College Basketball Season

[pancho]

arkansas, a&m and florida all never lead until the last bucket last night.   what a night

[Dawg83]

Big road games for both teams tomorrow. State in Columbia East, OM in Columbia West. Feel like State’s game is more of a must win than OM. Playing a team you beat by 30+ at home. I know SC has played some good teams close and it’s tough to win on the road… but State should win this game and it will he disappointing if they don’t.

 

On a neutral court I think OM is better than Mizzou. That arena can be difficult though when Mizzou is good. That one should be a great game.

[MSTSatchmo]

1 hour ago, Dawg83 said:

Big road games for both teams tomorrow. State in Columbia East, OM in Columbia West. Feel like State’s game is more of a must win than OM. Playing a team you beat by 30+ at home. I know SC has played some good teams close and it’s tough to win on the road… but State should win this game and it will he disappointing if they don’t.

 

On a neutral court I think OM is better than Mizzou. That arena can be difficult though when Mizzou is good. That one should be a great game.

State needs a hot start, but I can definitely see SC being mentally bummed after losing earlier this week.  

[Bulldogs4]

Eventually SC is going to win a game but I just hope it will be a game after tomorrow. That was a very deflating loss Wednesday and those can sometimes carry over. State does a need a good start. Not necessarily a 10-0 run to start the game but just need to play well early and not fall behind early by a large deficit. Hubbard’s second half at TN was encouraging. Would be nice to see him bust out with a big game (25-30 points) and bang in a bunch of threes. 
 

While Mizzou is better , I think Ole Miss will bounce back and win this game even on the road. While their last second loss stings I don’t think it will affect them as much since it’s a veteran team. 
 

We will see how it goes. 

[Insideradvantage]

I have no level of confidence about any road game until the last second is gone and Ole Miss is winning. Not even if we are up by let’s say 10 with a minute left. That’s just a couple threes and a couple more dumbass turnovers away from disaster. As a matter of fact, I feel the same when we are at home. 

[s1nglewing]

Seems like a culture of not meeting expectations at UM.

[Insideradvantage]

1 hour ago, s1nglewing said:

Seems like a culture of not meeting expectations at UM.

Yep, certainly would explain it. When you have been so close many many times and don't get over the hump (except for that one baseball thing) it's always lying there waiting to pounce on you. You know, unlike another program that's rarely that close. 

[Dawg83]

1 hour ago, Insideradvantage said:

I have no level of confidence about any road game until the last second is gone and Ole Miss is winning. Not even if we are up by let’s say 10 with a minute left. That’s just a couple threes and a couple more dumbass turnovers away from disaster. As a matter of fact, I feel the same when we are at home. 

I dunno man, this same team has maybe the most impressive road win in college basketball and that was not even two weeks ago.

Edited January 25, 2025 by Dawg83

[Insideradvantage]

20 minutes ago, Dawg83 said:

I dunno man, this same team has maybe the most impressive road win in college basketball and that was not even two weeks ago.

It’s called Imposter Syndrome. 

[Bulldogs4]

Meanwhile in CoSo, State & USC are setting basketball back to the cave man days. 
Maybe we can eke out a win. 

[Dawg83]

That was a gross basketball game. State was up 14 at the under 8 media timeout and somehow found itself in overtime. You take a road win all day long but that had no business being close.

 

This is the second time in a week where State did some really dumb things late in games that forced them to OT and nearly got them beat. That feels like foreshadowing for a game like this down the road where they can’t hang on.

[Bulldogs4]

This was a situation where South Carolina lost the game and State did not lose game only because the other team did lose the game. 
 

Just glad to get out of there with a W. And you are right , some were down the line one of these games going to bite us in the butt. 
 

Vandy takes down KY. That State win in BNA looks pretty good these days. 
 

A&M chokes away a lead to lose the same way they won the other night. This trend is going to continue the rest of the season. Any win is going to be a good win whether it is at home on the road. 

[Dawg83]

Non SEC but Houston-Kansas was the best game I’ve seen so far this year. Crazy crazy ending. Houston won in double OT

[Bulldogs4]

I saw a little bit of the HOU-KS game as well and you are correct. It was a good game though I did not see the finish.

 

I was incorrect about Ole Miss. Letting the State & A&M games get away at the end have affected their psyche (IMO). I thought they would bounce back against Missouri but it was not to be.

 

Huge game for State coming up hosting Bama. They have had our number recently but we have had our opportunities to beat them. We have got cut down on the turnovers and just be able to make shots. 
 

Ole Miss hosts TX who just stole a game from A&M. Need to find a way to win this game and stop the bleeding. 

[Unionman76]

missouri really drives the ball

first in the nation in ft made, second in the nation in ft attempted

 

they force the refs to make a call

[Dawg83]

1 hour ago, Bulldogs4 said:

I saw a little bit of the HOU-KS game as well and you are correct. It was a good game though I did not see the finish.

Houston was down 6 in regulation with like a minute left and tied it.

 

They again were down 6 in overtime with under 10 SECONDS and tied it. 3, steal on the inbounds, then hit another 3.

 

Houston then won in double OT

[Dawg83]

The biggest I problem I’ve seen with OM recently is they’re getting dominated on the boards consistently. The teams they’re losing to are just out-physicaling them. And then of course Mizzou hitting 11 three’s also help.

 

With State, they seem to go as Cam Matthews goes, and holy smokes was he bad offensively yesterday. 0 points, 8 turnovers, 2 rebounds. Did have 5 assists but 8 turnovers is atrocious. Him being able to drive and dish (or score) sets up so much of State’s offense, and when he’s ineffective, it’s frankly a pretty bad offense. Especially given that they don’t really have a true point guard. Hubbard is still kinda cold too though I thought he played ok yesterday.

 

Fouls/free throws were what kept SC in the game yesterday. State mostly played good defense but SC attempted triple the number of free throws as State in regulation. Though ironically State won the game in OT because they went 8-9 from the line in what felt like the longest overtime I’ve ever seen.

Edited January 26, 2025 by Dawg83

[s1nglewing]

Ole Miss = sloppy ball-handling

[Former Coach]

If State doesn't get fast break points or offensive put backs they struggle offensively. They may have the worst half court offense in basketball. Al they do is pass or dribble around the perimeter. No one attacks the basket, no dribble drive to draw the foul or then kick it out. That's why SC shot triple the FT that we had.

[Insideradvantage]

Hold on now, we are the kings of just dribbling around the perimeter without attacking the basket until the clock runs out and Murray has to chunk up something. You’ll just have to settle for second place on this one. 

[sportsmaniac10]

Safe to say the shine is wearing off of Coach Yo in Oxford. And not to say that I’m not appreciative for what she has done in Oxford. She really did inherit a dumpster fire. But 7 years in, you can’t keep saying “tough loss, we will learn from this” especially since its apparent you are not learning. Lady Rebs blow another lead and lose at home to Texas. 8-point lead with about 5 minutes to go and Ole Miss doesn’t score a bucket the last 5 minutes. Still despite the awful play down the stretch, Ole Miss had the ball with 2 seconds to go and a chance to tie to go into overtime. Coach Yo calls a timeout to advance the ball and draw up a play. In typical Ole Miss fashion, we throw the ball away on the inbounds and get no last shot. This is the second time this year we’ve had a chance to win and force overtime and failed to inbound the ball. Its seeming more and more like Coach Yo has a high floor but low ceiling and we’ve reached the ceiling. 

 

This is year 7 and things have plateaued if not gone a bit backwards in Oxford. Coach Yo is 9-41 vs top 25 teams in her 7 seasons as head coach. 4-19 in the first 3 years (the rebuilding years) and 5-22 in the next 4, including 0-5 last season and 0-5 this current season. So definitely not making any progress becoming an actual contender for any type of post season run. She may be a decent defensive coach but offensively, they’ve never looked worse under her tenure. All you have to do is run a zone and our offense implodes. 7 years and not one solid 3pt shooter. And before someone mentions Snudda Collins, she was as consistent as the weather man. 

 

Hard to see why there’s not been more success. It’s not talent. She’s currently got  4- 5th year players plus one true senior in her rotation. 5 players in the rotation that have All conference honors from a power 5 conference and a freshman that is currently in the running for SEC freshman of the year. The results right now just aren’t good enough especially considering Coach Yo is the 14th highest paid coach in the women’s game right now at ~$1.08 million per season and she has the largest incentives package in the women’s game with a max of ~$900k. I think it’s reasonable to expect more at this point. 

 

In Starkville, I know some fans are pretty upset with Purcell…. I’m undecided. Is he a Vic Schaefer…absolutely not. But let’s be realistic, the odds of Ole Miss or State attracting an already established coach like Schaefer are low (unless he comes with baggage like Beard did). Also, Schaefer came in and the stars aligned as far as there were some very talented in state players, he was able to recruit (Vivians) and his long time coaching in Texas gave him key connections to getting McCowan. Plus, his daughter, while not an all American, was a sharpshooter and picture-perfect role player that is so difficult to find these days. The man won the lottery in terms of how the recruiting dominoes fell. That’ll probably never happen for either program again. Best shot would be grabbing a young, up and coming coach but even Schaefer needed 3 years to get State into the NCAA tournament. 

 

Also, Purcell hasn’t been bad and given the unfortunate events of the prior coaches after Schaefer, I’d say quite an accomplishment that he managed to keep State from losing a bunch of players and falling off the map. You gotta remember when Schaefer left, he took the top 3-4 recruits he had already signed for Mississippi State that year, in what would have been a top 5 recruiting class. Then the coaching changes that occurred as well, State really should have dropped off more. Yet Purcell came in and made the NCAAs his first season (got to the 2nd round and lost a close game to Notre Dame) and he’s got State in position to get back to the NCAAs in his 3rd year. State is outperforming Ole Miss this year. Ole Miss only has a better conference record because Ole Miss hasn’t had to play a majority of the top teams this year and State’s front half of the schedule was loaded. So, I’d say give him a few more years. 

[Bulldogs4]

Ole Miss under Yo has kind of plateaued. A good team that just has not taken it to another level. They do have the win at State a couple of weeks ago. Even though this was a tough loss she has still done a good job there. Not sure a coaching change is warranted at the present time. 
 

Good points about State where the fans got spoiled by Schaefer. Purcell has recruited really well and I think he is still growing as a coach. Definitely still a lot of upside with him and the State team. 

[Insideradvantage]

Sportsmanic10, you did your homework and I applaud you for that. I really want OM to do something in women’s basketball but we just can’t seem to get that big one.  We are scrappy defensively and we make games ugly as a result, but from an Xs and Os standpoint we suck on offense. I knew we’d let that one get away today. You could see it coming from a mile away and I don’t think Texas even had their best player. We are missing the it factor for sure and I think that hurts our women’s basketball excitement so to speak because I really think we could get it going if we could bottle something. Right now we’ll be fortunate to get into the tournament at like a 9-10 seed with a very highly paid coach and maybe win one game. Maybe. And don’t get me started on players who don’t seem to improve in the program. That said, I don’t give two hoots about the WNBA so maybe my opinion doesn’t mean much because after they leave Oxford I’m out. 

[Dawg83]

I don’t know how but I somehow just realized that Schaefer is back in the SEC now…. And returns to Starkville one month from tomorrow.

In my mind it didn’t seem like he has done much at Texas yet but three Elite 8’s in his first four years is pretty dang great. Year 5 for him at State was the year they beat UConn in the Final Four, and this is his Year 5 at Texas, so I guess we will see how it goes. Crazy he’s already been there that long.

Edited January 27, 2025 by Dawg83

[pancho]

seems yo and purcell both struggle in the x and o department in crunch time