Bulldogs4

Molinar is no where ready for Pro Ball unless he goes to Europe. He needs to hit the weight room and improve his outside shooting to have a shot at the NBA. Now he is a tremendous college player but he would probably better suited as a #2 guard at least part of the time. He has an interesting decision to make after the season. If he goes on I wish him the best but I think he could do himself some good by coming back.

What a disaster that decision is. I mean, I understand that he still loves to play football. But he made the right decision to retire. I remember Jim Palmer coming out of retirement at age 45 to pitch again. After spring training he re-retired. I would not be surprised if Brady does not make it out of training camp before retiring again or getting injured and having the decision made for him. Maybe I am wrong but I see mostly pitfalls here with little upside at all. He has nothing left to prove.

If State gets on a roll here in the NIT (doubtful but you never know) , maybe Howland coaches another year or two and then retires with the program on the upswing. With all these openings, I think we may do better to stay pat this year. But for all I know this is probably his swan song once he loses next game.

For State making a Regional will be a good accomplishment. One thing about injuries, as bad as they are, 1. They are part of the game. 2. It creates opportunities for a guy to blossom, so you never know how this may develop. As far as Simmons & Sims go, both injuries are very unfortunate. But hopefully, both will heal and be ready for a successful MLB career.

State tied 5-5 with Binghamton in the 8th inning. This is going to be the norm for State all year. There may be occasional (rare) blow out but I think most games are going to be like this one and we are going to have to persevere.

Yes that is correct and then the SEC is going to be ten-athalon. Every weekend is going to be tough with only Missouri being really bad (but remember what they did last year at DNF). Jury definitely out on State. IMHO, right now we are a mid-level SEC team with some potential to be better but it will take some considerable improvement to get there over the next two months.

Howland will not be fired. Maybe he will retire. He is 65 so that would not be a surprise. We have certainly underachieved but it is not like we have been bad either. The program is competitive but just has not been able to climb to the next step. Will be interesting to see how the next few days go.

An interesting note. The last time the SECT was in TPA was 2009 when coincidentally State won 4 games in four days to win it. Could history repeat itself?

Certainly a good win. But I have little confidence that we beat Tennessee unless they play like they don’t care (which is possible). Their seed is not going to change any this weekend unless they win the Tournament and then it might go up one line. This State team has befuddled me all year. I think losing that early game to Colorado State after we had a 9 point lead late in the game destroyed the late game confidence of the team when we are playing a good team. We are good enough to lose by a handful of points to any good team we play. If we were ever to win one of those games, look out. Though now it is too little too late. Garcia has been a nice surprise. Reminds of Russell Walters off the 96 Final Four team. Great hustle, great rebounder and a good defensive player. Is not going to score much but a good player to have on the floor. So winning is better than losing so I will take it tonight.

Certainly disappointing to blow an 8 run lead Saturday. OTOH, I still have faith in the staff and players that we are going to still be a good team as the season moves along. Only 12 games into a 56 game season so there is a long way to go..

Regarding “The Hump” renovation, I heard Cohen say something interesting. They considered imploding and building new but architects/engineers all said that the seating arrangement in place is as good it gets (which I agree with). There is not bad seat in the house. I have looked at the renderings and can’t really get a gauge on how it will look like after the renovations are complete. Hopefully that will be a good selling point when negotiating with a new coach (now that it seems pretty certain that Howland will retire). Looking back on the Williams/Stansbury era, we had 25+ year time of stability in the program. Then we had Ray which has got to be the worst hire in history. I know there are few others too LOL. Howland has definitely brought us back from that abyss but unfortunately has never been able to challenge for the upper echelon of the conference despite having a lot of talented players under his tutelage. This year has been the most frustrating by far. Only 3-4 losses were blow outs, the other 9-10 losses were close games all the way to the end.

We will see if this the game that gets State going but Sims went out with an injury in the fourth inning. Struck out ten of the eleven batters he faced. He took himself out. Just hope and pray that it is nothing too serious. I know Ole Miss knows how that feels after losing your ace last year. So it could be costly victory. But it is nice to see us finally hit the ball and score some runs. For now we will enjoy the win and see how the rest of the weekend goes.

USM blasting State 7-1 in the eighth inning. The struggle continues. Plus give USM credit. They are playing well so far this year.

Baseball is definitely different from football and even basketball to a certain extent. It is the only major sport that N. Kentucky can beat State or back in the old days, Delta State or a William Carey could beat State and it is not really considered an upset because in one game one team can beat another. So you are right in that it will be well into April before the rankings start being legitimate. For now, it is basically subjective. History will play a part, returning players, schedule will come into play, injuries, weather etc. really skew the early rankings and then the cream will rise as the season moves along.

Not generally surprised by anything that happens early in baseball but Sacramento State? sweeping Long Beach is most definitely a surprise. I mean winning one , I could see but 3? Long Beach players must have partied all week after winning 2 at State. LOL

Reb, it has been a tough year for Kermit & Company. But State not much better. Now we host Auburn with them coming off a loss at Tennessee. Most likely they will come out smoking but they could have some doubt creeping into their psyche. We will see what happens but to date State has not demonstrated the ability to beat a top caliber team this year. Until that changes, it is what it is.

Glad for the win but our basketball IQ is a minus 3 on a scale 1-10. Up 6 and we foul a 3 point shot from about 30 feet away from the goal. Then we make a very poor pass inbounds to give them another opportunity. But all that said, State is still hanging on to this season by the thinnest, frayed of threads.

Sometimes you give credit where credit is due. N. Kentucky just outplayed us yesterday. I listened on the radio and Jim/Coach gave them a ton of credit. They pitched it well and were opportunistic. We are used to getting everyone’s best shot and this year that is going to be enhanced. Some of our players are pressing and this what happens. They will settle down in time and get things going.

Surprised that LB is not in the top ten after this weekend. Of course, one weekend does not a season make. For LB they were playing with a lot of emotion and played very well on FRI/SAT. Can they sustain that against teams that theoretically below them? I would say yes but that remains to be seen. Ole Miss looks good and did what they were supposed to do, pummel an average opponent. Arkansas State has occasionally been a thorn in the side of OM and VCU was a regional team last year at State. So this week for OM may be a bit more challenging. Still they should win 3 of 4 or all 4 possibly. USM opened with a cupcake but coming up is Jacksonville State, State and ULL so that task gets a bit tougher for the Golden Eagles. As 83 mentioned, State has a weak schedule this week but then we play USM at Trustmark next week so that will be a good test for both teams.

State with a rare two game basketball weekend sweep over Missouri. As much as we have dogged out the Dawgs this season, we are still hanging on with a chance to play in the postseason. Still doubtful since beating Missouri twice proves nothing other than it is better than losing two times to them. Regarding the Whiskey-Michigan game end, Howard just carrying on what he did in the NBA. Nothing new there.

State blows out LB State to win the finale of the series. Obviously, disappointing to lose the series but a good way to finish it out. Actual attendance was 34K+ for the weekend which is awesome considering the cold temperatures. Team will be a work in progress for the next month. Lots of depth which is good as that means you can give a good number of players opportunities to play in meaningful situations. That will pay off later in the season.

Two games not a season make. Getting our butts kicked this weekend is probably the best thing that could happen to State. The players have been basking in the glory of last year. But that is done now. We, the fans, can still enjoy it but now they need to get down to business. And they will. Lots of credit to Long Beach for playing very well this weekend and winning the series and I would not be surprised if they sweep us tomorrow. I think some forget that last years team was swept at home by Arkansas and lost two of three to Missouri (easily the worst team in the league) at home. Baseball is definitely a marathon compared to football where every loss gets magnified. We will be fine. You can’t help but pull for Elko. He is really good. I just hope that he is not so good in four games (more if we happen to meet in postseason) but otherwise I hope he has a great year.

Plus LB is probably playing with a chip on their shoulder given what has happened over the two last years. Throw in the fact that they are playing the defending NC’s in their home field. Makes for us playing a ball of hornets. But that is okay. The end result for State will be good regardless of how this weekend turns out.

Well no, they have won probably 8-9 games at the 5 minute mark of the second half and then the wheels come off. They have mastered more ways to lose in 5 minutes than Paul Simon’s “50 ways to leave your Lover” song. Baseball starts tomorrow so as Harry Carey would say “Hope Springs Eternal “ and even the Cubs are tied for first at the beginning of the baseball season. And in our teams case, we are all legitimately good on the Diamond. So let’s play ball.

State is the best 35 minute basketball team in the nation.