Rick Ray down in Florida recruiting today.

[engie]

I disagree. You force it. Hopefully not every year but I'd say this is a year you need to. Ray can't just hope it doesn't happen. He can not afford to not have a full 13 man roster next year. Be proactive not reactive.

For goodness sake -- EVERYONE knows what "you say" at this point. And you can't HONESTLY try to frigging tell us that we "should know" that 3 players are going to leave after school starts.

You don't force turnover right now. That's a death knell to a program you are trying to rebuild to a different standard. But we know what dead horse you are going to beat on this -- so go ahead and do it.

[Dawg61]

For goodness sake -- EVERYONE knows what "you say" at this point. And you can't HONESTLY try to frigging tell us that we "should know" that 3 players are going to leave after school starts.

You don't force turnover right now. That's a death knell to a program you are trying to rebuild to a different standard. But we know what dead horse you are going to beat on this -- so go ahead and do it.

I will Engie. It's what I honestly think is best for our team. I'm sorry we don't agree on this but we just don't. I respect your stance and it doesn't upset me one bit. And you really have no room to be talking about beating dead horses. You're like the Kentucky Derby of beating dead horses. Only Will James on bunting and C34 on Stansbury have you topped. On what you might ask? Everything.

[smootness]

I disagree. You force it. Hopefully not every year but I'd say this is a year you need to. Ray can't just hope it doesn't happen. He can not afford to not have a full 13 man roster next year. Be proactive not reactive.

Geez. So now we're expecting Ray to tell the future, determine who will force themselves off the team ahead of time, and force them off first?

You have to see, at least on this point, that what you're asking is absurd. You're telling Ray to be proactive on who to kick off the team...meaning BEFORE they even do what it is that becomes the reason for kicking them off?

The only way to ensure a full 13 scholarships would be to kick everyone off and sign 13 guys for next year. We don't need 13 anyway. We need about 10-11.

[Dawg61]

Geez. So now we're expecting Ray to tell the future, determine who will force themselves off the team ahead of time, and force them off first?

You have to see, at least on this point, that what you're asking is absurd. You're telling Ray to be proactive on who to kick off the team...meaning BEFORE they even do what it is that becomes the reason for kicking them off?

The only way to ensure a full 13 scholarships would be to kick everyone off and sign 13 guys for next year. We don't need 13 anyway. We need about 10-11.

Kentucky signed eight guys last year. That was more than they could fit if everyone returned for the next season. They FORCED turnover.

[chef dixon]

Oliver Black has to be able to step in contribute defensively and on the boards next year. We can't be this thin in the post for 3 straight seasons. The 3 man rotation with Ware, Ndoye, and Black should help us tremendously rebounding and keeping Ware out of foul trouble. I'm pretty sure Ware goes to the bench for the last 10 minutes of the first half in 75% of our games. As far as post play goes, I think Ray is headed in the right direction. Ball handling and point guard play, I like what we will have in Bloodman, Ready, and even Davis next season. The Bloodman hate has got to stop, he's going to be an excellent player next season. We rarely had this many guys who can handle the ball with Stansbury, but on the flip side, we never shot as poorly as we do now. Which brings me to where I think Ray is not headed in the right direction, and that's bringing in players who can stroke it. I'm riding the Dunlap train until it crashes, which could be as soon as this November.

[smootness]

Kentucky signed eight guys last year. That was more than they could fit if everyone returned for the next season. They FORCED turnover.

No, they are an NBA Draft factory. Which means a) they know guys will leave; and b) they have studs to fill those spots. If Ray could go get 6 of the top 12 players in the country, he may make some room.

What you're advocating screams of, 'I'm an illogical fan who thinks everything can be treated like a video game without any repercussions'. 1) there aren't a bunch of stud shooters waiting for someone to offer them a scholarship; 2) Ray has no way of knowing what could happen in the offseason to precipitate guys leaving the team; and 3) if he were to treat the roster the way you suggest, it would irreparably damage our program.

Yes, Recruit's mother, I promise to take care of your son. And yes, Recruit, we are a stable, winning program. Please ignore the massive unexplainable turnover inside our program while losing on top of that. I cut them after telling their parents the same thing because, after all, scholarships are renewed every year!

I bet team chemistry would be off the charts once we treated it like a professional basketball factory.

[Brad Stevens]

I will not hate on Bloodman (like I have privately and with friends in the past), but his ceiling is much lower than Davis or Ready. I am very thankful he gives us his all and maximizes his potential. He just doesn't have the quickness (physically or mentally) that IJ shows, but he will most definitely be an asset to have experience-wise next year. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and say he will be excellent. A good coach (on an opposing team) can completely limit his effectiveness in the half court game pretty easily. He excels most in open court, taking the ball to the basket and getting fouled situations. He just doesn't have the quickness or athleticism to truly ever "excel" in the half court game. However, I hope he proves me wrong next year.

[Coach34]

Bloodman is back-up PG that should get 14 mins/game. Ready will take over next year and play about 25 mins/game. And we'll be solid there

[chef dixon]

I will not hate on Bloodman (like I have privately and with friends in the past), but his ceiling is much lower than Davis or Ready. I am very thankful he gives us his all and maximizes his potential. He just doesn't have the quickness (physically or mentally) that IJ shows, but he will most definitely be an asset to have experience-wise next year. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and say he will be excellent. A good coach (on an opposing team) can completely limit his effectiveness in the half court game pretty easily. He excels most in open court, taking the ball to the basket and getting fouled situations. He just doesn't have the quickness or athleticism to truly ever "excel" in the half court game. However, I hope he proves me wrong next year.

Excellent is the wrong word, but he's the smartest guy we've got currently. I feel a lot more confident that a good decision will be made when he has the ball. No doubt Davis and specifically Ready, have a higher ceiling.

[Dawg61]

It's going to be the death of our program and of Rick Ray as the MSU HC if we continue to keep division 2 and SWAC players on our roster. We are in the SEC. That ain't changing. Ray MUST get shooters. I'd settle for Ray getting help by hiring a shooting coach/assistant but he hasn't done that. Are we just going to hope Davis, Bloodman, Sword and Thomas magically teach themselves how to shoot a basketball?

[Coach34]

We have shooting coaches- they are Ray and his assistants...no damn college programs are hiring "shooting coaches"

We will be a better team next year when we have a full squad and more experience

[engie]

I will Engie. It's what I honestly think is best for our team. I'm sorry we don't agree on this but we just don't. I respect your stance and it doesn't upset me one bit. And you really have no room to be talking about beating dead horses. You're like the Kentucky Derby of beating dead horses. Only Will James on bunting and C34 on Stansbury have you topped. On what you might ask? Everything.

Go ahead and point me to the dead horses that I'm beating -- and interjecting in every single thread on a given topic.

Even the Mullen deal -- I wasn't bringing it up until I was called out -- and I NEVER ONCE started threads basically to talk shit -- as you've done multiple times this week and CONSTANTLY every time we lose a game. So, the one example you could POSSIBLY have is bullshit in and of itself. But keep up the good work -- every time you talk about basketball it's essentially "opening your mouth and removing the doubt" from what everyone already knows about you on this topic. Hence why you don't have a SINGLE supporter of your position. You don't find that strange?

You are Shamoan on Collins -- and Patdog on Cohen at this point. You are the only one seeing something that literally no one else is seeing.

[Brad Stevens]

Do we really have to get in this again? You say the same things over and over. Number one: yes, we are in the SEC. No, it is (unfortunately) not one of the most desired conferences to play in for recruits. We just aren't that good on a national level. It's a fact. The prestige the SEC has for nationwide recruits in football just doesn't exist in basketball. Not at this point in time anyway. Number two: shooting is much more complex than just hiring a coach and POOF!!! All our players now have JJ Redick form. Sadly (again), if a kid isn't trained to shoot with proper mechanics from junior high on up, it is not really worth changing once he gets to college. People with bad-looking shots can become decent shooters. They just need to spend time in the gym working on it. Again, your insertion of "MUST" in all caps implies you know the answer as fact, and all naysayers are wrong. If you implied this as a humble opinion, I would not respond so strongly. Endure the trials this season and be patient. It is possible that in due time (whether next year or the next), that we actually could reap from the hard work that is currently being sown.

[engie]

No, they are an NBA Draft factory. Which means a) they know guys will leave; and b) they have studs to fill those spots. If Ray could go get 6 of the top 12 players in the country, he may make some room.

What you're advocating screams of, 'I'm an illogical fan who thinks everything can be treated like a video game without any repercussions'. 1) there aren't a bunch of stud shooters waiting for someone to offer them a scholarship; 2) Ray has no way of knowing what could happen in the offseason to precipitate guys leaving the team; and 3) if he were to treat the roster the way you suggest, it would irreparably damage our program.

Yes, Recruit's mother, I promise to take care of your son. And yes, Recruit, we are a stable, winning program. Please ignore the massive unexplainable turnover inside our program while losing on top of that. I cut them after telling their parents the same thing because, after all, scholarships are renewed every year!

I bet team chemistry would be off the charts once we treated it like a professional basketball factory.

It's amazingly how easy this is to see for the vast majority of us -- while it's completely lost on the other few. This is stated perfectly and is my viewpoint exactly.

[Coach34]

I'll do this aGAIN:

PG- Ready is going to play point next year and be backed up by Bloodman...they will be solid and Ready should be better all the way around as a Soph

SG- Sword, Davis, and maybe Dunlap...Sword is solid but has to develop a more consistent jump shot- like Jamont did. Davis is shooting 32..5% from 3 now as well as 80% from the FT. He is Freshman, he will be better. We'll see on Dunlap

SF- FTF will be improved. He is a good defender but has to get more consistent with 3-ball. He has raised his percentage almost 7 points over last year. That's encouraging. Houston is coming in to try and win this spot. People call him Ray's best signee to date.

PF- Daniels had better numbers than Pollard in juco. He is getting a year to redshirt and get even better. He would have made us a better basketball team had we had him this year. Roq Johnson is solid but a loose cannon. Ndoye would have played this year also and helped- but gets to redshirt. He will be a solid back-up for us in the paint.

C- Ware's numbers are improved. He still needs more work and he will. He should be solid next year. Black is someone that could possibly give us some minutes also inside.

Then add Elijah Staley coming on after the bowl game and he should help by late January.

I cant wait for next year

[Dawg61]

Dead horse 1. Ray and Cohen. Dumbest shit ever.
Dead horse 2. Baseball sight lines.
Dead horses 3-999 I don't read because you're blowing some gasket and copying and pasteurbating all over the page with Engie Statistics.

[Dawg61]

We have shooting coaches- they are Ray and his assistants

We have a BINGO. That's the problem. Nobody on this team can shoot and nobody on this team can teach them how to shoot better. And now for the finale. We aren't bringing in shooters to help this team out. Yet somehow you guys think that magically because we will have 12 basketball players instead of 8 we will suddenly become a good shooting team. I offer solutions. Y'all shoot them down. You offer zero solutions and expect the results to change. What's the definition of insanity again?

[smootness]

I don't think anyone claimed we would become a good shooting team next year. But 'hiring a shooting coach' is not a legitimate solution. The only solution is to recruit more shooters, and we're doing that. We also need help down low, and I think that is a bigger problem than our shooting problem - so bringing in a class full of shooters only hurts our post problem even more.

Dunlap is a shooter; Davis and Ready are shooters. Daniels can apparently knock down jump shots. And Thomas has the capability, just needs to get his confidence back.

So we are bringing in shooters, and the problem should gradually ease over the next few years.

[engie]

Dead horse 1. Ray and Cohen. Dumbest shit ever.

The fact that you still don't "get it" after it's been spelled out for you countless times speaks VOLUMES to the stupidity and hardheadedness of your approach. Literally everyone other than the "Ray sux -- fire him now!!1!1" crowd understands the analogy EXACTLY -- because it's a good one. That's why countless people agree with the analogy -- while you and TCdog and a handful of Ray haters are the only ones bitching about it.

Dead horse 2. Baseball sight lines.

Yet Scott Stricklin is doing EXACTLY what I WANTED -- when he spoke in many interviews about simply removing bleachers and doing a very mild renovation as recently as April of last year. What changed?

Dead horses 3-999 I don't read because you're blowing some gasket and copying and pasteurbating all over the page with Engie Statistics.

Ah -- gotta hate those statistics that always seem to support my arguments** Works out much better when you ignore what they actually tell you and continue talking out of your ass**

[tcdog70]

Bloodman is back-up PG that should get 14 mins/game. Ready will take over next year and play about 25 mins/game. And we'll be solid there

Bloodman has really improved. I think you are correct and they will be solid on offense. But defensively they will be sub-par. They can't stop dribble penetration and it is way to easy to shoot over them and post them up. Every really good point guard will have a field day with those two guarding them, especially in the half-court. Would like to see us sign a 6'3" or bigger point that can defend. And do the threes Ds on offense. Dribble, Drive and Dish.