Look, Ray could have played Daniels this year and won 6-8 SEC games

[Coach34]

We would have been a much better team with Daniels and Ware inside during SEC play- with Borchert coming off the bench. Roq could have played the 3 some- and we could have actually had a big line-up out there in some games to match other teams. But Ray didnt do that- why?

Because what is best for the long term health of the program- win 3-4 more games this season? Or have Daniels and Ware playing together for the next 2 full seasons? Program building is never easy. But he made the right decision and we'll start seeing the benefits next year

2015 is on Ray and we'll see if he delivers

[HailState39110]

I'm actually excited about next year. No more excuses, a full roster, Ray needing to show major improvement, etc. I also can't wait to see how our non conference schedule will look to see if its more challenging or the powder puff non conference schedule we played this year. All of those things combined will make for an interesting year.

[MarketingBully01]

Whatever Coach....you guys make him sound like the second coming of Jones and Hood. Name the teams we would have beaten if we added Daniels.

[smootness]

Daniels isn't some huge stud, but he should be a legitimate SEC player. Sword and Ware have the chance to be above-average SEC players next year if they continue to improve. If we can get a couple more players to progress into that 'legitimate' territory, we should be competitive. We'll see. I'm excited, too.

[MetEdDawg]

Both home games against Arkansas and Tennessee. Only lost those by 4 and 7 points. Think you could make a case for @Vandy only losing by 6 and only scoring 49 points. There's three right there.

[missouridawg]

Both home games against Arkansas and Tennessee. Only lost those by 4 and 7 points. Think you could make a case for @Vandy only losing by 6 and only scoring 49 points. There's three right there.

Yesterday's game against USCe too.

[MetEdDawg]

Yesterday's game against USCe too.

Agreed. By now we have dead legs. Not enough solid basketball bodies, guys having to play out of position, guys having to play too many minutes. He certainly could have helped that. But I think we did the right thing in not playing him. Two full years of him and Ware together, plus adding Black next year and getting N'Doye in will give us significantly more depth in the post.

[smootness]

I wish we could all just have a rational discussion about the basketball program. The reality is, no one likes where the program is right now. Just because people want to give Ray more time doesn't mean we accept where we are. And just because others think it's time to move on doesn't mean they're just trolling.

The question is, why are we where we are; and what is the best course of action to get us back to where we want to be? Personally, I don't think it's Ray's fault that we are where we are, and I still think there's a chance he is the guy to get us back.

People need to remember that this year didn't really go as planned for him, either. Ideally, we would have had Quantel Denson and Travis Daniels, two guys who could have come in and given us some legitimate size, talent, and scoring ability, and Ndoye to take some of the load off Ware. And going after Denson proves that Ray isn't afraid to go get talent that may have some baggage - he just requires you to follow his rules, and if you can't, you're gone.

But add those 3 guys to this team and suddenly we're actually competitive. But instead of those 3 guys, we had none of them, and then Ready was constantly having to battle through issues.

Sure, obviously if every year becomes, 'Things didn't go as planned,' then it's not an excuse anymore and it means there's an underlying issue. But Daniels and Ndoye are still around, and we'll get a much better picture next year of the kind of talent Ray is bringing in and of his ability to coach guys up. Let's just see how it goes.

[Intramural All-American]

I just hope next year Stansbury's name is not brought up. Next year is completely on Ray in my mind. It's time for him to be held accountable and to show progress. The Stansbury back and forth needs to end.

[HoopsDawg]

Yesterday's game against USCe too.

Man, I feel better about this season now after all these hypothetical wins.

[MarketingBully01]

I agree to an extent with what you are saying Smoot, however with how he recruited he was not recruiting like his job depended on it. Also, shouldn't he of laid off certain players if there was a chance they wouldn't make it here? He had three players that weren't even available in this year's recruiting class. He should have recruited at least three players that he knew would make it to campus and take 1 risk player. He basically took all risk players except Ready and it burned him. He could have used one of those scholarships on KPG and that kid from Piney Woods who went to Ole Miss instead of Daniels and Ndioye and we would have been a better team overall IMO. Instead, we are 7-29 in a very very weak SEC. I just hope all of these risk kids he recruited in his second recruiting class are worth it because he bet a considerable lot on them.

[Coach34]

Yesterday's game against USCe too.

and every game in which we got into foul trouble early and had to play Roq at the 5- allowing teams to go on runs and just kill us inside. Having another big body would have been huge- especially one that is as good as Ware or better.

[BeastMan]

I just hope next year Stansbury's name is not brought up. Next year is completely on Ray in my mind. It's time for him to be held accountable and to show progress. The Stansbury back and forth needs to end.

Amen

[Coach34]

I just hope next year Stansbury's name is not brought up. Next year is completely on Ray in my mind. It's time for him to be held accountable and to show progress. The Stansbury back and forth needs to end.

Next year is all Ray. Nobody has ever said different

[shannondawg]

Believe it when I see it.

[smootness]

I agree to an extent with what you are saying Smoot, however with how he recruited he was not recruiting like his job depended on it. Also, shouldn't he of laid off certain players if there was a chance they wouldn't make it here? He had three players that weren't even available in this year's recruiting class. He should have recruited at least three players that he knew would make it to campus and take 1 risk player. He basically took all risk players except Ready and it burned him. He could have used one of those scholarships on KPG and that kid from Piney Woods who went to Ole Miss instead of Daniels and Ndioye and we would have been a better team overall IMO. Instead, we are 7-29 in a very very weak SEC. I just hope all of these risk kids he recruited in his second recruiting class are worth it because he bet a considerable lot on them.

Don't you realize this is shortsighted, though? If Daniels and Ndoye are better in years 2-4 (I know Daniels will only be here for the first two of those) than Geno, then taking Geno would have been a huge mistake. This year wasn't going to matter anyway; it's not like we were going dancing if we had brought in guys who had a better chance to play last year, and clearly we would have been taking less talent...or at least guys further down our board by doing that.

And I don't understand the 'not recruiting like his job depended on it'. We hired him to build the program from the ground up. If we had told him going into year 2 that he better find some band-aids to patch things up because we were going to judge him on this year, then that would have been a botched hire. In order to allow a coach to truly build a program the way he wants to, you have to give him freedom to make decisions that are better for the long-term but may sting a little more in the short-term.

[Coach34]

Exactly Smoot and that's the whole point. Ray was told not to go quick-fix but to build the damn program. He's doing what he was hired to do for the most part- now we just have to start winning more games next year

[tcdog70]

I just hope next year Stansbury's name is not brought up. Next year is completely on Ray in my mind. It's time for him to be held accountable and to show progress. The Stansbury back and forth needs to end.

Good post. It Is Rick Ray all the time.

[tcdog70]

Exactly Smoot and that's the whole point. Ray was told not to go quick-fix but to build the damn program. He's doing what he was hired to do for the most part- now we just have to start winning more games next year

I'm sure they didn't mean go out and have the worst two seasons in MSU history. And while you are at it finish last or next to last in every statistic but steals.

[MadDawg]

I just hope next year Stansbury's name is not brought up. Next year is completely on Ray in my mind. It's time for him to be held accountable and to show progress. The Stansbury back and forth needs to end.

Don't hold your breath.