sportsmaniac10

Ole Miss women did pick up a critical win on Thursday in Gainesville but good grief I have never seen such a miserable game of basketball. Again the turnovers are just out of control. Ole Miss finished with 26 turnovers (7 assists) . That is just mind boggling to me that a college team can do that poorly of a job taking care of the basketball. At one point during the 3rd quarter there was a period where Ole Miss turned the ball over 7 times in a 3 minute span....7 TIMES! The one thing I will commend them on is they continue to make free throws which has won them many games and was the difference in this game. Ole Miss finished 0-7 from the 3pt line. Just cannot find anyone can be a consistent threat from distance and this has been the trend throughout Coach Yo's tenure as coach. There are going to be a lot of needs in the offseason but this should definitely be up there at the top of the list. The craziest stat line I saw from the game though was that Ole Miss outrebounded Florida 55-27 and still needed a 4th quarter comeback to tie and the game and send it to overtime for the win. Ultimately you won on the road and thats important but its hard to imagine this team having any sort of post season success with how bad we look right now. Ive accepted that Ole Miss was extremely overhyped in the preseason and is a mediocre to average women's basketball team at best currently and thats pretty disappointing considering the players that returned and transferred in. Someone mentioned maybe Oxford isnt a women's basketball town.....I'd say thats B.S. Oxford absolutely could be a women's basketball town but that requires success and an on court product thats fun to watch. We arent fun to watch (this year) and we havent won anything or beaten any team of significance except Stanford last year in the NCAAs. Ole Miss has historically been the much more successful D1 women's program in the state. Starkville was not a women's basketball town prior to Vic Schaefer. But he turned Starkville into a women's basketball town. Even with the success he brought, Ole Miss still has more elite 8 and sweet 16 appearances than State by quite a decent margin. All that just to say I do believe Oxford and Starkville can be women's basketball towns with the right coach and some on court success. These are women's SEC sports programs so we are in the top tier of programs in the country in terms of resources. Coach Yo's base salary is ranked 20th among active women's college basketball coaches and I dont doubt they'd increase that if she won an SEC title or made a final 4 run. Purcell's is not quite that high but reasonable given the coaching musical chairs with State's program the past few years. I appreciate what Yo's done in turning the program around but I think this year and next year will tell us if she has reached her ceiling in terms of what she can do for us. And if she cant take another step forward then you need to be looking because there are plenty of good coaches that would jump to coach at an SEC school. State comes to Oxford on Sunday following what was probably their worst game of the season in a 20 point loss to Florida. Both teams are 7-4 in SEC play. Both teams should be favored to win their final 4 conference games following this one. So at worst one team should be 12-4 and one team 11-5. LSU has an easy enough schedule remaining that they probably finish 13-3 and take 2nd in the SEC. Tennessee is currently in 3rd at 8-3 but still has another game at South Carolina and LSU which means they will probably finish 11-5 at best. So theres hope that we get a 3rd and 4th place finish from the Lady Rebs and Dawgs and see if either can bump up their seeding and get out of the 8/9 and away from #1 seed in the second round of the NCAAs. We'll see what plays out on the court though.

State women hold serve and stay tied for second in the SEC with Tennessee and LSU at 7-3. Purcell has really got things moving in the right direction in Starkville. I thought they were overrated getting a preseason ranking but I was wrong. There’s probably not enough meat on the schedule remaining to boost the resume to move all the way to a host spot without a big sec tourney run but State still could end up with a 5 seed or 6 seed and have a real chance to get back to the sweet 16 at least. Ole Miss looked god awful tonight in the second half. I don’t know what Coach Yo does during half time but outside of the Stanford game, I’ve never seen one of her teams make big adjustments and elevate play in the second half. This team continues to make me want to bang my head against the wall. another game at home that Coach Yo’s team comes out of the gate shooting cold as ice and playing less than inspired. This is why the crowds are small. Because the on court product in these bigger games is sloppy and poor. This year was supposed to be the year that Yo got Ole Miss to the next level. Returned practically everyone except one player from last years rotation and grabbed 3 of the top transfers in the country, top 15 in all the preseason polls. Yet here they are 15-6 and 6-4, currently predicted as 8/9 seeds in most bracket predictions heading into tonight. Tonight’s loss hurts more so off the paper. They just don’t look like a good basketball team at this point. The point guard by committee situation is a disaster and really you’d expect them to be rounding into form as we near the post season. And what makes it worse is Ole Miss has 7 senior/grad transfers so it’s not a young team.

State and ole miss women both escaped ugly games. Granted both were on the road but still. The Ole Miss game was one of the ugliest games of basketball I’ve had the misfortune of seeing. Somewhere in the ball park of 45 turnovers between the 2 teams. Ole Miss managed 3 assists for the game. They were lucky to escape with the win. Coach Yo may want to focus less on clapping back on Twitter and more on putting a consistently good product on the court. But despite the poor play both teams won and it’s very possible that we go to a showdown in Oxford in a few weeks with both teams 8-3 in conference play. Ole Miss is currently 6-2 but play South Carolina Sunday so that’ll be the 3rd loss for them. State is 5-3 but should be favored in their next 3 games. Both teams play Texas A and M who should be a winnable game for both the Lady Rebs and Dawgs but also would be the only team that I could see either losing to over the next few weeks. A and M has been streaky and played some top 25 teams tough. Given the hiccups that LSU has had, it’s very possible that Ole Miss or State finishes second in the SEC this year. There’s no room for error but definitely not something that anyone would think was possible at the beginning of the year.

Like others have said, many of the ranking systems are still filtering out and need more results to be more accurate. Ole Miss is not getting love in the NET primarily due to its margin of victory and also some due to strength of schedule. Theyre #12 in the RPI...too high. So there's gonna be a flaw regardless of what you look at and the Committee is aware of this. It's way too early to be worried about this anyways. Doesn't matter until the final rankings come out before Selection Sunday and lots will change by then. Ole Miss and State just need to worry about winning games. Win games and the numbers will shift to your favor. Ole Miss resume has Memphis on it and going undefeated in non conference play (which isn't easy, only like 5-6 teams in the country did it right?) but it overall was a very ho hum schedule. lets not kid ourselves, no one is saying Ole Miss has earned a top 4 seed. State's schedule was also fairly meh. there's some wins over power 5 teams but none of them are powerhouse programs or teams that are locks to make the tournament and then you add the head scratching losses to southern and Georgia tech. Both teams have work to do in SEC play. As an Ole Miss fan, I'm just happy we got some hope and something to talk about this year. Last year was miserable. It's pretty remarkable what Beard has done so far. But very clear that Ole Miss has some significant weaknesses in the paint that will limit how successful this team is. I think a lot of us are holding our breath and waiting to see if Murrell and Brakefield can continue this newfound consistency. For 3 years now, all we've seen is Murrell show tons of promise in the non conference and then disappear for months at a time and unable to find any consistency in SEC play. Similar for Brakefiield. Would be nice to see both of these guys finally live up to the hype. I would give Ole Miss the nod to having the easier path to 9-9 at this point. The opponents that Ole Miss has home and away games with this season just a tad bit more winnable than States opponents. Ole Miss has Tx A&M, Auburn, S. Carolina, and Mizzou. State has S. Carolina, Auburn, Bama, Kentucky. Also throw in a trip to Gainesville for State. Guess time will tell.

State women has done well so far. Purcell did a good job recruiting. He got some decent transfers and he quietly racked up some good high school talent. Kinda shocked because player for player his team looks to be more talented than Ole Miss. The early loss to Miami was tough but Miami is top 20 now and was an elite 8 team last year so nothing wrong dropping that one. The loss to Chattanooga hurts but that was without a few players and Purcell who all went down with a virus. The one thing that worried me for them in early December was injuries. They already had one starter that went down for the season to injury and a few others that missed multiple games but fortunately haven’t really missed a beat. Look to be firmly on track to comfortably be a top 6 team in the SEC and maybe challenge Tennessee for that number 3 spot. Being honest, Ole Miss women have been disappointing thus far. With their schedule, 9-2 was worst case scenario at this point with a realistic chance of being 11–0. Instead they are 8-3 and regardless of the rest of the games on the non conference slate, will go into sec play with a few ho hum wins over Michigan and Arizona who aren’t that strong this year and a bad loss to USM. Should be having dreams of hosting NCAA games this year but currently just trying to stay off the bubble. much more was expected coming off the biggest program win in probably the last 2 decades or post Van Chancelor days and came in with a top 15 preseason ranking, returning everyone from last year but 1 starter and bringing in some big time players in the transfer portal and they’ve looked mediocre at best. The three year starter that was one of the top 4 rated players in the portal is out of the starting line up and coming off the bench. Hasn’t been able to find her shot. Lost their starting PG to acl tear. And overall just don’t look to be meshing well. They seem to be improving on defense but the offense is just awful at times. And then the loss to Southern Miss which no offense to Usm but that was embarrassing for Ole Miss. looking on paper at the talent discrepancy between the two teams….woof Coach Yo reminds me a bit of Kiffin. Spends a lot of time posting on social media. Some of it is good inspiration stuff and then a decent amount responding to trolls. Also posting alot asking fans to come and support which I think is great. But then your team has to perform after you get the people to come out. She’s yet to have one ranked opponent come to Oxford and have her team win. Oklahoma came in and manhandled them and then also lost to Louisville after going an abysmal 13-28 from the free throw line. Continue to lay eggs during big home games. State and Ole Miss should both make the tourney but State is definitely the one trending in the right direction while Ole Miss doesn’t seem ready to take that next step and be a consistent top 4 SEC team.

Ole miss has to win the series this weekend just to finish .500 on the season. Lose the series and it’ll be Bianco’s first ever losing season as a head coach.

This season has been some of the worst pitching performances in the Bianco era at ole miss. The bullpen is just complete trash based on the performances this season. Earlier in the season the starters were part of the problem. Now the starters have put together some decent outings and no one in the pen could pitch past a little league team. 5 home runs by Missouri last night. And I’d venture to guess we are averaging giving up about 2 home runs per game in SEC play. It’s late in Bianco’s career but maybe time to hire a pitching coach and turn that over. We already sold our souls to the devil to get the one NC in which Bianco miraculously made all the right calls. Don’t think it’ll happen again.

Ole Miss pitching woes continue. I can’t remember a time seeing a team give up so many grand slams and 3 run homers and blowing leads. I would venture to bet Ole Miss is averaging giving up at least 2 home runs a game. As poorly as Ole miss has played at times in the field and batting, they’ve actually still been able to grind into a position to win games but then like clock work the pitching s**** their pants and blows it. Bianco wins MVP for LSU in game one. Rivas pitched a heck of a game. The first 2 runs are because your all American short stop didn’t come ready to play. But then it’s clear Rivas was gassed and Bianco leaves him in and walks the bases loaded and gives up a grand slam to give the lead back to LSU. That’s text book Bianco. Games 2 and 3 the pitching was just trash. I wish I had the energy to go back thru the games and see how many times Murrell has blown an Ole Miss lead. He’s gotta be close to setting some kind of record for most choke jobs in a season. It’s mind blowing how terrible things have gone this year. Season can’t be over soon enough.

should they not have treated that as their NC?? You seem to be knocking their approach.

Crazy to think that FAU lost to Ole Miss in game 2 of the season and Ole Miss was pretty much in control 10+ point lead the entire game. FAU then went 33-2 after that while Ole Miss went 10-21. And now FAU is in the Elite 8. Tennessee is becoming pretty synonymous with choking in March. Really was expecting them to lose in the first round but then after the handled Duke I was wondering if this would be a year they broke thru to the final four…..my fault for drinking the koolaid.

What a good game. Such a gritty effort from Ole miss playing at Stanford and refs making some questionable calls. Very happy for coach yo. Thought this team had sweet 16 potential at the beginning of the year but didn’t know if they’d be able to turn the corner and then when the draw came out I assumed we’d be going home tonight. Glad I was wrong. Also the female announcer calling the game, that I can only guess graduated from Stanford, was horrendous to listen to for 40 minutes. One of the most biased announcing crews I’ve heard in a while. State also had a great chance to get thru and just didn’t make plays down the stretch. Notre Dame did not have an answer for Jessica Carter but could limited her minutes. Even with State not playing its best, they were in the game. Hope Purcell can keep the momentum going into the offseason.

Good win for State today. That’s the best game I’ve seen them play all year. Had a good feeling for State when I saw their draw. Knew that States size and athleticism was going to be an issue for a team like Creighton. I know the next game is Notre Dame in South Bend but this is not the Notre Dame of years past. It’s still a very good team but ND isn’t a national championship contender this year and they are down 2 starters to season ending injuries. So the chance is there for State to make it happen and get to the Sweet 16. Ole Miss also put together a great game to beat Gonzaga. It’s not often you see the team ranked 19th in the polls get handed a #9 seed for the NCAA tournament. But Ole Miss handled them with ease. Stanford is going to be a very tough task but they’ve hung with South Carolina, LSU, and Utah in the regular season so it’s not out of the question. But going to have to be nearly flawless to beat Stanford at Stanford.

Clemson I could agree with being considered a snub. Finish tied for 3rd in the ACC and 23 regular season wins. But I guess the non conference losses to South Carolina and Loyola were too much for the committee. Rutgers was less of a snub to me. 9th place finish in the big 10, 14 regular season losses, and 3-7 in their last 10. They upset purdue back in early January and that seemed to hold them in the convo the rest of the year. But agreed NIT is starting to remind me of some of the bowl games in college football. More often now the bigger programs just don’t seem to care much if they aren’t in the big game.

Tough draw for Ole Miss women. The record isn’t bad and really only 1 bad loss at Auburn. , but just no signature win. Several wins against NCAA teams (State, Bama) but really needed 1 against a Tennessee or someone like that. Will be an interesting match up with Gonzaga. Similar to the men, Gonzaga women have ruled the WCC for years but haven’t been as strong nationally as the men. Will definitely depend which Ole Miss team shows up. will it be the team that took South Carolina, Utah, and Oklahoma to OT or will it be the team that turns the ball over ~25 times a game and losses to Auburn and struggles to beat the weaker teams on the schedule? State women have an interesting draw. Illinois has a big time win over Iowa and then was top 25 in early February. Had a few bad losses to Purdue and Nebraska and also similar to Ole miss lacking a lot of quality wins. But if they make it through the first game then I like their chances against Creighton in the second round. neither has a great draw but I give the advantage to State women to make it further in the NCAA than Ole miss.

Interestingly enough, one of Pitt’s starters (and leading scorer I think) is very familiar with State. Blake Hinson was a former starter for Ole Miss under KD. Will be an interesting match up. Glad to see at least one Mississippi team get in on the men’s side.

Nope. Net is 83 now. Similar to RPI seems like net rankings get skewed some in non conference play and start to balance out later in the season.

Tough loss for State women. Have to agree seems like they were looking ahead to that Ole Miss game. But also overall they just caught Texas A & M on a bad day. Tough to beat a team that goes 11-17 from the 3pt line. They shot better from the 3 than they did from the free throw line (~47%) or the rest of the field (~50%). I also think people are quick to disregard this A & M team because of their record but records aside, the talent is on that A & M team. They just had significant injuries all year. When A & M played Ole Miss in the regular season , they only had 7 players able to dress out due to injury so in reality this team was better than the record indicated. Now State just needs to regroup for the NCAA tourney. I think they have a great shot to get to the 2nd round and give a host team a scare in the second. Despite Schaeffer not being there anymore, they still have that toughness and grittiness and aren't afraid of opponents. Something Ole Miss hasn't quite developed yet. Also under the radar, Southern Miss women won a share of the Sun Belt regular season crown and play in the conference semi-finals Sunday. Sun Belt move continues to pay off for USM. Unfortunately, the men came out and laid an egg in the first game of the conference tournament so they'll be heading to the NIT.

Nice wins for Ole Miss and State women tonight after tough losses over the weekend. State's win being huge as it was over Arkansas who is also on the bubble with State for the last few at large bids. Ole Miss moves to 21-7 overall and 10-5 in SEC play. They'll finish the regular season at Alabama on Thursday. A win and they finish 4th in the SEC standings. A loss and they finish 5th and Alabama finishes 4th. State moved to 20-8 overall and 9-6 in SEC play. Unfortunately State finishes the season with a game in Baton Rouge. Assuming the loss, they'll finish 9-7 in SEC play and most likely the #7 seed in the SEC tournament. If State does figure out a way to pull out an upset that will lock up their bid to the NCAA tournament and would put them finishing 5th (if Alabama were to lose) or 6th (if Ole Miss were to lose).

Getting close to march and pretty exciting to see Mississippi teams on both sides with chances to get into the NCAA tournament. Overall though looks like we may have more excitement from the women's teams. On the women's side, Jackson State leads the SWAC and great chance of winning 20 regular season games which is pretty huge for a SWAC team. They also played the #4 toughest non conference schedule. They won't be seeded high but hoping to see them at least scare someone in the first round like they did LSU last year. Southern Miss women are in the running for the Sun Belt regular season title, currently sitting in a tie for 4th and 2 games back of the lead (they won their 1 game against the team that is currently in first, Troy). The move to the sun belt seems to have been a great thing for the program so far. They'll have to win the conference tournament to get an NCAA bid but hopefully there will be some sort of post season tournament for them. Ole Miss women have pretty much wrapped up an NCAA bid at this point, unless something catastrophic were to happen and they manage to lose out. They'd still be on the bubble though if that happened. They are currently 20-5 and 9-3 in SEC play but still have games at LSU, at Alabama, and home against South Carolina. Unfortunately the weak non conference schedule is hurting their predicted seed. right now expected to be 7/8 seed. Overall the SEC just not getting much respect outside of South Carolina and LSU. The LSU and South Carolina games are likely to be rough. But Ole Miss really needs a signature win to try and boost themselves up in the seeding. The thing i don't like about this Ole Miss team is they really haven't shown much fight in the bigger games this conference season. Every time Coach Yo goes to social media trying to get fans to show up, they go out on court and lay an egg. Ill be interested to see how much fight they show against LSU and South Carolina because even though the Tennessee score didn't look bad, the game was over after the first quarter and we looked flat most of the game. MSU women currently one of the last teams in. 18-7 overall and 7-5 in SEC play. But their finishing schedule is going to be brutal. At Mizzou and LSU, and home games against Alabama and Arkansas. None of those would be bad losses but all of those games will be tough to win. Probably need to split those games and win at least one in the sec tournament to feel ok on Selection Monday. That'd put them at 21-10 overall and I think the strongest point of their resume is no bad losses. Currently all 7 losses are Quad 1 teams. Again the SEC overall is just down and not getting much respect on the national level on the women's side this year so that is also what State is fighting against. On the men's side, the Kermit Davis era at Ole Miss should be coming to a close soon. He seems like a nice guy but his results at Ole Miss have been poor at best, especially considering that all you ever read is that they've signed their best recruiting classes/players in history during his tenure. 1 NCAA tournament appearance in his first season (with someone else's players) and 1 NIT bid and now a third losing season in his first five years. This current season is not over but has the potential to be the worst SEC record finish since the 1975-1976 season and the worst overall season record since the 1994-1995 season under Bob Evans. The other thing going against Kermit is the number of key players that transferred to other programs or players that were horrible at Ole Miss and transferred out and are now having stellar seasons/careers. There are at least 6 players I can think over that are now starters in other programs (Power 5 programs, mid majors, and small conference programs) and average double figures per game etc. Is Kermit too old school for the younger generation? Does his system just not fit in the modern age of college basketball? IDK. Personally though I don't think you are going to have sustained success in the SEC or any power 5 program with a game plan that is focused on grinding teams down and hanging your hat on defense. It takes too much energy and wreaks havoc on your team's ability to produce on the offensive end of the court and the game has become very much offense focused. It's too easy to get hot and take down a team that relies on defense (example A Virginia being the first 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed, example B Ole Miss upsetting #5 seed Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament during the Marshall Henderson days). I haven't watched the MSU men play much but hey, everything right now is extra for Coach Jans in his first year. NIT or NCAA bid, you have to see this season as a success. Still way too early to predict what's going to happen for him, but happy to see State back to winning some big games and being in the NCAA discussion. I think there are 2 things that worry me about Coach Jans. 1. I hear he's very defensively minded (take some notes from Kermit, you gotta be able score to maintain success) and 2. I am curious to see if any thing that gets dug up from the New Mexico State fiasco gets linked back to him. I guess time will tell. Then finally you got Southern Miss and please raise your hand if you thought Southern Miss was going to be the most successful Mississippi D1 program in men's basketball this season?? Certainly not me. 20-4 overall and 12-2 in the Sun Belt with a 2 game lead over the second place team. Of course there's no chance of an at large bid but a conference title in their first season is huge. One thing for USM moving forward though is if they want to even consider having a shot at an at-large bid is all the NAIA regular season games gotta go. They have no business having regular season games against William Carey or Mobile or Loyola New Orleans. Those are wasted games when you could be scheduling opponents that offer you opportunities to build a resume. I know they probably weren't expecting that to even be a possibility this year but just something to address moving forward.

2 weeks in the books now for conference play. On the women's side, Ole Miss holding serve at 4-0 and State at 1-3 in SEC play; however, I'm not going to get overly excited yet. Outside of the win against state , the other 3 games for Ole Miss were against the likely 3 worst teams in the SEC this year (Auburn, Vandy, A & M). But there is definitely a chance for a top 5 finish in SEC play for the Lady Rebels. I think you have South Carolina and LSU as the clear cut top 2 teams in the SEC and then the second tier looks to be Arkansas, Tennessee, and then a few teams that its still hard to get much of a feel on (Mizzou, Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, and State). I like the way Ole Miss has looked at past few weeks with the exception of the second half against A & M. My concern for Ole Miss though is that if a team starts to double team Angel Baker or she has an off night, do they have players that can pick up the extra point production? They've had players that have had a few big games but no one consistently providing points outside of Baker and Scott. Myah Taylor is definitely helping but really will need her to probably consistently add 8-10 points per game to have a decent shot at winning a game or two in the NCAA tournament. The other thing working against Ole Miss is the weak non conference schedule and losing the only 2 games that would've really boosted the tournament resume. Nothing wrong with losing to a top 10 Utah team in OT or on the road at a top 20 Oklahoma team but definitely wish we could've pulled one of those out especially leading both games late in the second half. Right now the Rebels are predicted to be 7/8 seed. Definitely potential to improve that with the remaining schedule. Best case scenario the remaining SEC schedule if Ole Miss just holds serve and then pulls 1 upset you could potentially go 12-4 or 11-5 but most likely will get tripped up somewhere by a team I wouldn't expect them to lose to and end up 10-6 or so. Still a good SEC record but would love to see them grab a 4-5 seed for the NCAA tournament. But overall hats off to Coach Yo on this rebuild. Its been pretty incredible. As far as State's women, I am extremely proud of the way that team has been playing. With all the coaching turnover, transfers, decommitments, it is amazing that they are still this competitive and a chance to finish in the top half of the SEC. They lost to South Carolina today but a 7 point loss to the #1 team in the country....no shame there. Coach Purcell is definitely doing a great job of holding things together. 1-3 but definitely a tough start with Tennessee and South Carolina in your first 4 games. But the next 3 are very winnable and important if State wants to make the tourney to win those and then they are 4-3 heading to the rematch in Oxford. Looking at the remaining schedule for State, I think 8-8 is possible and 9-7 with an upset and some luck. Either of those finishes would hopefully see State get into the tourney. Definitely a far fall from the days of Coach Schaefer but there appears to be some potential for coach Purcell.

Because Shakira Austin is the better overall player and also did it against better competition.

Pretty rough year for all the Mississippi schools in college basketball on the men's side. Mississippi state men may make the NIT though that isn't certain yet. The inconsistency has pretty much ruined any chance of a stand out season though. Howland is mirroring Andy Kennedy in a lot of ways at Mississippi state. He elevated the program from where they were before he arrived and created a lot of hope and what ifs, but he hasn't been able to get over the hurdle and have a big break through year. And now his tenure is growing a little stale. You get consistent winning seasons but minimal post season success, very much like Kennedy. I doubt State holds onto him as long as Ole Miss did Kennedy though. Ole Miss wasn't doing well when the team was healthy so all the injuries definitely not helping anyone other than Kermit. The injuries buy him another year. Though the 4 year extension was not the greatest decision from the athletic department and could also lead to Kermit getting more than 1 more year. But lets be honest, overall Kermit's tenure has been disappointing. Other than taking a team with someone else's recruits to the NCAA tournament, he's done nothing. This will likely be his second losing season in 4 years. Next year will likely be NCAA tournament or time to find a new coach. What is baffling is that every article you read is that Ole Miss is grabbing the best recruits they've ever had in Ole Miss basketball history. Unfortunately, none of them have had the success on the college level that everyone expected out of high school. Makes you start to wonder if Kermit can develop players well enough to succeed at a power conference school. So far it seems like the answer to that question is no. Also it seemed very strange Ole Miss was able to grab a 5 star recruit that initially committed to Duke like Brakefield. Well after watching this season, fans have figured out why Ole Miss got Brakefield. Surprise, he's not very good. Shocking almost doesn't describe how overrated he is to have been rated a 5 star and then sign with Duke. The other thing about Kermit, that I think is going to bring his tenure to a close is that he is a defensive minded coach. Unfortunately college basketball today is about offense. Very few power 5 schools rely on defense alone to win games and not many have sustained success. Props to Kermit because his teams have always played hard and scrappy on D but if you can't score then you can't win. He's still a good coach and will do well at a mid-major somewhere but he's not the answer for Ole Miss. Southern Miss men's team remains a dumpster fire. Hopefully the transition to the Sunbelt will allow them try and turn things around. Both Jackson State and MVSU also having seasons to forget. Need some big changes in the off season to turn things around for Mississippi men's college basketball.

Seems like some of you are being a little overly dramatic about Mississippi State at this point. So they had a bad weekend....that happens. They are currently 36-13 and 17-10 in SEC play. 6-3 in SEC series with 2 of the series losses coming to Vandy and Arkansas (haven’t lost a series to anyone). They’ve got nice series wins against Ole Miss and South Carolina. Decent Non conf series win over Tulane. They are not for sure a top 8 seed but still right in the thick of things and could end up anywhere #4-#8 I’d say based on where they are today. Plus still a great opportunity for top 25 road series win with Alabama this weekend. Very likely at this point to finish top 4 in the SEC standings and automatically make it to double elimination play. Florida has Arkansas so likely series loss and possible sweep. Vandy likely takes care of business against Kentucky. Tennessee will hopefully get pushed by South Carolina. But you take care of business this weekend and you are top 4 in the conference come Monday. That’s pretty much dead on with preseason predictions. Worst case scenario you are still a national seed, I’d imagine even going 0-4 the rest of the way before NCAAs leaves you around 10-12 seed. You’re hosting. And State comes to play when it’s post season baseball. regardless of what happens, I’d have more faith in an unseeded Mississippi State team making a run to Omaha than I would have a top 4 national seed Ole Miss.

Unfortunately for Ole Miss, it may not matter what happens the rest of the way. Hoglund goes for an MRI Monday to see if he’s torn his UCL and needs TJ surgery. Taking into account the Bianco factor and his teams performing poorly in the post season regardless of the amount of talent on the team , plus the regression thru this season of the majority of the bullpen , if Ole Miss loses Hoglund then it’s game over. There’s no one other than Nihkazy that can give you any kind of consistent start from the mound. Broadway has already been showing signs of overuse and fatigue over the last month or so. Bottom line in the bullpen staff has just been horrendous. Tons of guys that on paper should be great but in real life couldn’t handle starting for JV team. The weather man is more reliable than our bullpen at the moment. You add to the poor pitching with the fact that Ole Miss is one of the worst defensive teams in the SEC. I just don’t see a way that Ole Miss can navigate itself thru a regional. ***And Ole Miss blows game 3 and drops the series to TAMU. Lots of questions for Coach Bianco to answer after this. I’d bet he throws a “that’s baseball” in there somewhere as an excuse for this loss. Would be interesting to see what Lemonis would accomplish with the Ole Miss roster.