The drop in fan support for MSU Basketball is a major crisis

[Coach34]

Is it NIT or bust for Ray next year? I have never heard of a coach in a BCS conference losing 14 in a row to close the season and keeping his job, but somehow Stricklin is going to sweep it under the rug. .

Billy Gillispie went 1-17 at TT and kept his job- Until that September when he went on another drunken bender or whatever it was. But they had planned on keeping him another season

[Coach34]

They ****ing suck. When has Indiana been as bad as we are even in their off years? .

2009- Indiana went 6-25, 1-17 in conference
2010- Indiana went 10-21, 4-14 in conference
2011- Indiana went 12-20, 3-15 in conference
2012- Indiana went 27-9 and made the Sweet 16

[CadaverDawg]

I don't see a problem with it. I live in Jackson, and I'm not wasting money on something that is not good. Would you go to a shitty restaurant over and over again if it continues to be shitty?

This is where I am too. I have an extremely busy work schedule, and I have to plan ahead to go to games. I'm sorry if I don't want to leave work early on a Wednesday, drive to Starkville and back to watch our team score 42 points and throw up 20 backboard crushing bricks from 3 point range, and us lose by 20. Even if the tickets are free, the tank of gas isn't worth that shit. Hell, at least with Stansbury's teams I knew I would see some ally-oops from Moultrie, some blocked shots from Varnado, some treys from Bost, some beautiful set shots and perfectly parted hair from Shane Power*, etc... This shit we're watching is not only awful, but there aren't even exciting moments within a loss. I have 10000 things that I can do with my time and money that are better than going and watching that team.

Facts.

I'm not saying I wish we had Stansbury back, because I don't....but even a more exciting loser would be an upgrade.

[HardyStreetAlumniClub]

Did you forget they were on a three year probation and play in a conference far superior to the SEC?

I'm not paying money to go see terrible basketball, that's the bottom line. If that makes me a bad fan then so be it. I've paid lots of money over the years to attend lots of athletic events we are involved with.

[Coach34]

Did you forget they were on a three year probation and play in a conference far superior to the SEC?.

Did you forget where Stands left Ray one functional player to move forward with? You cant get any more probation than that

[HardyStreetAlumniClub]

Did you forget how many players Ray dismissed from the team?

[CadaverDawg]

Did you forget where Stands left Ray one functional player to move forward with? You cant get any more probation than that

Sword, Thomas, Ware, Steele, Lewis, Johnson

I would say the opposite. Stansbury left us our current best players, and 2 guys that Ray dismissed

[Coach34]

Did you forget how many players Ray dismissed from the team?

actually they dismissed themselves by failing 3 drug tests. And also Ray has no say in the matter- when player fails his 3rd test- the AD office notifys the coach that they are done.

[HardyStreetAlumniClub]

Bottom line is Rick Ray has some big problems and the fan base will not stick around to watch the product he put on the court for the past two years. He may end up being a great coach and turning our program around, but it sure isn't happening yet. And until he puts out a competitive product, I'm done with MSU basketball. We are the laughingstock of a very very bad basketball conference. I'm for keeping him around another year because I believe every coach deserves 3 years to completely turn a program around. If we don't see significant improvement next year i'll help him pack his ****ing bags. The last thing we need is another Croom to waste 5 years of a perfectly capable basketball program.

[coastdoglover]

Coach, you got exactly what you had been screaming for over 8 years ago. Now own up to it and be a big boy and admit it was dumb. All the crap about Stan's leaving a train wreck is BS. He would have kept Hood and no matter how much you try to blame him, that is a load of crap. We would have added some talent last year and nothing could have been this bad. I am not going to argue with you anymore because you will do anything you can to justify you were right and this time, you weren't. Ray will be history next year and then we will have to go through all thus shit again after wasting 3 years of basketball . You let your insecure hatred of Stan's influence others and now all of you look like idiots . Be careful what you wish for, you got it!

[Political Hack]

roster transitions should be taking place in year one... not questioning the extent to which they'll still be occurring going into year three. We are the cellar of the cellar of BCS basketball conferences. How anyone is ok with that is beyond me.

[MetEdDawg]

Coach, you got exactly what you had been screaming for over 8 years ago. Now own up to it and be a big boy and admit it was dumb. All the crap about Stan's leaving a train wreck is BS. He would have kept Hood and no matter how much you try to blame him, that is a load of crap. We would have added some talent last year and nothing could have been this bad. I am not going to argue with you anymore because you will do anything you can to justify you were right and this time, you weren't. Ray will be history next year and then we will have to go through all thus shit again after wasting 3 years of basketball . You let your insecure hatred of Stan's influence others and now all of you look like idiots . Be careful what you wish for, you got it!

This is why our fan base is dumb. Too ignorant to look at the big picture. Is there anyone on this board who doesn't think that if we had kept Stansbury that we would have had a better record over the past two years? I think it's pretty obvious we would. Josh Gray may be here, Wendell Lewis still here, Jalen Steele still here, few others maybe. Better record than the last two years pretty easily.

But people, THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE HERE!! The issue here is would Stansbury have ever done better than his ceiling, which was 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament 1 time in 2007-2008. We had guys getting in fights in public, multiple failed drug tests, horrible NIT losses, and an overall bad national picture of our program (regardless of whether you think some of those talking heads are decent analysts or not, they are still on ESPN and them bashing us is in no way good for us).

We didn't ask to suck and we didn't ask for Ray to struggle. But what we did ask for is hope that our program would one day be better than the crap we had to deal with the last few years under Stansbury. Ray may never get us there, but anyone that guarantees Stansbury would have eventually gotten us there is stupid and completely bias to the situation at hand. Look at the real issue you guys that are bashing Ray and tell me if you really think keeping Stansbury was in the best long term interest of our program.

[shannondawg]

Welcome back CDL. You get a clear view from the Great Wall?

[smootness]

This is why our fan base is dumb. Too ignorant to look at the big picture. Is there anyone on this board who doesn't think that if we had kept Stansbury that we would have had a better record over the past two years? I think it's pretty obvious we would. Josh Gray may be here, Wendell Lewis still here, Jalen Steele still here, few others maybe. Better record than the last two years pretty easily.

But people, THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE HERE!! The issue here is would Stansbury have ever done better than his ceiling, which was 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament 1 time in 2007-2008. We had guys getting in fights in public, multiple failed drug tests, horrible NIT losses, and an overall bad national picture of our program (regardless of whether you think some of those talking heads are decent analysts or not, they are still on ESPN and them bashing us is in no way good for us).

We didn't ask to suck and we didn't ask for Ray to struggle. But what we did ask for is hope that our program would one day be better than the crap we had to deal with the last few years under Stansbury. Ray may never get us there, but anyone that guarantees Stansbury would have eventually gotten us there is stupid and completely bias to the situation at hand. Look at the real issue you guys that are bashing Ray and tell me if you really think keeping Stansbury was in the best long term interest of our program.

Really, really like your posts.

I will never understand why some can't see that we made the move to be able to have a chance to be better down the road, not to be better in years 1-2 of the post-Stans era.

[MetEdDawg]

Really, really like your posts.

I will never understand why some can't see that we made the move to be able to have a chance to be better down the road, not to be better in years 1-2 of the post-Stans era.

It's the garbage instant gratification world we live in. Hell I'm 25 and I'm the one that should be wanting instant results, but I'm way more realistic than that. People want results now and are too impatient. The whole point of this argument over our basketball team is being lost by the Ray bashers/Stans lovers. It's not whether or not we would be better this year or last year. That's entirely too short-sighted. It's whether or not Stansbury would have ever given us better. The answer to that question is no. We had 13 years of experience to base that opinion off of.

Did he do good things? Yeah nobody questions that. But this plan was long term rebuild from the ground up in order to have a chance down the road of greater success. The first two years weren't going to be pretty. Wish they were a little prettier but shit happens. This team is 4-6 wins better with Lewis and Steele because that is decently talented senior leadership and depth that we really could have used. That decision was made for them to be gone and I'm cool with that because it's the direction our program needs to go. But now we sit back and evaluate what happens next year. It's all on Ray next year and if he screws the pooch then we make the necessary changes and go from there.

[Coach34]

This is why our fan base is dumb. Too ignorant to look at the big picture. Is there anyone on this board who doesn't think that if we had kept Stansbury that we would have had a better record over the past two years? I think it's pretty obvious we would. Josh Gray may be here, Wendell Lewis still here, Jalen Steele still here, few others maybe. Better record than the last two years pretty easily.

But people, THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE HERE!! The issue here is would Stansbury have ever done better than his ceiling, which was 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament 1 time in 2007-2008. We had guys getting in fights in public, multiple failed drug tests, horrible NIT losses, and an overall bad national picture of our program (regardless of whether you think some of those talking heads are decent analysts or not, they are still on ESPN and them bashing us is in no way good for us).

We didn't ask to suck and we didn't ask for Ray to struggle. But what we did ask for is hope that our program would one day be better than the crap we had to deal with the last few years under Stansbury. Ray may never get us there, but anyone that guarantees Stansbury would have eventually gotten us there is stupid and completely bias to the situation at hand. Look at the real issue you guys that are bashing Ray and tell me if you really think keeping Stansbury was in the best long term interest of our program.

yes, yes, yes

[mic]

Attendance is down in basketball all over the SEC.. I bet this will be the worse SEC tourney overall attendance in years .. The Big 10 schools and ACC schools have always outdrawn the SEC in hoops ..
Yes our attendance is down big time this year and the product on the court has a lot to do with that. But it was also noticeable the last few years of the Stands era also. Look where ALL other schools students sit at their home games.. Our students should be pissed with the sections they are allowed to sit in. Go back to when the hump was one of the hardest places to play and look at where the student sections were.. Give some of these seats back to the students. Most of the season ticket holders don't make the mid week home games anyway..

[shannondawg]

2nd round would look pretty dam good right now. In my opinion our final four run was a stroke of luck, with Princeton beating UCLA, or we would have not made it to the sweet 16.. Thought that then, think it now. I went out to the game in Oakland and saw us get beat up pretty bad by them out there the year before the final four run. If you remember our record wasn't all that outstanding the year we made it.

Everyone talks about a deep run in the tourney, but most of our fans calling for this don't really realize what it takes to get there. There are a lot more schools with a deeper history and support of their basketball programs with a lot tougher competition to hone those skills year in and year out and a lot deeper recruiting base..

Why aren't our expectations the same in football? We got to the SEC championship game one time, but no one keeps throwing that up as a failure each year we don't make it and hell that is just for the conference. I'll tell you why, cause coaches like Stansbury raised the bar on our expectations and now he is castigated for it.

And it will probably be that way in baseball this year with a lot of our fans, who are already ready to jump because we lost a few games and if we don't make the championship game again this year, will think our program is a bust.

Better stop and smell the roses after each win and savor them, cause it gonna be a long time between them now for a good many years.

[Coach34]

Coach, you got exactly what you had been screaming for over 8 years ago. Now own up to it and be a big boy and admit it was dumb.

What was dumb about it?

We have gotten rid of the drama and bullshit that has plagued this program for awhile.
We are losing like this now because of the shitty culture of the program he left.

The only thing I am disappointed in is the shortsightedness of many of our fans- like you. But of course, if I was in nursing home like you, I'd probably be shortsighted as well.

When you lose all 5 starters and hire a coach late like we did- and not have much else left in the program with a complete lack of discipline culture- this is what you get. This is what you Stands Lovers get for continuing to support his bullshit each year. You asked for this. And now Ray has to clean it up.

[thunderclap]

No kidding. At least Ravern was good for a flyaway dunk or three straight 3s at some point. This shit is just bad.