Bulldogs4

Big night for State tomorrow evening playing @USM in baseball and hosting A&M in basketball. Both starting at the same time.

Kind of strange playing USM so early in the season. Will give us an early gauge on each team but at the same time, the team that loses will have no reason to panic.

Ole Miss took a left hook to the chin with Texas last night. But the good thing about baseball is there is another game today. Clemson is ranked high but it is a game that Ole Miss is capable of winning. Manhattan obviously is not a strong opponent but thankfully State has handled business so far and we just need to do the same today. We lost several games like this last year and it cost us a chance to host. All these OOC games against lesser opponents are must wins if we want be in a position to host later.

Hard to figure. State is 2-4 at home and 4-2 on the road in the league. SEC is so tough. I think Ole Miss was probably due for an off game and State was due for a good game and they just clashed tonight. The other stat that is interesting is State is 18-2 against teams outside the top ten. We are not a top ten team obviously but we are at least top 25. If you are Ole Miss this one stings a bit because you were at home against your rival. But Ole Miss does not need to let State beat them twice. Next game is big. State let Kentucky & Bama beat us twice in the recent weeks. And that really stinks when that happens.

I think all three teams are going to play good baseball this season. For State & Ole Miss. we are both a few years removed from the NC and it just kind of feels like some of that pressure is now gone. USM has been consistently good in recent years and I don’t see that changing now.

This game has an Ole Miss 25 point win (beatdown ) written all over it.

Disappointing to say the least. And yes at this point in the season, we are just an okay team. Just kind of leaves you dumbfounded when you play straight up with a team for a half and then just fall apart in the second half. I don’t get it.

Coach Jans is correct when he said we are not a top ten team. But we are not far off from that. We are really good team but to be a top ten team you have to beat a top ten team. The opportunity is in front of us. We will see what happens Tuesday. Go Dawgs!!!

Great comeback by Ole Miss for the win. I knew this game would be tough. It was rivalry game on the road. Never easy to win but what a finish. As I said earlier a win is a win. Boy if State and Ole Miss win their midweek games, next week in Oxford will be two top twenty if not top 15 teams. What an atmosphere that will be. Basketball is fun again.

A win is a win is a win. But we have got to shoot FT’s better. And I like playing Florida with them coming off this big win over Auburn. Often times it is tough to duplicate that kind of effort two games in a row. Plus our confidence will be back with this win and we can play loose and free. Kind of got the monkey off our back. Who would have thought we would have three home losses and three road wins at this point in the season? Just shows you how good the SEC is this year.

That is an interesting situation regarding the Ole Miss women. They are a good team but have not been able to move any higher. Fan support can be fickle. State has struggled this year but against lowly Arkansas there were 6500 in attendance Thursday night. Obviously Schaefer gets the credit for building up the fan base. But they have stuck with the team since he left as well. Must wins for both squads. Ole Miss, just because you don’t want to follow up two good wins with a bad loss @ LSU. If Ole Miss just plays medium good, this is a game they should win. State plays at Georgia. Both teams need a win in the worst way. Georgia should win but I will be looking to see if we can regain the type of play that we had at Memphis and at Vandy on the road earlier in the season. We will see.

And one last comment. We get a whole week to let this one stew in our pot. Next Saturday will tell us a lot about this team when we play at Georgia.

Additionally this is another example of letting one team beat you twice. Alabama effectively beat us twice. Same thing with KY. Now granted Auburn was going to be loss but the way we started that game was a direct result of the KY game. Certainly very disappointing.

Well part of me is not surprised. After Wednesday I was afraid we would be flat. And then we seem to bring out the best in other team’s three point shooting. Plus Missouri has just totally dominated this game in every aspect. Where do we go from here? Team will need to flush this one in a hurry. Some of our best players have just disappeared recently. Basketball is a team game but we played poorly as team today. Period.

We need to pick our spots on doubling/trapping a player and not do it all the time. We are definitely leaving too many shooters open for three pointers. It definitely bit us against KY and again last night against Bama. But even with that we still had our chances. Just did not cash in at the end. Tough loss but it is only one game. Gotta find a way to beat Mizzou. And yes Matthews has disappeared recently. Give Jones/Kugel some more of his minutes. At least until he gets out of this funk he is in.

Good win for Ole Miss. Heartbreaking loss for State. We had our opportunities but a missed layup, a missed defensive rebound and a costly turnover was the difference. Great game we just came up short.

1-1 would be good this week but we need to beat Bama. I know they are really good but it is a game that we need to find a way to win. 2-0 would really put us in a good position to make a run during the second half of the conference season. Kind of like KY has had a mental edge over us it has been the same with Bama. Close but no cigar. Would like to get over that HUMP … no pun intended … tomorrow night.

Ole Miss under Yo has kind of plateaued. A good team that just has not taken it to another level. They do have the win at State a couple of weeks ago. Even though this was a tough loss she has still done a good job there. Not sure a coaching change is warranted at the present time. Good points about State where the fans got spoiled by Schaefer. Purcell has recruited really well and I think he is still growing as a coach. Definitely still a lot of upside with him and the State team.

I saw a little bit of the HOU-KS game as well and you are correct. It was a good game though I did not see the finish. I was incorrect about Ole Miss. Letting the State & A&M games get away at the end have affected their psyche (IMO). I thought they would bounce back against Missouri but it was not to be. Huge game for State coming up hosting Bama. They have had our number recently but we have had our opportunities to beat them. We have got cut down on the turnovers and just be able to make shots. Ole Miss hosts TX who just stole a game from A&M. Need to find a way to win this game and stop the bleeding.

This was a situation where South Carolina lost the game and State did not lose game only because the other team did lose the game. Just glad to get out of there with a W. And you are right , some were down the line one of these games going to bite us in the butt. Vandy takes down KY. That State win in BNA looks pretty good these days. A&M chokes away a lead to lose the same way they won the other night. This trend is going to continue the rest of the season. Any win is going to be a good win whether it is at home on the road.

Meanwhile in CoSo, State & USC are setting basketball back to the cave man days. Maybe we can eke out a win.

Eventually SC is going to win a game but I just hope it will be a game after tomorrow. That was a very deflating loss Wednesday and those can sometimes carry over. State does a need a good start. Not necessarily a 10-0 run to start the game but just need to play well early and not fall behind early by a large deficit. Hubbard’s second half at TN was encouraging. Would be nice to see him bust out with a big game (25-30 points) and bang in a bunch of threes. While Mizzou is better , I think Ole Miss will bounce back and win this game even on the road. While their last second loss stings I don’t think it will affect them as much since it’s a veteran team. We will see how it goes.

While what I stated is true but I suspect over time the NC will take a higher precedence over the loss to Michigan for my ole friend. Ironically it was that loss that really spurred the Ohio State team in the playoffs to make that run. Had they won that game they may have been more likely to have lost in the playoffs. And yes rivalry games are very unpredictable and in a one game atmosphere anything can happen.

Yep. That one hurts. A home game that you really needed to win. But in basketball one game does not make a season. Ole Miss will definitely have to pick up the pieces quickly and forget about this game. A&M is a good team but to let that lead get squandered late like that really stings.

The NIL has created an interesting phenomenon. Teams like Ohio State loaded up on mercenary players and won a Natty. But I have a really good friend who lives in Columbus, Ohio and is a graduate of OSU. He is mad about losing four straight to Michigan and is not all that excited about winning Monday. In fact he told me he turned off the TV at the end of the game and did not watch or listen to any post game festivities.