Bulldogs4

Could we see a Bama-Tennessee finale? Still possible as I think Tennessee can beat Purdue. Connecticut is still the favorite but in the FF they could possibly be vulnerable as all the pressure will be on them.

Regarding State, I know last night was heartbreaking. But this team is better than 22 or 23. I am glad to see us bounce back tonight. We will see how it goes tomorrow. A win would be great but now a loss is not a killer.

Ole Miss does not suck. You still have a good team but I get it that it is disappointing to lose the first two games at home to a team that you should beat.

No this was not 2022 or 2023. Those teams would have been run ruled 12-2 in seven innings tonight. Yes blowing the lead in the 8th & 9th inning is disappointing but it does not erase a lot of good things we did tonight. I fault Lemonis and our AD for not scheduling some tough road games in the early season. It is hard to expect a Freshman to perform under the pressure of a SEC Road game when he has not experienced it before. We need to play games at USM, at Lafayette, at USA or Troy and/or a strong P5 club. Our weak early schedule bit us tonight and might bite us some more later in the season because we did not play any quality teams on the road.

That is very good news. If he can just improve his FT shooting, the rest of his game is just so solidly good.

The thing with Connecticut is they have had an easy time so far. If they get into a close game I can see them missing some FT’s late and ending up losing a game. The Tournament is notorious for humbling teams that seem to be the clear favorite.

I guess it is cliche to say but big series for both State and Ole Miss this weekend. Very surprised that these games were not THU-SAT due to Easter being Sunday. Ole Miss needs to win two & State one this weekend. Florida is really good but they are not invincible. KY has a decent team. A sweep for Ole Miss would be tremendous but in the league this year , that is going to be difficult. Looks like the weather is going to be beautiful for the weekend.

Bama has seemingly quietly made their way to the EE. I think they will beat Clemson to go to the FF. I just don’t know about Tennessee. We know they are very good but we did have their number this year. Doubt it happens but we could see a Bama-Tennessee finale. The meltdown by the basketball experts would be funnier than h**l if that were to come to pass.

I know this is a baseball forum but the State girls had an incredible comeback against Florida tonight. Down 12-6 late, we scored 7 runs to win 13-12. In softball, a 7 run inning is unheard of especially against a top ten team. What a game!!! This team can possibly make a run in the Tournament later in the year. Still a lot of season left to play but that is a kind of win that can really propel a team. Though they have been playing really well all season.

Not surprised. I am not sure he played any during the season. Well I guess once in the first game of the year.

State has the fan support for the women as it has carried over from the Schaefer days. I agree that Purcell will still be compared to Schaefer. Though this year he was seemingly on his way to a tremendous year before the wheels fell off. Now I know winning this minor Tournament will not erase that but it could help propel the team into next year in a better position. We will see. Ole Miss has not developed that fan support yet for the women. If they keep winning, it will continue to grow. I see a couple of you OM guys have questioned whether Coach Yo has plateaued yet. I think she may be at a crossroads to see if she can take the team to the level of SC or at least close it. It will certainly be difficult but it is attainable.

The State Women are a total mystery. Team should have been in the NCAAT. But lose home games to FL/KY to play ourselves out of the Tournament. Now playing just average teams, we have won two in a row and now play @ Penn State Thursday. Win that and we are in whatever the Final Four is for whatever Tournament we are playing in. Color me confused. Congrats to Ole Miss on a good season for the Ladies even if ended on a disappointing note. It is possible for Ole Miss or State to move up to the elite level of women’s basketball since we know has happened in the past. Whether that will happen with the current HC’s remains to be seen.

Coach Polk’s mantra was (in conference play) win two out of three at home and split on the road. That (road) is going to be tough this year in the conference for most teams. Avoiding the dreaded sweep is the big key. At this juncture it is hard to see anyone winning more than 19 games and there may be a log jam at the top with a bunch of teams between 18 & 14 wins in the conference at the end of the regular season.

Definitely a good win for Ole Miss. State fell 6-1 to A&M to lose the series but on the road winning one game is not bad. Caught the last few innings of FL-LSU. Gators were down 4-2 late but were able scratch runs in the eighth and ninth innings to tie the game and then won in extra innings.

It sounds easy but simply throwing strikes has had a domino effect in that our fielding defense has been better. Less men on base with free passes equals a lot of less stress on both the pitcher and position players. That in turn has allowed our hitters to be more effective at the plate, knowing that every at bat does not have to be treated as the last AB of a game. Hopefully we can continue this. Tough weekend for Ole Miss up there in the TN baseball sand box. Hopefully you all will get a win or even two this weekend even though last night was rough.

It has certainly been a pleasant surprise. I have said more than once that our fielding defense is much improved and we are throwing strikes (last night we had four walks which is a bit higher than you want) and it is making a difference. Hitting is always going to be a wild variable. Last night was a great example. We put up 8 zeros. But in one inning we had a five spot. In the beast of baseball that is its nature. That one inning, though carried us to a win along with superb pitching and defense. Let’s see if we can win the series today. That would be tremendous. Go Dawgs!!!

Additionally, they saddled Samford with a very dubious BenchTechnical Foul in the first half with little to no explanation. That two points ended up being very important. Samford had a really good team this year. I hope Gonzaga blows Kansas back to land of the Wizard of Oz. The favoritism there was so blatant it was pathetic.

Samford got completely screwed out of a chance to beat Kansas… Clean block with 14 seconds left down one and would have had a five on four break going the other way. Instead a foul was called. Kansas then hung on for the win. Samford was down 22 and came all the way back. NCAA protected KS but somebody did not get the memo about KY.

Murphy has the potential to be a superstar. With another year under belt, he could be really good next year. Jones is an excellent complementary player as well. We will see how it goes. Team will definitely have a new look though.

I think Jans will be fine in the portal. He has said numerous times he is not here to build a program but to build a team year to year. We have some promising pieces on the team that if they stay and then he can fill in the slots during the offseason, we will be good again next year. He is easily our best floor coach since CRW.

I heard on the radio earlier in the week that Tolu suffered an injury (hip/back) in practice about three weeks ago. It was not mentioned but his effectiveness had been dampened since then. Disappointing but give Michigan State credit. They shot the ball better than we did. Period. The other stats were 50-50, but in basketball if you can’t make shots you are going to lose. 50% from two/45% from three. State was 37% and 22% Therein lies the difference. Simple math. Still proud of the team. It was a good year. I think Jans maxed out as much as he could out this group.

I think each team has some moxie or mojo again. You are right in that they will battle. The Saturday game actually told me more about State than the Friday or Sunday games. To be down 9-1 and facing being run ruled in your own park but then to battle back and lose 9-8 says a lot of about this team. The SEC is loaded but at least I know both of our teams will battle. And yes there are going to be a lot of close games this year.Hopefully both teams can win 50%+ of them. Good win for Ole Miss over USM. Those kind of wins help you host a regional.

If State is 5-4 and Ole Miss 6-3 after three weekends then I will believe we are both legit. I said Ole Miss with an extra win as they are home two of the first three series. Even if each are 4-5 and 5-4 respectively after this stretch that will still be a great improvement over last year. We will see.

Hate that we are ranked. Would rather fly under the radar for a while. Hopefully we stay even keeled today and then head out on the road for a couple of weeks. We will really know if we are legit after March 31st.

State is playing Michigan State in the first round. They were 19-14. Somewhat similar to State. They lost a number of close games during the season. Honestly , this has the makings of a rock fight. I like how our team scraps and fights. Hopefully we can find a way to win and then see how we do against NC.