Did They Quit?

Something I never thought I would think about a Stansbury coached team crept into my mind last night.

Did they quit?

Last night's home loss to Tennessee, apparently a damn fine team by the way, was humiliating.

1. Stansbury's worst loss as a head coach, ever.
2. The team shoots 5-27 from three point range.
3. Dietric "I'm out of ideas" Slater contributes next to nothing on the offensive end (2-8 from the field)
4. A whopping 20 points from teammates not named Rhodes, Gordon or Edmundson.
5. "For the first time all year long, that team whipped us," Bulldogs coach Rick Stansbury said.
6. "We saw it in them early in the game that they were winded," Tennessee's JaJuan Smith said. "We just kept trying to run them, and it worked." (that kind of comment has to sting)

If that doesn't sum it up, this statement does, "Our team is not very good right now," Stansbury said. "It's been one thing after another with us. There's no magical speeches after that game."

Photo above: Tennessee's C. J. Watson (32) shoots over Mississippi State's Charles Rhodes (23) during the second half of the NCAA division I basketball game in Starkville, Miss. Wednesday Jan. 25, 2006. No. 19 Tennessee won 88-65. Watson led Tennessee in scoring with 19 points.(AP Photo/Jim Lytle)

State Baseball Ranked #21 by USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll

Polk's team is ranked #21 by the preseason USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll.

A month away from first pitch, the other SEC teams ranked are Tennessee at #12, South Carolina at #17, LSU at #19 and Mississippi at #22.

This has to be the first time in a very long time that no SEC team is ranked in the top ten.

The Dogs have also been ranked #13 preseason by Baseball America. Baseball America had this to say about the Dogs, "Added four vital JC transfers to one of Ron Polk's most experienced rosters." No more "we're young" excuses for Polk.

State begins its season with a three-game home series Feb. 24-26 against Marist College, one of 11 MSU opponents that advanced to competition in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

I'm glad I missed last week.

Last week was a bust. Thank god I missed it. For the most part, I'm going to pretend it didn't happen. But, we can't pretend that Sharpe and Houston are still on the basketball team and we can't pretend that we didn't drop two more basketball games.

Hopefully Dixon will verbal to State in about 20 minutes and LT Thomas will pick State on Friday. If that happens, then we won't have to pretend this past recruiting weekend wasn't a bust too.

Big Week

The loss to Mississippi stings (I really do hate that school). And the apparent dissension on the basketball team is just more shit heaped on the pile. But for the record, that's the best Mississippi basketball team in years, probably middle of the pack in the SEC West, which is a step in the right direction for Barnes.

As for this upcoming week, saying it's BIG seems to be a bit of an understatement.

The basketball team plays LSU and Vanderbilt this week. After watching the game Saturday, one has to believe that the next two are likely losses. And while I hope they win, I'll see neither game. And Croom's most important recruiting weekend is just five days away, but I won't be following that story at all either.

I'm taking the week off. I'm heading to Breckenridge, where I'll try not to crash as hard as the basketball team is probably going to this week.

So, in the spirit of corporate America, where in order to take a vacation you must complete a week's worth of work ahead of time, I'm wrapping up the headlines early this week.

Dissension Fills Bulldog Locker Room - The CL headline on Wednesday morning. Ian will wax poetic on more dissension in the locker room. He'll follow up on Dietric's ridiculous quote after the Mississippi game and the "team meeting" that made it to the public before the UM game.

Dogs Drop Third Straight - That will be the Sun Herald headline on Thursday morning after LSU comes to Starkville and proves for the third straight game that if you don't play defense, you lose. Slater will likely say something else stupid, unless Stansbury takes away his mic.

Bulldogs Reeling After Fourth Straight Loss - That headline is saved for the Sunday CL after Vandy takes it to the Pups up in Nashville. This time Rhodes gets into the media act after his fifth straight solid game, and says the team needs to come together if they are going to win this year.

Dixon Commits to Croom - Also a Sunday headline, this gives the masses something to cheer about between bitch sessions about the basketball team. There is great euphoria as the rumors spread through secret reports that Thomas and Hayes both had a great weekend and that Croom still has a shot at Holland. The Bulldog nation waits impatiently for more verbals to come.

I'm planning to return from my vacation next Monday morning to a meltdown - Mississippi State Style. Gene will be banning people left and right and the Pack will be screaming, "I told you $@#&* this would happen! We'll be lucky to win another game all year!!"

Now, don't get me wrong. I hope I come back and have two wins to watch on my DVR. And I hope every recruit in town this weekend commits to Croom.

But being realistic, it doesn't look like I'll miss much to cheer about this week.

So, I've got that going for me. Which is nice.

#2 Florida

Florida is ranked #2 in this week's AP and ESPN polls and is a 17 point favorite against the Pups tonight in Gainesville.

Chances for a State win? Slim, but possible. If any team can slow down a run-and-gun team like Florida, it's a team that rebounds well. And State will have to show up on the boards to keep Florida's offense under wraps. Especially early, because no one knows how the inexperienced Bulldog back court will respond to being down by 10 or more early in the game on the road.

To have a real chance at victory, State will need Reginald Delk to have a good-to-great night shooting the ball. Gordon will have to play within himself, Slater will have to give quality minutes with limited turnovers, like he did against Arkansas, and Rhodes will have to stay out of foul trouble and contribute around 15 points. In other words, everything will have to come together for the Bulldogs. It would be nice to get some quality minutes from Sharpe, because Florida will wear out Morgan and Stelmach in a hurry with their transition game.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Stansbury go to a smaller lineup in an attempt to neutralize some of the speed on Florida's roster. If that's the case, Houston could see significant time at the four tonight.

We're not expecting a win here, but the game could be a good measuring stick for how well the team will handle playing on the road in the SEC. With a team this young however it's important not to put too much emphasis on the result of any one game, which seems extremely difficult for many in the neurotic State fan base.

A streak which would be nice to break tonight: State has lost seven straight to ranked opponents. That's not good.

My best guess is that streak makes it to eight: Florida 74 - State 65.

(Don't you wish we still had Roberts?)

MSU now an option for in-state stars?!?!

What the hell does this mean? Are you telling me that previously, before January 10, 2006, MSU wasn't an option for in-state stars? Pegues wasn't an in-state star? Omarr Conner, Jerious Norwood, Dontae Walker, ahem...he was a HS star before he became the...uh...nevermind, sorry I lost focus. All of the players listed above were bigger "in-state stars" than Mr. Summers.

The Daily Journal's headline writer tells us today that because Anthony Summers verbally committed to play football at State that "MSU is now an option for in-state stars."

Thanks for the enlightenment.

If I was Greg Ellis I would be pissed. Ellis wrote a perfectly fine article about Summers' commitment. And then that article was tainted by a completely inane headline.

Mr. Headline Writer at the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, you get the idiot of the day award. Congratulations.

(As an aside, I really shouldn't get so fired up about something so trivial, but damn it, as a person who gets paid to work with the media everyday (and don't worry, I'm not talking about this poor excuse for a blog), this has got to be one of my biggest issues with the media. My final message: Don't let morons write for your publication!!!)

How's the Floor Coach?

Hell of a nice start to the conference slate.

Beating Arkansas, a media favorite for the West title, without Edmundson and Sharpe, is a nice accomplishment.

But what impresses me most is this team doesn't quit. They don't understand that their freshmen. They don't get it. According to "the masses" they're not supposed to be any good. They're supposed to roll over at the first sign of adversity.

Gordon put it best, "We have great talent out here. Players can run, jump, and play great defense. We just came out and played hard because if we played hard, we knew we could win."

After this 69-67 victory, State has won seven of it's last eight against Arkansas and five straight in the series.

The quote of the night goes to Gordon. When asked about Slater's game winning shot he said, "It scared me for a little while, but he made it though so I'm happy."

Yeah Gordon, you and me both.

Recruiting

I'm not going to write much on recruiting until it's over as I have absolutely no inside information to offer and anything I could write will be someone else's opinion.

But, with a month to go, I like the way this class is shaping up.

Anthony Summers threw his name in the ring yesterday as the latest to offer his verbal commitment to State. That adds another impressive playmaker to this class.

Check this list:

Courtney Jones, RB
Kenny Ashley, RB
Anthony Summers, DB
Anthony Johnson, DB
Alex Carpenter, WR/DB/RB
Tony Burks, WR
Ryan Mason, WR

Every one of these guys runs a 4.6 or better. Most under 4.5. All of them but Ashley and Johnson are over 6'0, with Burks, Mason and Summers being 6'3 or taller. And Johnson is the only one under 200 pounds.

And not only that...they are all playmakers. Exactly what this team needs.

Croom's script is starting to become clearer.

Class 1:
Goal: Build a defense on speed
Outcome: The class has been largely a bust, especially on offense, but it was heavy on linebackers and defensive backs.
Key players so far: Thornton, Henig, Brown, Littlejohn, Akines, Bobo, Glanton.

Class 2:
Goal: Need Offensive Speed and OL Help and impact players on defense
Outcome: Offensive speed has been a bust so far with no impact players - OL recruiting we will find out in the next couple years, but pretty good start with three players getting significant PT - adding impact players on defense was a success
Key players so far from this class - 1st year impact: Wilson, Dunning, Gates, Johnson, Chaney, Pegues, Fitzhugh

Class 3:
Goal: Offensive Talent and Playmakers on both sides of the ball
Outcome: ??
Key verbals: see list above, plus Glover, Wicker, Hughes
Other key skill recruits with State in Top 2: Anthony Dixon, Jamere Holland, Latarrius Thomas

So far I like this class. It has the potential to close strong and it has the playmakers we need. Hopefully the hogs in the '05 class all pan out, otherwise it won't matter how much skill we have on the outside.

WTF?

Let me get this straight.

MSU playing a close game against Duke in the NCAA tournament qualified as one of the top 10 sports stories in Mississippi in 2005 according to the Sun Herald?

I realize it was a bad year for Mississippi sports all around the State, but a close loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament should never be that big of a story.

Stories that didn't make the list off the top of my head:

• Mississippi hosting a Super Regional
• Norwood becoming State's All-Time Leading Rusher
• State going to a Fourth Straight NCAA Tournament and Winning 20 or more Games for the Fourth Year in a Row
• South Panola Winning Another State Title and having Another Undefeated Season
• High School Football's Late Start to the Season after Katrina

(I'm sure there are others - feel free to add them in the comments section, but I'm not going to look them up.)

Taken from the Sun Herald:

7. State plays Duke tight in NCAA Tourney

Playing Duke smack in the middle of North Carolina isn't usually a hopeful proposition, but Mississippi State gave the perennially powerful Blue Devils fits in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in March.

The Bulldogs had to play top-seeded Duke in Charlotte, but rallied from a poor-shooting first half to put a big scare in coach Mike Krzyzewski's bunch, falling eventually 63-55. State led by a point just before the halfway mark of the second half, then had five trips to take another lead with the score tied at 45.

State's Lawrence Roberts - who fought injuries and an early season suspension because of his NBA Draft flirtations - and Duke's Shelden Williams played to a virtual standoff. Roberts had 17 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks; Williams had 13 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.
Williams had two key blocks down the stretch, however, including one of Roberts to help send the Bulldogs back to Starkville.

"It seemed like every big play that had to be made down the stretch, Duke made those plays," said State coach Rick Stansbury, whose team made its fourth consecutive NCAA tourney appearance. "That's why they've been so successful though the years."

Croom to Green Bay?

This is good pub for our HC and our program at best. A distraction during the most critical time in the recruiting season at worst.

Croom is at the end of a long list of potential head coaches for the Green Bay Packers, but it's nice to see that he's respected enough in coaching and media circles to be on the list at all.

"Aside from Ferentz, Carroll and Weis, lesser-known college coaches who could get NFL interviews are Fresno State’s Pat Hill, a one-time assistant with the Cleveland Browns; Bob Petrino of Louisville; and Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom, a former Packers assistant."