Bulldogs4

Crucial game for State @ South Carolina Saturday. Really a must win if we are considered to be a top 15-20 type team. Certainly SC will play much better at home than they did the first game. Need to have a strong start Saturday. Hubbard did make four threes if you can say there was any kind of silver lining from last night.

and the season ended with a thud. I know this is radical but why not cut the regular season down to 10 games. No conference championship games. Institute a 64 team playoff (call it November or December madness). 2025 - Season starts August 30 and finishes November 8. Each team gets one open date. Playoffs start November 22nd and continue November 29, December 6, 13, 20. First three rounds hosted on campus by the highest seed. The final eight would be at neutral sites. Final Four on January 1st and the Championship game January 9th. Talk about over the top excitement similar to basketball in March. By playing only ten games the teams would be fresh and ready for the playoffs.

For Ole Miss this was a good week to have an extra day off. A&M is decent but Ole Miss should win as long as they don’t lay an egg. TN coming off a loss is going to be very tough. But a measure of a good team is playing a difficult game on road and giving yourself a chance to win. We will see what happens.

Purcell seems to have recruited well but his floor coaching seems poor at worst and below average at best. Team does not appear to have much discipline when comes to protecting the ball. Losing to your rival at home is bad enough but when you finish a game going from tied at the five minute mark to losing by eight and not scoring but one basket in that time frame is beyond bad. And 83 as you noted, the SEC Men’s side is a bear this year and there are going to be lots of rock fights in the next month and a half.

If State can get Clary back that would be huge. He is a PG that can take some of the pressure off Hubs. Plus with him that gives us a nine player rotation. That is huge when you get down the stretch and you can keep your players fresh. So injuries can derail a season in a hurry. OTOH, staying injury free, can be a huge advantage. That will be a big key for both teams.

Dang State tried to give it away with poor FT shooting and a very stupid intentional foul at the end. But we made some big plays none bigger than the blocked layup and the three pointer. That was the turning point. But gosh if you are an Ole Miss, fan you have to be pleased your team. Great comeback and you guys played a tremendous game. State‘s dominance on the boards was tempered by the turnovers and poor FT shooting. Both teams are capable of making a deep run in March if they stay healthy and get a bit of luck. Basketball is fun!!!

State 3-24 Auburn 10-24 What a discrepancy in otherwise an even game. Great road win for Ole Miss over Alabama.

Auburn is a 7.5 point favorite. Hard to know how this game will go. You have to like Auburn at home as they are very good. However, this State team has shown it can play with anyone anywhere. It should be a heck of a good game. Expecting an Auburn win but I do think we have a boxer’s chance. We will see.

On a good note, the State women recovered from their disastrous start of conference play with their second straight win today beating GA on the road. Now where that leads them nobody knows. Purcell is definitely a good recruiter but his overall coaching is still a work in progress.

I agree that we got caught up a bit in playing KY’s game. When a team of KY’s (they were ranked #6 after all) ability shoots 16-32 from three point land, they are going to win 99 out of every 100 games. And yes our defense was not as good as usual last night. But even when you play strong defense, the other team is going get some open three point looks. KY did and to their credit they buried 50% of their attempts last night.

Plus KY losing Tuesday did not do us any favors. You knew they were going to come out and play well tonight. And they did.

Well just a tough loss. Had our opportunities down the stretch and just did not convert. Hubbard is in a bit of a slump. He had some good looks. The FT that Melendez missed at 3:50 mark hurt as well. And some times you just have to give the other team credit.

Ball is at the one yard line. Why is the QB not under center? When you are in the shotgun, you are already giving up 4 yards of field position, then you pitch the ball back to the RB. Now he is 8 yards from the goal line. That is insane. QB sneak on one. Hut. Hut. Color me completely clueless on this philosophy by football coaches when you have one yard or less to gain.

Well who screwed the pooch worse? PSU or TX? I thought PSU could not be topped but TX not only topped it, they did it royally. We’ll all I can say is Go Irish!!!

Hopefully with a fresh start, he will flourish at State. Ole Miss has had such good WR’s in the last few years it is easy to see how someone could get lost in the shuffle. Maybe that was the case with him.

ND gets disparaged here in the South because they are a National brand and somewhat because of anti-Catholic bias. But this team just finds ways to win. They will be heavy underdogs to either TX/OSU as you note. I would not touch that game with a thirty-nine & half foot pole (with regard to a possible wager). Also, Penn State really has no excuse. They should have had a three score lead at half instead of 7 points. You have to take advantage of your opportunities. Then as you noted, they totally blew it in the final minute. And again ND did not necessarily play anywhere close to their best game and still found a way to win.

Wow what a great game and finish!!! Irish for the win and hopefully they go on to win it all.

Well check that thought.

Pennsylvania State’s 10-0 lead has evaporated into a 10-17 deficit. ND has all the momentum. Will Franklin & Co. be able to mount a charge?

I think they had buyer’s remorse the day before he was ever hired. That was such a poor decision on the part of the Arkansas hierarchy. We know Cal had State’s number but somehow he couldn’t get his team to pretend they were playing State ever time out… OTOH, Kentucky with Pope was sold hire. KY fans are a bit like Bama football fans. Expectations in the present day are no longer realistic. If they stick with Pope I think they’ll be fine. A very good road win for Ole Miss especially over coming the first half lead. Good to our teams playing well. Sure makes for better conversation.

Agree. This microwave mentality in the present day needs to take a step back. Lebby does need to be given 4 or more years to stabilize and build the program. And I get it that yearly turnover of players makes that previous statement seem a bit ludicrous. But nonetheless from a coaching standpoint we need to give him the time get us winning again. Again he is our fifth coach in eight years. We have got have some stability.

SEC is rough this year. Most likely every team is going to get mauled a few times during the year.

Big win for State! We all knew that Vandy was going to make a run. Good to see our guys maintain their composure and not only hang on to win but win going away. Big game with Kentucky coming up at home.

Rick Ray may be a good assistant but he is certainly not HC material. After State he went to a directional Missouri school where he managed to be worse than he was at State. Now in fairness he came into a horrible situation and did recruit reasonably well. When he was let go, he did leave a decent roster for Howland. But the overall situation was bad and he was certainly a terrible hire looking back on it.

Vandy has a really good team that just won on the road at LSU. So no way this is a trap game. We might lose this game but it will not be because we were overlooking Vandy. Wr can play well Tuesday and still lose. And the Memorial Gym mystic, while still difficult, is not quite as daunting in the present day as it was years ago. In a way I am glad this game is Tuesday, we need to flush the SC game quickly. And then we get an extra day to prepare for Kentucky. We will see what happens.