Quote Originally Posted by LC Dawg View Post
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.