College Basketball Season

[Dawg83]

2 hours ago, maroontide06 said:

I saw where State moved up to 11th in the NET after beating Memphis.  That was definitely a solid win and one that will look even better as the season progresses.

The Pitt and SMU wins State got have also aged really well so far.

[NoWammies]

I’m still not getting excited for Ole Miss just yet. Last year before conference play I basically got called a negative Nancy on here but I just wasn’t sold on our down low play. I feel the same this year. We’re a team that relies a lot on the three and when we’re on we can be really good, but when it’s not we’re basically hoping Murray or Pedulla can make enough plays to pull out the win. I’m still waiting on Dia to give us that 15 points/5 rebounds average that I thought he would. Davis has been great for us and giving us the same he gave Seton Hall last year. 

[Insideradvantage]

When is Murrell coming back? 

[NoWammies]

He was back yesterday but Beard only played him around 20 mins. He looked good putting up 10/6/3 with 0 turnovers. I expect to get his normal mins against Memphis.

[NoWammies]

Looking at our remaining schedule, here’s how I see it playing out. There’s some away games we don’t need to lay an egg on that’ll make or break the season. 

@ Memphis-W

vs Georgia-W

@ Arkansas-L

vs LSU-W

@ Bama-L

@ State-L

vs A&M-W

@ Missouri-W

vs Texas-W

vs Auburn-L

vs Kentucky-W

@ LSU-W

@ South Carolina-W

vs State-W

@ Vandy-W 

@ Auburn-L

vs Oklahoma-W

vs Tennessee-L

@ Florida-L 

[Insideradvantage]

2 hours ago, NoWammies said:

He was back yesterday but Beard only played him around 20 mins. He looked good putting up 10/6/3 with 0 turnovers. I expect to get his normal mins against Memphis.

Oh ok. I didn’t check that one out yesterday. Couldn’t get into Queens. We will need Murrell moving forward. Glad to hear he is back. 

[Dawg83]

17 hours ago, NoWammies said:

I’m still not getting excited for Ole Miss just yet. Last year before conference play I basically got called a negative Nancy on here but I just wasn’t sold on our down low play. I feel the same this year. We’re a team that relies a lot on the three and when we’re on we can be really good, but when it’s not we’re basically hoping Murray or Pedulla can make enough plays to pull out the win. I’m still waiting on Dia to give us that 15 points/5 rebounds average that I thought he would. Davis has been great for us and giving us the same he gave Seton Hall last year. 

Ole Miss fell apart last year because they couldn’t play defense. 141st in defensive efficiency per KenPom. Which is the opposite of what you expect from Beard teams. We shall see how they hold up this year, so far their 48th in that same metric so clearly better but everyone knows tougher games are coming.

 

I have both State and OM hovering around .500 in SEC play. That’s not an insult at all, if you go 9-9 in this SEC you are probably around a 5 seed in the NCAAT. Anyone who wins 11-12 games is going to be flirting with a 2 or 3 seed.

 

It’s just wild to look at everybody’s records and resumes and there’s literally not a single bad SEC team this year.

[Dawg83]

Latest from Lunardi has State a 4 seed and Ole Miss a 6 seed. 13 SEC teams in and field and two more just outside it.

[Dawg83]

Ole Miss getting dominated by one of their former players.

[rebmus]

14 minutes ago, Dawg83 said:

Ole Miss getting dominated by one of their former players.

Not just by him, but yeah. 

 

With just under 2 minutes to go: 

Memphis is shooting 49.2%, 38.9% on 3 pointers. 

Memphis has rebounded 11 more times than Ole Miss. 

 

That's pretty dominant by Memphis today. Kudos to them. 

 

 

[Bulldogs4]

Often times the worst time to play a team is right after they have been blown out, especially at home. You can kind of figured that Memphis was going to bounce back. 
So if you are Ole Miss I would not make too much of this one game. You still have a good team. And Memphis is a quality team too. 

[Dawg83]

Memphis couldn’t afford to lose that game, especially after State smoked them. They’re also a talented team that has a win over UConn.

 

I do wonder if size is going to be a problem for Ole Miss this year. Particularly on defense. I think this OM team has several guys that can score but I’m still not sold on them getting stops.

[Insideradvantage]

16 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

Memphis couldn’t afford to lose that game, especially after State smoked them. They’re also a talented team that has a win over UConn.

 

I do wonder if size is going to be a problem for Ole Miss this year. Particularly on defense. I think this OM team has several guys that can score but I’m still not sold on them getting stops.

There are going to be a lot of things that are going to be an issue for Ole Miss. Right now, we don’t have what it takes. Even at 11-1, I prior to today, I had absolutely no illusions about this game today especially after Memphis had already lost at home to State. They were always going to have their stingers out for this one so to speak. We are average at best and will be lucky to get into the tournament. Just a fact. We have very little to no post presence and for the most part seem unathletic in way too many positions. Sad, but true. Brakefield, for example, has no business on the court outside of garbage time yet he is still out there when things matter. And the injury time off has made Murrell a ghost on offense. 

Edited December 29, 2024 by Insideradvantage

[Bulldogs4]

State again playing down to the competition. Bethune Cookman is certainly better than their 3-9 record indicates. But to be up only 6 points midway through the second half is just not good. 

[Bulldogs4]

State wins by 14 but playing a game like this is a bit difficult so I was not completely surprised either.

And any win is always a good win. Now we have to play our A game every time out. Obviously that will be difficult to do as there are going to be a few games where we are not going to play well. The key to being a very good team as opposed to just a good team is finding a way to win on those nights. 
 

A very successful non-conference season though. 12-1 is an excellent start to the season.

As one of my ole coaches used to say “we are pleased but not satisfied”

 

 

[Dawg83]

State so far is a team that gets up for big games but struggles to get up for every game. Makes me feel like they’re gonna take some upset losses in conference play, particularly on the road.

 

Need to beat SC at home on Saturday. Right off the bat you get arguably the most winnable SEC game you will have this year, need to handle business and not fall behind.

[Dawg83]

Happy opening day of conference play. State hosts South Carolina, Ole Miss hosts Georgia. Defending home court this year will be hugely important.

[Bulldogs4]

Good opening wins for both squads. Ole Miss beat a good Georgia team solidly.

State absolutely destroyed an average SC team. 
Nothing will be as easy as today going forward, however.

@ Vandy, KY, @ Auburn, Ole Miss are coming up.

But we need to play like this every time out. Which will be impossible and even when we do play well, we can lose a game. The big key this year is keeping an even keel during the season. 
If we win 7-8 home games and 4-5 road games, that would be a huge accomplishment and put us in the thick of winning the conference.

Next game the most important game of the season. 

[Dawg83]

45 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

Good opening wins for both squads. Ole Miss beat a good Georgia team solidly.

State absolutely destroyed an average SC team. 
Nothing will be as easy as today going forward, however.

@ Vandy, KY, @ Auburn, Ole Miss are coming up.

But we need to play like this every time out. Which will be impossible and even when we do play well, we can lose a game. The big key this year is keeping an even keel during the season. 
If we win 7-8 home games and 4-5 road games, that would be a huge accomplishment and put us in the thick of winning the conference.

Next game the most important game of the season. 

That Vandy game has trap game written all over it. And everyone and their mama knows how weird of a gym that place can be to play in. Important game on Tuesday for State.

 

OM with a similarly big game at Arkansas on Wednesday.

[sportsmaniac10]

A win is a win but dang that Ole Miss game was ugly. They had about a 7 minute stretch in the second half of decent basketball and that was it. No offense to Georgia but they aren’t good and will be bottom 4 in the SEC. They’ve got a decent record because most of their non conference slate has been against bad teams.

 

Offensive struggles continued for the Rebels. A little more understandable against Memphis as Memphis played a great game.  But today offense just looks so out of sync. It’s either 1 v 1 and go to the bucket or jack up a terrible shot from 3. Even Pedulla who is normally consistent looked bad today. 
 

Rebs may be ranked but they don’t look like a top 25 team at the moment. Coach Beard has some serious work to do or it’s gonna be an awful conference season. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Insideradvantage]

OM will need to be much better than they were today or SEC wins will be difficult at best and absolutely nonexistent on the road. 

[Dawg83]

If OM can win at Arkansas they are probably starting 3-0 in conference play because I expect they beat LSU in Oxford. And I do think the game in Fayetteville is winnable for OM. Call me a Calipari skeptic maybe, I think Arkansas is overrated. Tennessee drilled them yesterday to further prove that point.

 

For State, it’s still the same story so far. They seem to get up for big games and have played really well when the spotlight has been on them. Just not sure what that looks like in an 18 game conference schedule. I have no doubt The Hump will be on fire when they host Kentucky, Ole Miss, Bama in the near future. But does the team bring it for these under the radar games? That will tell a lot of the story. It won’t shock me at all if State loses to Vandy on Tuesday and then turns around and beats Kentucky. Or maybe they struggle in the return game against the SC team they just crushed. It’s really a matter of which State team shows up on a given day.

[Bulldogs4]

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. 

[rebmus]

28 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

Vandy has a really good team that just won on the road at LSU. 

Vandy was the only road team to win yesterday. 

Road wins won't come easy in the SEC this year. As mentioned already, OM and MSU really need to win all of their home games. 

[Dawg83]

Vandy played a pretty weak nonconference schedule but at the end of the day 13-1 is 13-1. State will be easily the best team Vandy has seen so far, curious how it goes. It’s a Q1 game for both teams.

 

Did not realize until this weekend that Vandy hasn’t appeared in the NCAAT in 8 years. Hard to believe for anyone who was following them 10-15 years ago. Kevin Stallings had some really good teams there. They hired James Madison’s coach who was very successful there, curious to see what he does. Did not think Jerry Stackhouse was a good hire and the Bryce Drew era ended very poorly.