Buzz Williams goes in depth on his great admiration for Chris Jans

Mississippi State handed Texas A&M a difficult defeat Saturday that was a brutal blow to the team’s NCAA tournament hopes. But Buzz Williams still took time after the game to praise the Bulldogs first-year coach Chris Jans.

“If you study his whole career, like the little town he’s from in Iowa, what he did at the Juco in Iowa, what he did at Chipola, the rise at Wichita State both tenures he was there, the job that he did at Bowling Green, the job that he did it in a Mexico State…coach is a ball coach,” Williams said after the 69-62 defeat. “Regardless of where he’s been employed, he’s had a lot of hard jobs and he’s always been ultra successful. Let’s see if I can get the numbers right. I think this is his seventh Division I season as a head coach, and he’s won 75% of his games. That means that he was the head coach in junior college for seven seasons, and he won 75% of his games. No matter where he’s employed. Whether they have a bunch of scholarships, don’t have scholarships, you’ve heard of the school, it has a hyphen in the school, which league was it in, which League is it gonna go in, is there NIL, is there not. In between the lines, he figures out how to give his team the best chance to win.”

Jans was hired from New Mexico State, where he took the Aggies to three NCAA Tournaments in five seasons. In addition, he led the team to a perfect WAC record in the 2019-2020 season that had its postseason canceled by COVID.

Williams also discussed how he feels Jans has revitalized the Mississippi State men’s basketball fanbase as the team goes for its second NCAA Tournament appearance since the start of the 2010s.

“I don’t know necessarily what he’s doing relative to the community to get them to support at the rate that they are, Williams said. “But I would say I think Starkville is a college town, and I think most college towns appreciate the entertainment when it’s done in a very fundamental, blue collar way. As the season has progressed, I think there are 6-3 prior to our game today over the last nine games, and you can see the evolution of the priority of how he wants to play and what he thinks gives them their best chance.”

Chris Jans has Mississippi State on verge of March Madness following win over Buzz Williams’ Texas A&M squad

While the loss was a tough one for Buzz Williams and his Texas A&M team to swallow, Chris Jans’ Mississippi State squad was elated to pick up the victory.

ESPN Bracketology had the Bulldogs as the last team in the tournament Friday before the win. Defeating a team like Texas A&M no doubt moves the Aggies further into the field — for the moment.

The season is not over yet, and there is still time to improve or decrease their chances of making the 2023 NCAA Tournament.