Random Basketball Musings

Its been awhile. You should be used to that by now.

-Phil Turner has done pretty well since becoming a starter. He hasn't lived up to the billing as the best shooter on the team but he is decent and plays good defense.

-Ben "Did you know his brother plays for UNC" Hansbrough broke a finger on his left hand and is doubtful for tonight's game. Stansbury said he thought about starting Benock is his place but will probably go with Rhodes instead.

-In my mind that is bad news. A big reason for this nice little win streak seems to be the team going back to the 4 guard lineup. This team's biggest weakness, well second biggest, is its half court offense, which in all honesty is non existent. With a 4 guard lineup MSU is able to get more more points in transition. With two bigs in the game, transition points disappear completely and MSU becomes almost solely a half court team. MSU is generally a terrible half court team. Its too bad because with the talent of Varnado and Rhodes on the inside, MSU should be able to dominate most teams inside, but as the beginning of this year has shown, the exact opposite happens.

-At this moment, Jarvis Varnado is the MVP of this team. Not Rhodes, not Gordon. Varnado has become and absolute beast in the paint. He has always been a blocking machine, but he would also foul at an alarming rate. In the past month something has clicked though. He is blocking more shots than ever but is now keeping himself out of foul trouble. Jarvis is averaging a whopping 7.2 ppg, 8.6 rpg, and 5.2 bpg. That is ridiculous. He has already broken the single game MSU record for blocks. With 83 blocks already he is the leading shot blocker in the country and is going to shatter the MSU single season record of 106. He also has an outside shot at the SEC single season record of 157. Outstanding. Again though, it isn't just the blocked shots. Varnado is a force when it comes to rebounding, and while offense is definitely his weak spot, he has come a long way from a year ago. 7.2 ppg is nothing to sneeze out. Bottom line, he forces the opponent to gameplan around him. When you have a Jarvis Varnado controlling the lane like he does, the opponent has to find other ways to score.

-Rhodes could learn a lot from watching Jarvis Varnado. He has just as much talent, maybe even more, but he isn't half as important to this team. Don't believe me? What has happened since Rhodes has been injured? MSU has won every game...easily. So why is it he is such a non factor? It's simple, because you're lucky if you get maximum effort out him on half the plays. When he gives 100% he is a force, but unfortunately he doesn't play defense (thats half the plays right there) and on top of that he takes possessions off on offense too. Charles might bust his ass a third of the time. On the flip side, Varnado busts his ass every second he is out there. The result: Varnado is on his way to becoming a star on the team and Charles is on his way to becoming an afterthought. Another waste of talent.
P.S. You're lazy butt won't sniff the NBA. I recommend you start looking for a house in Israel.

-Gordon isn't a point guard, and he isn't a superstar, contrary to what ESPN tries to shove down your throat. He has all the talent in the world. He has the most talent on the team and it isn't even close. Unfortunately he screws up almost as often as he makes a spectacular play. What you are seeing is a much more talented version of Slater. He'll amaze you one minute, the very next , well not so much. Decision making is Gordon's biggest problem. Anyone who has watched him knows he is very good at penetrating and scoring. The problem is, once he has made up his mind to attack the basket, nothing short of an act of God will change it. A great player will see 4 men in front of him or a help defender cut him off and they'll get the ball to someone else. Gordon rarely does that. He gets his shot blocked, he throws up an airball, or he commits a charge. Gordon has the talent but apparently he doesn't know how to use it.

-MSU is good for at least 3 lazy passes taken the other way for a layup. It is amazing the coaches still haven't corrected it.

-Barry Stewart has grown nicely into his role. He is light year ahead of where he was last year. Also at the beginning of the year, I though he was terrible as a point guard. Well, I've changed my mind. He might have some potential there.

-GET RAVERN JOHNSON IN THE GAME!! That is all.

-The team has become just what Stansbury likes most, a tough defensive team that rebounds the ball. MSU is 5th nationally in rebounding and 6th in defensive points per possession. (Credit: ASeaofBlue)

-After the South Alabama debacle I was just about ready to throw in the towel. To their credit this team has rebounded nicely. I still think this is nothing more than a decent team and we'll be looking at a return trip to the NIT come March. We'll see.

Change Is In The Air

Croom has decided to promote from within. Charlie Harbison is the new MSU defensive coordinator according to the Clarion-Ledger. For those of you who don't know, he was the safeties coach this past year, his first at MSU. He has never been a D-coordinator before so I don't have anything to go on. Harbison seemed to do a good job with the safeties this year but that does not necessarily make a good DC.

Its pretty obvious Croom went with the safe and unimaginative move here. With most of the defense coming back next year along with the way they performed this year, he wanted someone to maintain continuity. If I am not mistaken there is a quote in the article I linked above to that effect. So, is this the homerun I said MSU had to get? No, but it could be in time. We will just have to wait and see. I'm not terribly enthused about it, but I'm not terribly upset about it either. Only time will tell.

Another coaching move to note, Louis Campbell will be the new linebackers coach. He was with Arkansas this past year as the secondary coach (I think) and was supposed to be joining the Ole Miss staff, but I guess the floor fell through on that one because here he is. No idea if this is a good hire to be perfectly honest. Sorry, but I just don't keep up with NCAA position coaches.

Also, you may have noticed in the first linked article, an anonymous university has been granted permission to speak to Woody McCorvey about a head coaching position. Gregg Ellis speculates it may be South Alabama.


WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Please, please by all means, take him. I don't know what they would be thinking and I don't really care. As happy as I am with the news, I don't know that even a new OC would help the offense. This offense is Croom's baby. Croom is the one who force fed it to McCorvey and consequently McCorvey to us. If Croom hires a new OC and relinquishes control, turning over the reigns to the new guy, then improvement may happen. If not, then we will get more of the same old crap sandwich of an offense, just with a new nameplate on the OC's office door.

He's Leaving, He's Staying, He's Interviewing, He's Staying, And He's Gone Again

I thought the Ellis Johnson saga was over once and for all, but I was wrong...again. It is now being reported Johnson is taking the DC position at Arkansas. Terrific.

We are right back where I though we were when I believed him to be headed to South Carolina. Everything I said then still holds true now. Whoever Croom hires as the new DC absolutely MUST be a homerun. The defense single handedly carried the team to 8 wins this year, and if the last 4 years are any indication, will have to do the same for the foreseeable future. If this hire is a bust, I guarantee you MSU is going right back into the toilet. 3-9 would be a good year. The offense won't be winning anything of significance unless changes are made. The Liberty Bowl was just more evidence of that. So, yeah, this sucks.

I'll be getting to the Liberty Bowl and basketball soon enough.

Ellis Johnson Staying Put.

Dave Wommack was hired by Georgia Tech to be their Def. Coordinator. On top of that, apparently all of the MSU assistants got a raise. At least that is how I interpreted this article. So it looks like Johnson is staying and gets a raise which he has earned. Unfortunately that means McCorvey also got a raise, not well deserved to say the very least. All he has earned is a pink slip. Oh well, thats the brakes.

UPDATE: So it looks like I jumped the gun a tad when it comes to this whole raise issue. Kyle Veazey has an explanation on his blog. Basically, this extra money hasn't yet been approved for the assistants, though that is felt to be a formality. Secondly, who will get a raises and exactly how much hasn't been determined either. Surely McCorvey won't get one, never know though. Ellis Johnson is staying. At least I got that much right.

One Door Shuts, Another Opens

South Carolina has hired one Brian VanGorder to be their new defensive coordinator. So I guess that eliminates the threat of Ellis Johnson going there. A new contender has emerged though. It has come to light that he is now interviewing for the Georgia Tech DC position. We'll see how that plays out.

South Carolina Grabbing Ellis Johnson?

Current Mississippi State defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson has been offered the South Carolina Def. Co. job according to Rivals. It is expected that he will take the job.

His defenses weren't sensational, but Johnson's side of the ball definitely did most of the work when it came to winning games. Are you sure you guys wouldn't rather have McCorvey instead? No? Darn. Heck, I'd even be okay with Johnson moving on as long as South Carolina took McCorvey with him.

So, assuming Johnson does indeed move on, this is a big deal. With it being likely that the offense will continue to be nonexistant in the future, this team will have to continue to rely on the defense to win games as we saw this year. That being said, whomever Croom hires as a replacement MUST be a homerun. If the defense slips in the future its katie-bar-the-door. I can virtually guarantee MSU will be right back in the cellar. Unless McCorvey, or whomever is calling plays for the offense, miraculously gets their head out of their butt after four years.

Programming Note

Miami vs. MSU will be on FSN tonight. Tune in if you aren't going to the game. I didn't mention anything about the SE Louisiana win because I didn't see it and from what I hear it was basically same old same old. Why rehash old news? The freshman did get more minutes than usual, which was good to see. Anyways, big game tonight. MSU only has a couple of opportunities left to pick up a quality non-conference win and this is one of them. Sadly, I'm not confident.

Back to Football

-As of 1:00pm today, Mississippi State has already sold 23,540 tickets to the Liberty Bowl. That does not even include student ticket sales. Outstanding job MSU fans.

-Sylvester Croom is officially the SEC coach of the year.

-Mike Brown, Titus Brown, Jamar Chaney, and Derek Pegues were all named to the SEC second-team. I was surprised Anthony Johnson didn't make it. He could very possibly be the best player on the defense.

Mississippi State Basketball Off to a Dissappointing Start

Make no mistake, even that is understating things. Expectations were high coming into the season with most seeing a NCAA tournament bid as the minimum necessary for the season to be a success. I'm not sure why expectations were that high, my feeling was this would probably be a bubble team, maybe a 7 seed type at best. However, 7 games into the season this team is playing far worse than even I expected.

I'll tell you this, with the way they are playing now, they won't even get into the NIT. Heck they won't even sniff the NIT. I say it again for emphasis. Improvement can be made, and will have to be made if Mississippi State wants to play in any type of postseason.

I've seen three of seven games so far: against Clemson, Southern Illinois, and Miami (OH). Mississippi State looked good at times in the 2nd half against Clemson, otherwise they have been atrocious. Two and a half games of just pathetic basketball. From reports I've read, three of the four wins were equally pathetic basketball, the opponent was simply to bad to do anything about it. That is 5 and 1/2 games of bad basketball and 1 and 1/2 of good. Seven games is enough to get an idea of what is in store for the season. The early polls say, not good. The spurts of competence have been the exception rather than the rule. So what is wrong, and more importantly, how does it get fixed?

Well, the latter question I cannot begin to answer. If I could, I'd be the head coach (or at least an assistant.) I've addressed the lack of depth before in previous posts. Nobody outside of Brian Johnson is making even the smallest of contributions off the bench. That just isn't going to come close to cutting it. I don't know how this can be fixed either. Someone has to step up though.

As far as the starters go, well they are okay, but really not all that impressive. Hansbrough is playing like Slater without the good defense. I just don't know what happened to him in the offseason. All of a sudden he is playing completely out of control and making one huge mistake after another. Gordon is playing well enough but he has regressed to his turnover prone self that we saw in the first half of last year. Again, I just don't know what happened. Varnado is doing a good job in the rebounding and blocking department, otherwise....eh not so much. Rhodes is Rhodes. Finally, Stewart just looks like he has too much weight on his shoulders. This Stewart-point guard experiment just doesn't look to be working.

We're not done yet. I have never seen so many lazy passes in my life. When playing MSU you are guaranteed 3 to 5 lazy passes that result in a turnover and an easy layup. This is something that can be cleaned up and it is embarrassing that nothing has been done to address it. Too much standing around on offense, does MSU ever run an offense? Absolutely no fast break threat, a big source of points last year is now nonexistent this year, why? I could go on and on. Point is, this team is horribly flawed and has a long long way to go to be a good team. It can be turned around, but I'm not terribly optimistic to be quite honest. Missouri will be a key game to see if any progress has been made after a run of mostly cannon fodder. Sorry SE Louisiana, thats just my opinion.

Its the Liberty Bowl

Mississippi State vs. Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl.

Linky