Will/Should the AD have a discussion with Stans about this?

[dawgatUSM]

Hello fellow dawgs... First, I'm a long time reader, but I finally broke down and made an account, so I'm a first time poster...

Anyway, I'm not going to say this whole "transferring" thing is 100% Stansbury's fault, but it does seem that he is the constant figure in all of it. I don't know what is going on behind the scenes in our basketball program, but will/should the AD have a discussion with him about this? We had one senior this year, and we may very well be losing 4-5 scholarship players (Rhodes, Hansbrough, Turner?, Augustus?, Gordon?). There's something wrong with that picture to me.

 

[Todd4State]

I don't think so, because this is about Stans discipline vs. players demands. To me, if he gives into the players and doesn't stand by what he says, then that sends the wrong message from the AD. It would be like the AD meddling too much and saying, "Give these players what they and their parents demand so that we will have a good team on paper next year."

Now if his discipline in inconsistent, that's another thing, but I don't know what really goes on off the court, and neither does anyone else. I do remember Rick benching Jamont for the last 10 min. of the Ole Miss game in Starkville last year, so I'm not really buying the Rick treats Jamont better theory. I think Jamont got bitched at less because he played better than Ben. If Ben thought that, then he's a little *****. He should have been worrying about his game rather than how the other players on the team were being treated by the coaching staff. I guess he would tell me that he would have if we had a practice facility, which is ridiculous because he could go to the Sanderson Center or McCarthy or even put up a hoop at his Stepmother's house.

Also, in almost every case, it was the player demanding or doing something to get kicked off of the team. I really don't see the problem with getting rid of players who are likely to cause more harm than good with bad attitudes than keeping them. I think that was a big part of what caused the downfall of the JWS era.

So, I think the problem is Rick needs to start recruiting guys that have less of an attitude problem like Barry Stewart. Yeah, guys like Hopson look really good on the recruiting report, but then they go around yanking everyones chain and if they actually come to school they find out that they have to work, and then they get unhappy and leave.

 

[jackbaddawg]

gets a little jelous of his older brother getting so much attention & he thinks he's better than he really is.He won't ever be as good as Tyler if he plays basketball for the next 50 years. I think he probably wants to be closer to his mother so at least she can come watch him more. Too, if he plays for a smaller team , he may think he can play a bigger role. He also may realize the SEC is just too tough for his whiney little ***. I stll can't believe we are having so many players that puss out on us.

 

[Mutt the Hoople.buhoops]

Historically, when a 4-* pr 5-* player comes here, in whatever sport, it's for a reason other than he loves it here and it's a better place to go than Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge or Athens. Generally, it's either one of two things:

-They're promised something or things to get them there.
-Major character flaw.

In the players quitting the basketball team, it looks like they were promised something and, when they didn't get what they were promised, wanted to ditch, in their minds, that hicktown dump.

But there's something about the MState basketball program that causes talented players to want to leave as fast as possible. I remember back in the 1980's when Bob Boyd was coaching. He was an excellent coach but a lousy recruiter. When he first got there, he would go out on the floor with Jeff Malone, two or three Division 1 level players, and Mackey Whyte and Jeff Norwood alternating.

Around the 1983 or 1984, he started getting better players, like Todd McKaskill and Tony Robinson. Yet, his teams didn't make the jump to being good, because they'd quit. It took Richard Williams pretty much cleaning out the garbage in 1987 and recruiting the class that won the SEC in 1991, to get over that. I worked with "T-Rob" one summer in Lake Junaluska, MS. I asked him why he quit, and he would never give a straight answer, but seemed to infer that some of the boosters were jackasses.

Perhaps MSU as a fan base need to take a serious look at ourselves. We blame the parents of Chris Garrett for wanting to better himself at LSU, but we need to ask ourselves, "Why would the son of State grads, who's gone to State games all his life, whose parents are members of the Booster Club, find the people he grew up around so repulsive that he'd ditch the place the first chance he got?" Just why did Ben Hansbrough's mom hate Starkville? Did she not find people with whom she couild develop friendships? Before you reply with a standard, sheeplike, drooling, unibrowed answer like, "Yoo isn't a reel Bulldawg. Yoo mus be a secret Rebel", think about it.

 

[Temple of the Dawg]

Just why did Ben Hansbrough's mom hate Starkville?

Bulldogbacker....no further explanation needed.

 

[vhdawg]

Could her precious snowflake not handle being off at college by himself? You know, like the other 14,000 students there?

 

[Shmuley]

of all of these defections as it relates to APR. I seriously don't know the answer to that. But you have to believe that these defections are going to result in a reduction of scholarships under the APR penalty rules. Where am I wrong?

 

[diehard4dawgs]

<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">If one of you boys down there in the greater Jewel area would have stepped up and made sure that Ms. Hans was being "serviced"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span> regularly, then we would not even be talking about this……..</span></p>

 

[Agentdog]

I agree. Except I would add a third.....-not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I can remember to many athletes over the years come into Starkville with the attitude they are doing State a favor rather than the other way around. Most of the time it ends with said athlete flaming out and getting booed off the field on senior day. However, in this case, the athlete is producing and staying out of trouble. It is the 2 and 3 stars with the problem. I know it sucks to play on a team with different expections and rules based on playing skill. However, these 2 and 3 stars need to realize that may be worth dealing with when considering the other options.

As for Starkville, yes, it can be clickish. Also, the GTR isn't exactly a basketball area. It is a baseball area. However, I imagine Starkville isn't that different than most small towns all over the US. One difference I have observed, (You mentioned CG) growing up in the GTR and then traveling the East/SE as an adult is that Mississippians don't have near the civic pride that citizens of other states have for their state, towns, and universities.

But back to bball......The problem is most HS basketball stars are from the inner/big city. That is State's biggest problem and the biggest adjustment for the big time players. With that said, Starkville is nicer than Brownsville, TN and I am sure comparable to Popular Bluff, MO. So, I don't think Starkville was the problem with those guys.

State has historically had a lot of transfers in basketball. Even Richard Williams had a few leave a year or two after the NCAA bid. However, in his defense, I know one of those guys and he had an attitude any time he wasn't treated like the star.