Latest: Everyone in the Media Respects MSU MBB

[ArcherSPS]

 

[TaleofTwoDogs]

This must be a trick, after years of wandering through the wilderness , I thought MBB was dead at Miss State........ **

 

[ArcherSPS]

 

[jethreauxdawg]

So how bad are we gonna lose to Minnesota?

 

[LordMcBuckethead]

So how bad are we gonna lose to Minnesota?

Maybe a little bit. I hope not. I hope we light up the scoreboard and hold them to under 54 pts.

 

[curseddawgs]

This must be a trick, after years of wandering through the wilderness , I thought MBB was dead at Miss State........ **

Stans is the only one that can win here **

 

[Ranchdawg]

Stan/Jans now we know why we are winning again!

 

[Darryl Steight]

So how bad are we gonna lose to Minnesota?

I literally came to this thread to ask what the spread was, because I'm taking Minnesota Sunday.

 

[She Mate Me]

I literally came to this thread to ask what the spread was, because I'm taking Minnesota Sunday.

Their best win this year is California Baptist. In overtime.

I hope you get a bucketful of points.

 

[FourthStringPunter]

Jans is playin his freshmans

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Jans is playin his freshmans

I think the way things are now with transfers you about have to otherwise they’ll just leave.

 

[Doubledawgblitz]

What a difference it makes having a coach who isn't already "retired" leading the team.

 

[dawgstudent]

 

[Baddog11]

You mean all the media loves Miss state except the associated press voters?

 

[Dawgpile]

Relevant text from the article:

Hey, it’s Mississippi State! OK! Sure!

Are there teams in the below section that “deserve” to be here more than the Bulldogs? Yeah, sure, but so what? They’ll get their run, if they haven’t already, and the bottom of the power rankings list is nothing if not a sucker for surprising teams having great starts to seasons. Mississippi State is nothing if not that.

In some respects, maybe this start isn’t all that surprising. The Bulldogs were a consistently solid team for most of Ben Howland’s tenure, particularly the final four, even if they always rated out more highly on your laptop screen than they did in sheer wins and losses. This is why Howland, despite having the adjusted per-possession metrics to look like a tournament-ish team at least twice in his last three seasons, only made one NCAA field in seven years. Alas.

This team does not look revolutionary. In fact its core comprises players who have been regular figures in Howland’s recent teams: D.J. Jeffries, Cameron Matthews, Shakeel Moore. The difference — beyond the addition of gem Eric Reed from Southeast Missouri State, who is one of the least turnover-prone guards in the country — is that senior forward Tolu Smith has started this season looking like one of the best players in the SEC. A somewhat peripheral player for most of his career, Smith is now even more efficient despite jumping from 24.8 percent usage and 23.4 percent shot rates to 31.8 and 25.4, respectively. He is touching the ball all the time, he’s converting interior finishes at an unprecedented rate, and he’s drawing a ton of fouls in the process. Mississippi State is still not a very good outside shooting team, a la last season, but it appears to be a genuine buzzsaw on the defensive end, of the kind Howland only occasionally approached.

The only caveat? The schedule. Chris Jans is a first-year head coach, and he scheduled the way a lot of first-year head coaches do, which is to say: softly. You want to build momentum; you want to give your guys confidence; you want to win them over with success; and sometimes you just don’t really know if your team is going to be any good in the first place. But other than an event in Fort Myers, Fla., where they played (and beat) Marquette and Utah on a neutral floor, this is an extremely soft nonconference schedule. KenPom ranks it 342nd in the country. It’s the kind of schedule you end up with in a transitional year, except Mississippi State looks really good right now. We’ll have to wait until the teeth of the SEC campaign to test it out, and the Bulldogs will have to hope that they can sustain this level — and that their unfortunate noncon slate won’t damage them too much when it comes time to select and seed the field a few months down the line.

But still: Mississippi State! Kind of cool!

 

[Cantdoitsal]

You mean all the media loves Miss state except the associated press voters?

The AP Reads The Pack. And WTF is this 342nd ranked non con schedule strength all about? Just how many damn teams are there for cryin' out loud?

 

[onewoof]

I literally came to this thread to ask what the spread was, because I'm taking Minnesota Sunday.

Bet only on defense. Defense travels. It's how we won our road games in 2004.

 

[onewoof]

Bet

 

[Cantdoitsal]

I literally came to this thread to ask what the spread was, because I'm taking Minnesota Sunday.

You Chose....... Pooorly.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

We're the Tennessee football of SEC basketball- win big a couple of decades ago, spend time in the wilderness, now are back.

 

[ThreeDawgNight]

I literally came to this thread to ask what the spread was, because I'm taking Minnesota Sunday.

How'd that work out for you?

 

[DerHntr]

How'd that work out for you?

You beat me to it! That post didn’t age well.

 

[Darryl Steight]

How'd that work out for you?

We won didn't we? So I guess it worked out fine. I hate to break it to you guys, but my post was a joke, as I am almost certain was jethreauxdawg's before it...

Some newer fans may not realize this, but once upon a time, good ol' national championship U Mississippi State previously held a long and storied history of letting us down, especially immediately after getting ranked. I guess I worded it poorly, so the bitter humor of me lowering my own expectations flew right past. My bad, fellas. Didn't mean to rain on the parade of sky high expectations. Keep on keepin on.