Mississippi State stumbles at Georgia

In what could have been seen as an elimination game for the NCAA tournament, Miss St. got run out of the building. Georgia was 12-of-19 from the 3 point line on the game and had a 57.9 FG%. Anytime a team has that kind of shooting night put up against them, they are going to be in big trouble. So, was the cause poor defense or was Georgia just on fire on Saturday? Like most questions of this kind, the answer is both. State's defense didn't play at the level we are used to seeing. Georgia got more open looks than they should have, but even when they had a man in their face, the shots were still going down.

Only one player for MSU really played well and that was Reginald Delk. He led all scorers with 22 on 8-12 shooting and 6-9 from beyond the arc. Richard Delk had a solid game defensively but was basically non-existent on the offensive end. Everyone else was mediocre to bad on this day. Dietric Slater scored 18 and had 8 rebounds. This looks like a great day at first glance, but then you might notice he took 20 shots. I'm sorry, but there is no way that Slater should ever have 20 FG attempts in a game. Reginald Delk and Jamont Gordon combined only had 24 attempts. Slater is good for the putback or open layup, otherwise he should not be shooting the ball. Those FG attempts need to be going to more capable scorers. Gordon was more or less shut down, being held to 8 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Rhodes was even worse, scoring 7 points and pulling in just 2 rebounds. Oh my. Couple Georgia's hot shooting with mediocre play from almost every MSU player and you end up with the 86-73 loss.

I would think this ends the slim chance Miss St. had for an at-large bid into the tournament. It's doubtful that anything short of a SEC tourny title will do the trick now. We'll see though, things can change. The silver lining to all this is that Ole Miss and Alabama both lost on Saturday as well, which means Mississippi State is still tied for first in the West. While this doesn't hold much meaning as far as the NCAA's are concerned, it is still important to get a good seed in the SEC tournament. The Bulldogs travel to Arkansas tonight for a game that will be broadcast by Lincoln-Financial at 8:00 ET. If I understand the tie-break procedures, if MSU wins their final two games they will win the West, regardless of what Ole Miss and Alabama do. So tonight is still a pretty important game.

Bulldogs climbing back into the NCAA race

Last night's victory made four in a row for Mississippi State. I can't give a detailed review of the game for the simple reason that I did not see it. What I can do is heap praise on a few people. First up is Jamont Gordon who scored 15 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and dished 10 assists last night against Vanderbilt. In case you didn't know, we call that a triple-double. Gordon is only the second player in Miss. State history to get a triple-double, the first being Lawrence Roberts in 2004 against Nicholls State. You cannot say enough about Jamont Gordon's play since the Ole Miss loss. He has cut down on the turnovers while keeping his production at the same high level. He was good before when turnover-ridden, without them, I dare say he is playing great.

Charles Rhodes came up with a monster night, scoring 23 points and getting 8 rebounds. Once again, since about the Ole Miss loss, Rhodes has stepped up his game. Don't know what was wrong for much of the season, but apparently everything got worked out and just in time too. Dietric Slater had a good game as well after an absolutely atrocious performance against LSU which featured 7 turnovers. Slater scored 18 and grabbed 7 rebounds. Apparently he cannot have consecutive good games, so I would expect Saturday to be a disaster for him. Reginald Delk chipped in 13 points to the effort.

MSU needed a signature win and last night may have been it. They still have work to do if they are going to get into the tournament, though. It is looking like they need to win out in the last 3 games. Going 2-1 might still give them a chance depending on what they do in the SEC tournament. I don't think it is going to happen ultimately, but it is nice to be able to talk about it. Coach Stansbury should be given alot of credit for getting the team to where they are now. They could have folded after that heart breaker at Alabama, but Stansbury kept that from happening and has them playing really good basketball at the end of the year. Don't mean to be a buzz kill, but enjoy it folks because I have bad news for you. Once the season ends, there won't be another competent Mississippi State sports team to watch until basketball starts up again next year.

MSU wins 83-70

Mississippi State just smoked Vanderbilt in Starkville. It wasn't even as close as the score indicates. They've got a winning record in the SEC now and are tied for 1st in the West. Never thought I would be able to say this....but I am officially putting MSU on the bubble. More tomorrow.

Pistol Pete

Because I've been away so long, here is my little way of making it up to you. Enjoy.

Blah

Been sick. On the upswing though so hopefully I will be returning to my usual duties beginning tomorrow. Until then...

Kitten!

NCAA Looking to Dump 2006 Clock Rules

The NCAA rules committee has decided to do away with the new clock rules implemented last season. This decision still needs to be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on March 12 but it does not look like that will be a problem. I for one am thrilled to hear this. The rules made no sense and only served to give the viewer less football and more commercials. New rules will be put in place which you can see in that article. I don't have a problem with any of them, and I love the idea of limiting the reviews to two minutes. There is no reason to spend 5-6 minutes looking at a play. Make a decision and be done with it.

Mississippi State Crushes Arkansas, 84-60

The headline was originally going to be "Mississippi State Eviscerates Arkansas, 84-60" but that seemed a tad harsh. It is also oh so true, and I loved every minute of it. Maybe I shouldn't feel this way but it has been a rough year. Each agonizing game lost in the final 2-3 minutes sucked a little life out of me, only to be followed by an even more painful loss time after time. A complete and utter beatdown of an SEC team was just what the doctor ordered.

Arkansas jumped out to a 5-0 lead but two Reggie Delk threes and a pair of Jamont Gordon free throws later and it was an 8-5 MSU lead from which they would never look back. Miss St. rode 7/10 shooting from behind the arc to go into halftime leading 41-29. The second half would be just as ugly for Arkansas as they fell behind as much as 27, 72-45. The Razorbacks put a little bit of a run together cutting the lead to 16 with 3:46 to go, but that was nothing more than an annoyance.

Let us not forget about the celebrated return of Gary Ervin. He didn't start, apparently because of breaking curfew (probably partying) sometime around the LSU game. Spend that time practicing next time Ervin because you got worked over last night. Ervin checked in around the 12:00 mark of the 1st half to a rousing chorus of boos, which I thought was magnificent. A couple of minutes later on his first offensive position, Gary Ervin ran into a half-court trap and promptly turned it over on a travel, eliciting a very satisfying roar from the crowd. The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh Ervin? He finished scoreless, 0-4 from the field, two of his shots getting blocked into the 2nd row and a third failing too touch iron. The best part was him getting outscored by Joseph Iupe. Justice my friends.

Just a fantastic game. Gordon was great for the third straight game, scoring 18 points, dishing out 7 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds, all with just 3 turnovers. Maybe he has turned the corner, I don't know, but he is really playing up to his potential as of late. Rhodes also played very well for the third straight week putting up 19 points and 7 rebounds. Once again, I'd like 2 or 3 more rebounds, but I'm not going to complain about it when you score 19. Reginald Delk, Barry Stewart, and Dietric Slater rounded out the double digit scorers with 11, 10, and 10 respectively.

Mississippi State is playing their best basketball of the season right now. They've won 3 of the last 4 (should have been 4 out of 4 but I'm not bitter) and have climbed back to being tied for second in the West. Reginald Delk and Barry Stewart are knocking down shots after both went through a slump earlier in the season. Jamont Gordon is playing the best basketball of his MSU career and Charles Rhodes is beginning to play more like we saw last year. Heck, even Piotr Stelmach has given a few good minutes in the last two games. A win on Saturday at LSU would be huge.

MSU Ends Streak, Beats Auburn 91-83

Mississippi State ended a 12 game SEC road losing streak on Saturday by beating Auburn 91-83 on their home court. The first half had all the indications that this game was going to be a continuation of the Bulldogs SEC road difficulties. It was close throughout, but Auburn led most of the way and scored the final 4 points of the the half to take a 47-43 halftime advantage.

The second half didn't start off much better as Auburn quickly jumped out to a 8 point lead, 57-49, their largest of the game. Mississippi State would then go on a 19-4 run, led by 11 points from Charles Rhodes, to find themselves up 68-61 with 11:24 to go. From here the team never looked back and were able to improve their record to 13-10(4-6) with the victory.

I was afraid the heartbreaking loss at Alabama would carry over to this game. Fortunately I was wrong. Rhodes led the way scoring 25 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. He still needs to be getting more like 9 or 10 rebounds a game, but I can live with it if he is scoring 25. Barry Stewart came out of his shooting slump to score 12 points on 4 3-pointers. That is very good to see as they are going to need production from him in these last six games. Lastly, Jamont Gordon had another terrific game following the loss at Alabama. Gordon scored 19 points, had 6 assists, and most importantly just 3 turnovers. This following a 27 point, 2 assist, 1 turnover game against Alabama. The points are nice, but what I like is the drop in turnovers. Jamont has really upped his play as the year has gone on. Ben Hansbrough's increased minutes at point guard are definitely a factor, as I've mentioned again and again, but he is also just becoming better with experience. Hopefully this will continue and he won't regress.

Important game coming up on Wednesday as Ervin U comes to town. Besides the return of Gary Ervin, its important for Miss. State's postseason chances. NCAAs is pretty much out of the picture but they still have a shot at the NIT. Also, State is very much in the picture for the West title, which comes with a SEC tournament bye. I don't know how much that would help, but take it if you can get it.

2007 Recruits: QB

Just to let you know, there isn't going to be anything posted about the Alabama game. It is just to painful to think about. Miss St. should have won and somehow it got away from them, we'll leave it at that.

Signing day for college football was on Wednesday and I have still yet to post anything regarding MSU's recruiting class. Its time to amend that. MisStateCentral is going to give you a little break down of the 2007 class, position by position. It should be noted that this comes after witnessing back-to-back-to-back 3 win seasons, so you will have to excuse me if I am a tad pessimistic at times. It comes with the territory.

MSU received 34 letters of intent on signing day, 3 of them belonging to junior college transfers who have already enrolled for the spring semester. It is my understanding that only 25 can fit in this class, so obviously not all of these recruits will be here in the fall. One of the 3 junior college transfers on campus already counts against last years total. That leaves 33 counting for this class. Three of them look to be headed to junior college for sure, with another possibly joining them, and I will make mention of them as we go along. That leaves 29 or 30 signees. Those 4 or 5 still left may greyshirt and I don't know who that might be. With that, on to the quarterbacks!

Chris Relf
Ht: 6'3" Wt:211
Scout	** QB #70
Rivals	** NR
ESPN	76 QB #61

Chris Relf committed to MSU back in May of 2006. SuperPrep Magazine rated him as the second best quarterback in Alabama and the consensus from various combines has agreed with that assessment. All the national scouting services seem to agree that he is a middle-of-the-road quarterback though. The type of recruit typical of a MWC or MAC team maybe. Must have been a thin year at QB in Alabama. He threw for more than 1500 yards his junior season in a Wing T offense. Strangely enough, I haven't been able to dig up stats for his senior season. Supposedly his team was switching to a spread offense so it would have been interesting to see how he performed.
Enthusiasm (1-10): Three. Sounds like he has the physical tools, but playing in a run first offense in high school has left him somewhat raw in the QB skills department. Looks to be the definition of a developmental project.
Expectations: Meh. Probably the QB with the most to learn of the three. I would say there is a good chance he will be moved to WR in the future, though he is listed as having a 4.8 40 so I don't know how well that will work out.

Wesley Carroll
Ht:6'2" Wt:190
Scout	** QB #69
Rivals	*** QB #28
ESPN	72 QB #113

Not much agreement on how good Carroll is. That is a big jump from the #28 QB to the #113 QB. Disagreement is not unusual between recruiting services but this large of a disparity is still a bit strange. I have no explanation for it so pick whichever service suits you best. He was pretty successful in high school in Class 5A, leading his team to three straight state championships and a 38-5 record. Carroll completed 90-of-160 passes for over 1700 yard and 29 touchdowns with just 3 interceptions his junior year. Production dropped his senior year when he completed 99-of-182 passes for 1509 yds and24 touchdowns. He was selected to play in the East v. West all star game where he was 4-of-5 for 116 yds.
Enthusiasm (1-10): Five. Had some success at a moderately high level of competition in high school, which is nice to see. More polished than Relf as far as QB skills go but still has alot to learn. Another project most likely. Doesn't have the prototypical QB size but then neither does Henig. Maybe Mississippi State likes the tiny QB that gets eaten alive by defensive linemen, I don't know
Expectations: Average. This could be the next starting QB in a couple of years, something that does not thrill me. At a glance, Carroll looks like a Henig copy. This does not excite me either. He would probably be good for a back-up role in the future but beggars can't be choosers I guess.

Josh Riddell
Ht: 6'1" Wt:195
Scout	**** QB JC
Rivals	** NR
ESPN	NR

Led his JC team to a 10-1 record and a No.4 ranking last year. Threw for 1,973 yds, 18 tds and 9 interceptions on 164-of-289 passing his freshman year. Last year he exploded for 3,360 yds, 36 tds and 12 interceptions on 185-of-314 passing. He got all kinds of honors to go along with those numbers but seeing as how I do not follow junior college football, they're all obscure and have no meaning to me. They are pretty to look at though. One interesting thing to note is that he did not start playing quarterback until his senior year of high school. Maybe the fact he was still learning the position accounts for his lower numbers as a freshman in JC.
Enthusiasm (1-10): Eight. Yeah, I'm going pretty high on this one. Really only because I am hoping he can take the starting QB spot from Henig, who I have little to no faith in. I base this hope on the fact that you would think if a team brings in a JC player, they are intending for him to battle for a starting job immediately. With Croom though, i guess you never know.
Expectations: Moderate. Seems to be a competent QB based on his JC play. Best case scenario is he is better than Henig and gives us two good years starting. Worst case, he becomes the back-up for Henig for the next two years.



OVERALL: C+
MSU desperately needed depth at the QB position. At the very least they needed a back-up as the health of Tray Rutland is questionable. I would argue they need a new starter as well. MSU got the backup who can play immediately if Henig goes down in the juco Riddell. Who knows, he may even be the new starter, but that seems doubtful. Carroll and Relf can take time to develop as they won't be expected to play the next two years. Not an ideal bunch in my mind, but they did fill the basic needs.

Unbelievable

This is sickening. Alabama wins 80-79 on a Ronald Steele jump shot with 10 seconds to go. Same old story. Miss St. up 77-72 with 1:15 to go and cannot hold on to the lead... again. They miss their free throws at the end when it matters... again. They lose on the road... again. Dis-gust-ing.

Better Late than Never: LSU at Mississippi State

Mississippi State broke a 3 game losing streak on Saturday when they beat LSU 85-78 to improve to 12-9(3-5). The Bulldogs got off to a very poor start, getting down 7-0 early and trailing 18-7 at about the midpoint of the first half. Then the threes started dropping. This would be the story of the game as MSU hit 13 three pointers, one short of the school record. State would finally take their first lead of the game, 35-33, at the 2:20 mark of the first half on a Reginald Delk three and entered halftime tied at 39. The second half was a back and forth affair, highlighted by a fantastic steal and dunk by Dietric Slater which tied the game at 54 and 6 straight points by Reggie Delk late in the game which put LSU away. 4 of the points came from getting fouled on a made three and converting the free throw. Then there was this... Yeah, I don't know how to embed the video, get over it. To be honest, it was probably a stupid play given time, score, and the likelihood for it to go horribly wrong... but it worked so WOOOO!!.

Reginald Delk led MSU in scoring with 18 points, 15 of them on 3 point shots. State needs him to continue knocking down the open looks. Slater actually had a very good game with 15 points and 4 rebounds. I buried him pretty hard a few days ago so its only fair that I give him credit when he has a good game. Another player that garners much criticism, Jamont Gordon, had a spectacular game: 14 points, 7 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals, and only 2 turnovers. The difference was Ben Hansbrough was running the point more than usual. I've said it before, Gordon is not a point guard. He is best used at the 3 position, so lets hope Hansbrough can continue his solid play at point guard in the future.

Now come the criticisms. Those 13 three point shots were nice, but how often is that kind of shooting night to come along? Miss. State needs to be able to win in other ways and I'm not sure if they can. Another problem is rebounding. MSU got out-rebounded 36 to 26. This has become a trend, unfortunately I don't know anything can be done about it in the immediate future. The fact is the best line-up for MSU is a 4 guard look, which means they are very very small. This whole rebounding issue brings me to my next point of criticism, Charles Rhodes, who had a whopping 2 rebounds. Barry Stewart was the only Miss. State player that played significant minutes with fewer rebounds. How can you be the biggest player on the floor for your team and yet have the second fewest rebounds? Maybe I'm nitpicking but,

"It's just like shooting," Rhodes said. "You have a night where you don't shoot the ball that well, some nights you do. Some nights you don't rebound the ball that well, some nights you do. It's something that athletes go through."

What? Its not like shooting at all!! There should never be an "off night" rebounding. You're not rebounding the ball because you're not trying. Maybe if you put forth a little effort you'll get a few more. Just a thought.

Of the final 8 games, 5 are on the road. Miss St. has lost 11 straight SEC road games. This will have to change if they hope to make any sort of run. The next two are at Alabama and at Auburn. Personally, I'm just hoping for a split. If they win both, you might be able to upgrade the Bulldogs NCAA tournament hopes from "dead" to "on a respirator", with the plug getting pulled at the first sign of trouble

We Suck AGAIN!!!

Lets get right to the heart of the matter, the basketball team has fallen apart. They followed up an absolutely terrible performance against South Carolina with an even worse one against Ole Miss. The team showed little to no effort throughout the game, moved like they were playing in molasses, and refused to show any hustle whatsoever. From my perspective, it looked like they had just given up. That is absolutely unacceptable. If a team sucks but shows great effort and is giving everything they have on the court, then I'm willing to accept that. Sure it will be frustrating to see loss after loss, but at least the team is "playing hard", which I appreciate. Mississippi State has not been "playing hard" the last two games. I'm sorry, but MSU has more talent than both Ole Miss and South Carolina. The only explanation for the losses is they got outworked, especially on defense.

Which brings me to Charles Rhodes. Lets listen in.

"If I get the ball, these are the results you're going to get," Rhodes said Tuesday night after a 24-point, seven-rebound performance in MSU's 85-73 loss to Ole Miss.

What results Charles? Are you talking about how you become invisible when the other team has the ball? The fact you are non-existent as far as a defensive presence goes? Maybe you're talking about those 7 rebounds, which could have easily been 12 or more if you would figure out that there are in fact other essential elements to the game of basketball aside from scoring. Hey, let us not forget about the most important result, getting embarrassed by an inferior team. Amazing results Charles. What? You have more to say? Wonderful.

"They were just looking for me more, because if I get the ball more I'll do what I need to do," Rhodes said.

Oh I see. Does doing what you need to do include throwing up momentum killing threes? Does it include trying to beat your man off the dribble from the three point line only to travel? Does it include shooting 16ft shots instead of, oh I don't know, working inside on your man? Does it include treating defense like your own personal nap time? I know, you need to pout when you don't get the ball, because you sure aren't going to try and get an offensive rebound. Who has ever heard of a power forward doing that?

Then there is Dietric Slater. You may remember me sprinkling some praise on him in an earlier post. ....I take it back. He is a turnover waiting to happen. There, I said it. His defense is very good I admit, but what's the point when Mississippi is scoring 85 on you. How much more is the opponent going to score? Get some offense in there. Please.

Can't forget about this little gem I picked up.

"What bothers me most is the guy who claims to have a position of leadership, or the responsibility thereof, allows the impression to be given that he takes more pride in showing-off for a trio of Jackson buddies who don't even play on the other team any more, than he is concerned with his team winning games. He said it right there into my tape recorder, and I saw the face with the words.
Amazing. I'm seeing scary similarities to actions and attitudes that dominated the football locker room 2001-03. Some very tough decisions are going to have to be made by the staff that might make things worse before they can get better here. There's too much potential in the soph-freshman class to spoil things now for the future." ----David Murray

Oh my. In case you don't know, Rhodes is the one talking into his tape recorder. I cringe thinking about a comparison being made between the team and 2001-2003 football. Please do something Stansbury. If basketball slips off the map, there won't be anything left. Football is on life support and baseball.....WE SUCK AGAIN!! Picked last. Maybe they can pull the trifecta, last in the SEC in all three major sports. I can already see the banner hanging in The Hump.

Welcome Aboard

Jamie Jones gave his commitment to Mississippi State on Wednesday. Meh, not a whole lot stands out really. Scout is listing him as a SLB which would be a bit puzzling if he ended up staying at that or any linebacker position in college. I've mentioned before that Miss St. does not have much of a need for linebackers at this point and Jones makes 7 LB commits this year. Of course, position changes happen all the time so maybe a few of them will be moving to DE or wherever.

That was your good news for the evening. Hope you enjoyed it because it is all downhill from here. One position that definitely needs strengthening is at RB. Lee Chambers was a soft verbal until Monday when he "decommitted". I put it in parentheses because I personally don't even bother paying attention to soft verbals, they aren't commits to me. Apparently Croom stopped recruiting him, for what reason I do not know. It looks like his scholarship was probably given to Jamie Jones. No real information to that effect, but the timing leads you to believe that is the case. That leaves MSU terribly thin at RB next year. Dixon will clearly be the starter. Behind him is Thornton and......well.......thats about it. There are some other RBs on the roster, but nobody knows anything about them. We're looking at a situation where if Dixon gets injured, the offense will become much worse. I think I just threw up a little.