Basketball Season Thread

[Dawg83]

Figured might as well get the discussion started since exhibitions start soon and opening night is less than a month out.

 

Somewhat similar situations for both State and OM. Both lost a lot and have a lot of new faces, but return a key anchor from last year. For State it’s Hubbard (and to a lesser extent Shawn Jones), for OM it’s Dia. I think both fan bases have excitement about the batch of newcomers and a lot of trust in their HC. I don’t think either team will start the season in the Top 25, but both could easily finish there. I don’t believe the SEC is going to be as insanely dominant overall as it was last year so there’s room for one of these two teams to contend near the top if all the pieces connect.

 

Admittedly I’m less in the know on women’s hoops so someone else will have to lead the discussion there. I do know that Purcell got crushed by the transfer portal and two of his contributors ended up at OM. 
 

Early thoughts? 

[NoWammies]

All I know of right now is remember the name Ilias Kamardine. The French assassin. Young man is going to be our biggest piece if we want to be what most think we can be. He reminds me of a slightly smaller but more all around version of Brakefield from last year. Supposedly our backcourt is going to be better than last year but it’s full of new faces so that’s a wait and see. AJ Storr will be the main new face in that group. He’s looked sharp so far as a facilitator. My verdict is still unknown yet about this group. Lost way too much production from this group to immediately be optimistic. Got a lot more length in the front court this year but other than Dia, it’s transfers so another wait and see. I’m loving what I’ve been seeing from the Louisville transfer James Scott. He’s going to help Dia out a lot. If LSU transfer Corey Chest can get it all together instead of being a here and there highlight machine that group could be special. Should see a good bit of production from freshmen Tylis Jordan and Patton Pinkins. Both top 100 players in this last class. The potential is there. Can they come together as a group is the question. 
 

Will know more on Oct 26th when we play an exhibition against an always good St. Mary’s team that’s predicted to be a tournament team again. 

[Dawg83]

For State, you’ve obviously got one of the best players in the league with Hubb. The team will likely go as he goes. But the pieces around him are very interesting. Finally have a rim protector for the first time under Jans with Quincy Ballard. Jayden Epps should be the best backcourt scoring option other than Hubbard that Jans has had. Have about four other guys you feel decent about as rotation pieces. After that, several question marks. Someone unproven (probably 2-3 of them) are going to have to step up and be able to contribute right away. Not sure if that’s one of the freshmen, the transfer from Slovenia, or someone else.

 

The spot I am most curious about is the 4 position. Cam Matthews had a stranglehold on it four 3 years and he had a unique skillset and played several different positions. A lot of good came with that but there were some limitations too, particularly the fact that he wasn’t a 3 point shooter at all. This year, that 4 spot will be a little bit more of what you usually see in modern basketball . Achor Achor, I presume, gets first crack at it, and he’s more of a stretch 4 that can shoot a little bit. They’ve got a couple of other guys too that the jury is out on (specifically Macura and Walker). But that position for me is the biggest unknown for State.

 

[Dawg83]

State was frankly pretty bad defensively in league play last year and I know it drove Jans crazy. This roster was specifically constructed to be more of a Jans style team. Curious to see what that looks like. You know Shawn Jones is a dirty work guy, but there will be others, I presume.

[NoWammies]

@Dawg83 I think we can both be top five teams in the conference but like you said it’s a bunch of new faces so the verdict is still out. I think the conference still goes through Florida. They’re going to be very tough. I think Cal will have Arkansas as a contender this year. They’re my #2 team in the conference. I expect Auburn and Bama to take a step back this year. Tennessee and UK will be there but nothing special. I def don’t see the conference being as tough as it was last year. 
 

My Top 5 Prediction:

1. Florida

2. Arkansas 

3. Mississippi St

4. Ole Miss

5. Kentucky

[Dawg83]

1 minute ago, NoWammies said:

@Dawg83 I think we can both be top five teams in the conference but like you said it’s a bunch of new faces so the verdict is still out. I think the conference still goes through Florida. They’re going to be very tough. I think Cal will have Arkansas as a contender this year. They’re my #2 team in the conference. I expect Auburn and Bama to take a step back this year. Tennessee and UK will be there but nothing special. I def don’t see the conference being as tough as it was last year. 

Last year was maybe the toughest conference in the history of college basketball. Nowhere to go but down lol.

[NoWammies]

@Dawg83Last year SEC was like the old Big East. I grew up loving that conference. 

[NoWammies]

Was quite surprised didn’t hear any Chris Beard to Auburn after the Pearl unexpected retirement. 

[Bulldogs4]

6 hours ago, NoWammies said:

Was quite surprised didn’t hear any Chris Beard to Auburn after the Pearl unexpected retirement. 

They did it so quickly that it apparently was already in place for a long time before it was announced. Obviously it was done to prevent any player from realistically leaving the team. 
How his son coaches will be interesting to watch. 

[Dawg83]

19 hours ago, NoWammies said:

Was quite surprised didn’t hear any Chris Beard to Auburn after the Pearl unexpected retirement. 

Pretty sure Bruce forced their hand on hiring his son…. I am skeptical about that working long term. Risky move by them. But it’s John Cohen so of course he made a weird hire.

 

If Cohen ends up having to replace the younger Pearl, he is far more likely to pursue Jans than Beard simply because Cohen seems to be incapable of hiring anyone other than people with ties to State. Go look at Auburn’s athletic department directory…. A lot of people that used to live in Starkville.

Edited October 11, 2025 by Dawg83

[Bulldogs4]

2 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

 

 

If Cohen ends up having to replace the younger Pearl, he is far more likely to pursue Jans than Beard simply because Cohen seems to be incapable of hiring anyone other than people with ties to State. Go look at Auburn’s athletic department directory…. A lot of people that used to live in Starkville.

Hopefully Coach Jans is happy at State. Honestly Auburn is not a better job than State. Pearl was kind of lightning in a bottle but I don’t see anyone duplicating his success there. 
 

Jans at State just seems like a good match. We are a blue collar program and he is a blue collar coach that is capable of doing some really good things. We have been on the verge each year but have just been a bit short on talent and a bit of fortune as well. I do think one of these years we are going to break through for a SS or EE type season. 

[Dawg83]

Jans is a really good coach and State fans shouldn’t underestimate how hard it is to make the tourney consistently at State. Yeah it’s frustrating that each year it’s been a one and done experience. But you do feel like it’s a matter of time before he finally wins an NCAAT game or two.

 

One of my favorite things about Jans is he’s been an excellent nonconference scheduler. State is going to be tested early and often. They play an exhibition against Houston later this month and their second real game is a neutral site game against Iowa State who will be a a Top 15 or 20 team to start the season.

[Bulldogs4]

On 10/10/2025 at 3:06 PM, Dawg83 said:

The spot I am most curious about is the 4 position. Cam Matthews had a stranglehold on it four 3 years and he had a unique skillset and played several different positions. A lot of good came with that but there were some limitations too, particularly the fact that he wasn’t a 3 point shooter at all.

 

As much I appreciated Cam for what he meant to the program, he was also a poor FT shooter. 
And I know he did everything else really well. But to be completely successful in basketball you have to be able shoot the ball from a distance and make FT’s at a 75+%. And that was his weakness. 
So how that position develops will be interesting as this season starts. 

[Dawg83]

KenPom released their preseason rankings today and had Ole Miss 24th and State 26th. Good for 6th and 7th in the SEC.

 

Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee are ranked in the Top 10 and then there is a big bundle of SEC teams in the 19 to 35 range.

[Dawg83]

Jans announced yesterday that Gai Chol will miss the season after knee surgery. Not a starter but would’ve played some as a backup center.

[Dawg83]

Season tipped off in the last couple of days. Didn’t catch any of OM’s opener but from all indications it was a pretty comfortable win, I think State plays SE LA next weekend so that might be an interesting comparison with a common opponent.

 

State played pretty poorly for the first 25 minutes against North Alabama, found themselves down 9 early in the second half…. Then close the game on a 44-11 run to win by 24. This is very much a Chris Jans style team, very different roster from last year. I like the length they have and expect this to be a good defense and rebounding team. Going to have to find some scoring outside of Hubbard for this team to be an improvement over last year. McGhee looks like hr will be either a strong sixth man off the bench or maybe eventually a solid starter to pair with Hubbard. Those two guys accounted for half of State’s points so a lot remains to be seen offensively from the other guys.

Edited November 6, 2025 by Dawg83

[NoWammies]

Ole Miss started off slow with some poor shooting but then Dia, Kamardine and Stoor got going. I liked the production we got out of Scott as well. He did a great job on the boards and also contesting shots. Team played 10 bad mins and 30 good mins of basketball but kind of expected that in the first game. 

[Dawg83]

10 minutes ago, NoWammies said:

Ole Miss started off slow with some poor shooting but then Dia, Kamardine and Stoor got going. I liked the production we got out of Scott as well. He did a great job on the boards and also contesting shots. Team played 10 bad mins and 30 good mins of basketball but kind of expected that in the first game. 

State’s was more 25 bad minutes and 15 great minutes.

[Bulldogs4]

Not surprising that State struggled early. 

First game of the season. Lot of new players and it is going to take a while to gel.

UNA is not a bad team and of course you knew they were going to play over their heads against a SEC team. 
The way State played late bodes well for the future. Offense will get better. Otherwise after just one game, way too early to judge how this team will develop. 

[Dawg83]

We will learn a bit more about both teams early next week. State plays a ranked Iowa State in Sioux Falls on Monday, OM hosts Memphis on Tuesday.

[NoWammies]

Ole Miss picks up a 21 point win over ULM tonight. Good game from Storr and Kamardine again. Not sure if the bench contributing almost half the points tonight is a good thing or bad thing but I have liked that we’ve shown that we have some depth. Another good game crashing the boards and creating second shots off of offensive rebounds. Only real negative is we were sloppy with the ball a good bit leading to turning the ball over 13 times. Next up is Memphis coming to town Tuesday which will help gauge where we are as a team better. 

[Insideradvantage]

ULM any good? 

[NoWammies]

No not really. However we did what we were suppose to. We came out and jumped on them early instead of letting them hang around like we did in the first game. 

[Dawg83]

State is getting absolutely destroyed by Iowa State. I think ISU is a legit team but man State has looked bad. A LOT of things to fix or it could be the first year of no tourney for Jans.

[Raiders 10]

2 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

State is getting absolutely destroyed by Iowa State. I think ISU is a legit team but man State has looked bad. A LOT of things to fix or it could be the first year of no tourney for Jans.

if Jans don't fix the weakness and get State back to the NCAA Tournament he will be on the hot seat.