College Basketball Season

[Bulldogs4]

I would agree with you. We are a good team in a league with a number of great teams and even more really good teams. A top 30 team but this year in the SEC that means we are about 10th best which is where we finished. Most certainly we are a flawed team that is capable.

While Matthews has always been one of our favorite players, his poor FT shooting has cost us in close games. And he does so much so well and his effort is off the charts. And we all know he works on it to be better. But some guys just don’t have that right touch on FT’s. 
Kugel is another example of a player very capable but he missed two crucial FT’s against TX and then had his late shot blocked Saturday. 
 

Still a good amount of talent on this team but they have not played a complete great game since Memphis (TBTH). We have had some really good games but even in some of our better victories State did not play its best basketball. 
 

I have no idea what will happen this week or in the following week. I can see a couple of wins this week as a possibility. Or 1-1. I do think we should beat LSU but even that is not a given. 

 

But the Tournament is total crap shoot. We can lose the first game by 25 and limp home or we could win a couple of games as well. 
 

But who knows? 

[Dawg83]

Arkansas handling SC, looking like Rebs vs Hogs tomorrow.

 

State-LSU is tonight.

[Dawg83]

State crushes LSU. Hard to read too much into it given that LSU is a bad team but this was probably the best game State has played in almost a month.

 

Mizzou on deck tomorrow night. Lose and you’re a lock for an 8 vs 9 game, IMO. Win and maybe there’s a path to a 7 seed.

Edited March 13, 2025 by Dawg83

[Bulldogs4]

Good win in that our bench played a lot of minutes.

After the beatdown we took from Missouri we better come out focused and ready tomorrow night. 

[rebmus]

7 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

Good win in that our bench played a lot of minutes.

After the beatdown we took from Missouri we better come out focused and ready tomorrow night. 

LSU is bad, but definitely a good win MSU needed right now. As 83 mentioned, there's a path for a 7 or better seed... win one more and I lean it's a 7 at worst. 

 

Ole Miss SHOULD lock up a 7 (at worst) seed with a win tomorrow over Arkansas. With a loss, I can see Ole Miss as an 8-9 seed. 

 

Either way, it's still a nice change to be wondering if our teams our on the "dreaded" 8/9 seed instead of wondering if our teams will get a play in game. 

 

 

[Bulldogs4]

Ole Miss should crush Arkansas. They were lucky to win their last two games. 

[Dawg83]

Great finish and great win for OM. Very entertaining game. I think OM is a 6 seed now, but hey you get a free shot at Auburn tomorrow to see if you can make it a 5 seed.

[rebmus]

4 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

Great finish and great win for OM. Very entertaining game. I think OM is a 6 seed now, but hey you get a free shot at Auburn tomorrow to see if you can make it a 5 seed.

I was guessing a 6 or 7 seed with a win. Supposedly Lunardi has OM projected as a 5 seed after the win today. 

 

 

[Dawg83]

State played well for most of the game against Mizzou but collapsed in the last few minutes and lost by 12. Tie game with 4 minutes left and Mizzou closed on a 16-4 run.

 

State most likely coming to an 8 vs 9 game near you, next weekend.

Edited March 14, 2025 by Dawg83

[Insideradvantage]

How ironic that my Rebels could be a five seed snd State an 8-9 when head to head the Bulldogs are the better team. This thing is all about matchups and if either gets a favorable one it could at least be interesting for a while but I dang sure wouldn’t bet much on either being around for long come next week. 

[Dawg83]

7 minutes ago, Insideradvantage said:

How ironic that my Rebels could be a five seed snd State an 8-9 when head to head the Bulldogs are the better team. This thing is all about matchups and if either gets a favorable one it could at least be interesting for a while but I dang sure wouldn’t bet much on either being around for long come next week. 

Ole Miss has three wins that are way better than anything State has. State’s best win is probably OM in Oxford. The committee tends to reward elite wins. And OM also avoided bad losses. Another big difference is Ole Miss went 4-0 against the trio of Arkansas/Texas/Oklahoma…. State went 0-3.

[Dawg83]

As of late Friday night, Lunardi has OM the 6 seed paired with 3 seed Wisconsin, but in Milwaukee, so that would be basically a true road game, maybe not exactly what you want.

 

He has State the 9 seed in Raleigh opening with UConn and paired with Duke…. Definitely not what you want.

[Insideradvantage]

Odd that you take the best team in all the land (i.e Auburn) to the brink and you drop a seed. That said I’d rather be a 6 because I don’t like that infamous 5/12 setup. 

[pancho]

i think ole miss goes deep in the field if they face teams who they can out rebound. 

Edited March 15, 2025 by pancho

[Bulldogs4]

Ole Miss looks good and depending on the match up has good chance to be playing the second weekend of The Tournament.

 

I think we have beat the State horse to death and back again and then again. Just don’t get the inconsistency and the lack of shooting from players who seemingly have the talent to make a higher percentage of shots. Plus our FT shooting is atrocious outside Hubbard.

I do think the Clary injury did hurt this team in that he was a true PG. 

While we have a good number of good ball handlers, we don’t have a true PG.,

[Dawg83]

6 hours ago, Insideradvantage said:

Odd that you take the best team in all the land (i.e Auburn) to the brink and you drop a seed. That said I’d rather be a 6 because I don’t like that infamous 5/12 setup. 

The margins a really slim along the fringes of each seed line. And a lot of times it’s less about you losing and more about someone else winning. Looks like maybe he moved Clemson and/or Michigan, both winners yesterday and still playing today, ahead of OM.

 

I’ve seen several people saying that State and Creighton are in competition for the final 8 seed…. Makes me wonder if that’s a first round matchup we are about to get.

[MSTSatchmo]

7 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

The margins a really slim along the fringes of each seed line. And a lot of times it’s less about you losing and more about someone else winning. Looks like maybe he moved Clemson and/or Michigan, both winners yesterday and still playing today, ahead of OM.

 

I’ve seen several people saying that State and Creighton are in competition for the final 8 seed…. Makes me wonder if that’s a first round matchup we are about to get.

As of tonight Lunardi didn’t have a change to his prediction with State.  9 seed matched up with UConn and Duke of they win.  
OMs bracket did change up a little.  He had them paired with 3 seed Iowa State now, and Bama the two instead of Auburn. 

I know he is really accurate about who makes the tourny, but I’m not sure how accurate he is with the placement of teams.  That a lot to get right.  lol 

[rebmus]

14 SEC teams in the dance. 

Ole Miss gets the south region #6 seed. They play the North Carolina/San Diego State winner.

MSU gets the 9 seed in the East region vs Baylor. 

 

Auburn and Florida are both #1 seeds. 

Tennessee and Alabama are both #2 seeds. 

Kentucky is a #3 seed. 

 

A TON of respect for the SEC from the committee, we'll see how it plays out. 

 

 

[MSTSatchmo]

At 28-4, I would have put Florida at the overall one.  It’s crazy Auburn gets it losing three of the last four.  
 

It will be interesting to see how the SEC fares in the first round and on into the tourny.  One of the ESPN guys made an interesting point during the SECT. He said that how physical the SEC was may come back to hurt them because what the officials let play in SEC games will get called in the NCAAT

[Dawg83]

State-Baylor is a total toss up, as most 8/9 games are. i don’t give either team much chance of beating Duke. Especially in the state of North Carolina. But if State can win, it would be their first tourney win since 2008, and only the second in the last 20 years…. You’d take it, certainly, even if it’s the only game you can win. But they are going to need one of their best showings in a while to win on Friday.

 

Interesting spot for Ole Miss. I think they are better than either UNC or San Diego State, but those Dayton games can give teams momentum and propel them for a few more games. It’s also tricky because both of those programs have a lot of tourney history and experience, and Ole Miss does not. Chris Beard certainly does, and like I said, Ole Miss is better than whichever 11 seed they will see. But it’s March so anything is on the table. Iowa State is 1 or 2 seed caliber team when healthy, but they have not been healthy in a couple of months. It sounds like they are getting some guys back, but which version of ISU shows up next weekend? To be determined.

 

If you told me Ole Miss loses to the 11 seed or that they advance to the Sweet 16, neither scenario would shock me.

 

 

Edited March 17, 2025 by Dawg83

[MSTSatchmo]

If OM does win, they have a matchup with a 3 seed that’s not playing nearly as well as they were earlier in the season.  

[Former Coach]

I honestly look for State to be one and done, and Janz on the way out. He has been mentioned at a couple places. Just too much inconsistency defensively. I think I saw that we had only lost maybe 2 games when giving up less than 80 and 1-10 giving up more than 80.

[pancho]

he's now making 4.4 mil per.  maybe he gets more than that elsewhere.

[Raiders 10]

On 3/10/2025 at 1:55 PM, Dawg83 said:

I wouldn’t go that far. State is not exactly an easy job and he’s about to be 3 for 3 on making the NCAA tourney. That deserves a lot of credit. Nobody else has done that at State.

 

I do think roster construction has been somewhat of an issue and his teams either haven’t been make a ton of shots or they’ve struggled to defend. This year I do believe they are better offensively, but not drastically better, and this is for sure his worst defensive team.

I agree with you on State not a easy job and he have been doing great getting State to the NCAA Tournament for the last 3 years and yes it is a roster construction this year defensive is bad and got some hole need to fill in for defensive don't have no size really and no perimeter defend and no great shooters outside beside Hubbard and don't have 2 or 3 elite players can get their own shot like Hubbard

[Bulldogs4]

I disagree about Duke. I think they are beatable. 
Now I have no idea about Baylor-State. Teams are equal.

But if State happens to win that game, I actually like our chances against Duke. Why? Just because it seems that this team might finally play its best game of the season. That has not been done yet.