They gave CS-F hell in that dump, which is something I don't think we could have done early last season.

[LC Dawg]

Meanwhile the MSU beat writers are searching for videos of Palmeiro and Clark making racist jokes for their "History of MSU Baseball" article.

[starkvegasdawg]

So old Hugh is saying they are an elite program that just happens to have not done anything considered elite. In that case I now officially proclaim MSU basketball an elite program. Suck it Duke.

[chainedup_Dawg]

Nothing about a college baseball program can be elite if that program has never made it to Omaha, period.

[Johnson85]

The problem isn't what Kellenburger said, because I actually agree with them, that over the past 10 years or so, OM has been an elite level program that just hasn't gone to the CWS.

My bigger problem is that the MSU reporters likely wouldn't be just as fair to MSU if they were in the same situation.

I don't think you can be elite if you don't win your conference (in a good conference) semi-regularly and you don't go to the CWS. There's definitely some luck involved getting to the CWS, but if you're really an elite program, you're going to break through and make it to the CWS eventually. Consistently being top 3 in the SEC while never making it to the CWS would mean you have a very good program, but even then you couldn't claim to be elite if that didn't translate to a CWS for over a decade, much less over four decades.

It's the same knock on Stansbury. Partly he had some bad luck in never making the Sweet 16, but it's still indicative of the quality of his program. Had he been a little better, the breaks would ahve gone his way (in part because he wouldn't have ended up with 8/9 seeds in two years where he had Sweet 16 talent).

[gtowndawg]

We've had how many sellouts in a row? Beautiful stadium, 4 straight bowls. We're elite. Can't argue with those facts.

//Wait. We've never been to a BCS bowl? Doesn't matter. See above. Still elite.

[bully99]

Depends on what you consider elite..no pun intended. They have a good program, good facilities and and a lot of money. And it's foolish to underestimate your opponent. They have been to 4 college world series. Not in forty years.

Lsu could say the same thing about us. They have six national titles and we have none. We haven't won the regular season sec in 25 years. It's all in your prospective about things.

[Coach34]

The problem isn't what Kellenburger said, because I actually agree with them, that over the past 10 years or so, OM has been an elite level program that just hasn't gone to the CWS.

My bigger problem is that the MSU reporters likely wouldn't be just as fair to MSU if they were in the same situation.

I just dont think you can be called "elite" without making at least 1 appearance in the CWS. I mean, they have 4 Sweet 16's the last 10 years in baseball and that is very good. Very good. Not Elite though.

Your point on MSU reporters is valid though

[Johnson85]

Depends on what you consider elite..no pun intended. They have a good program, good facilities and and a lot of money. And it's foolish to underestimate your opponent. They have been to 4 college world series. Not in forty years.

Lsu could say the same thing about us. They have six national titles and we have none. We haven't won the regular season sec in 25 years. It's all in your prospective about things.

It's not underestimating them, it's just using the 'elite' in the way it's commonly understood. LSU can reasonably argue that you're not truly an elite program if you haven't ever won a national championship. We can argue that making it to the world series basically every decade and being consistent participants in the post season, coupled with a recent number 2 finish makes us elite. I can buy either of those arguments. I'd actually lean towards LSU's argument, although I think there is somethign to be said for MSU being so solid over so many years.

But making it to the college world series just means you were in the final 8 (how long has it been like this?). Is it reasonable to consider a program elite if they don't ever make it into the top 8? I don't think you'd call a basketball program elite if they've never made it to a final four, but certainly not if they hadn't been in the elite 8 in 40 years. Getting to the sweet 16 reasonably consistently is a hell of an accomplishment and if you do it, you've got a good program. But it's not elite if you never make it past the Sweet 16. Even if you make the sweet sixteen 16 every single year after having great regular seasons, I don't think you can claim the program is elite without going further in the post season.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Depends on what you consider elite..no pun intended. They have a good program, good facilities and and a lot of money. And it's foolish to underestimate your opponent. They have been to 4 college world series. Not in forty years.

Lsu could say the same thing about us. They have six national titles and we have none. We haven't won the regular season sec in 25 years. It's all in your prospective about things.

And I wouldn't necessarily argue with them. I think we're still working towards becoming a truly consistent "elite" program, and we have a good chance to take another step to becoming an elite program this year- but that being said, we're not quite there yet.

We're certainly a lot closer than UM is though. Could you imagine a football team who hasn't been to a BCS-level bowl game in 40 years calling themselves elite? Or a basketball program who hasn't been in the elite 8 since the early 70s calling themselves an elite program? Think about how ridiculous that sounds. They do have a good baseball program with some nice potential- but they are not elite.

[Goat Holder]

I don't think we are elite. I honestly think we're no better than Top 15 all-time, maybe even just Top 20. I can think of at least 15 programs that are a step ahead of us. Ole Miss is much worse than that.

[maroonmania]

Exactly, our basketball program has accomplished much more over the last 25 years than OM's baseball program and I certainly don't think our basketball program is "elite". But we've been to a Final Four and Sweet Sixteen, won 2 SEC titles, multiple tourney titles and a crapload of Western division championships. What has OM baseball accomplished? I mean seriously, like one tourney title and some SRs? Big woo.

[Goat Holder]

Wow, even worse when you think about it like that. Almost pathetic.

[thunderclap]

It's just a typo. It's spelled "aloof."

[smootness]

I certainly don't think they're elite in any way, but they have been to Omaha 4 times; just none in forever. Just seems like a good portion of our fan base thinks they've literally never been.