I used to think this way too, as if we really had a basketball program. We really don't (didn't). We were decent at best, with really about 4 good teams (95, 96, 03, 04).
A Storm is Brewing
- Thread starter JoelTColeman
- Start date
We had a pretty good run over an 8 to 10 year period where we were competitive. That's what I'm talking about. Now we celebrate NITs.
Sure in the regular season but basketball is just like baseball. It's ALL about the postseason which we haven't had a good run since 96. Nobody is celebrating NIT's but if they were how is that any different than celebrating regular season runs from 15 years ago?
I know it’s been discussed on here a lot, and some of you have told very valid reasons you think that have led to it.. but in all sincerity, the erosion of passion and enthusiasm towards men’s basketball by the MSU fan base has been one of the stranger things I can think of in SEC sports in the last decade or so.
The Hump used to be an absolute gauntlet to try and get through. And now, even when y’all are good it seems like it’s just kinda “meh”. I hope that doesn’t read like an insult because that’s not my intention. It just seems like a fan base went from more or less “all-in” to borderline indifferent in a very short period of time. Without their being any single event or moment you can point to to explain it. (Ok, maybe the hiring of Rick Ray, but every program makes bad hires from time to time)
The Hump used to be an absolute gauntlet to try and get through. And now, even when y’all are good it seems like it’s just kinda “meh”. I hope that doesn’t read like an insult because that’s not my intention. It just seems like a fan base went from more or less “all-in” to borderline indifferent in a very short period of time. Without their being any single event or moment you can point to to explain it. (Ok, maybe the hiring of Rick Ray, but every program makes bad hires from time to time)
Oh, you’re not wrong. It’s been meh for the better part of the last decade, and everybody has opinions as to why that is, but for me it’s some combination of these:
1) Haven’t had an “all in” coach since Stansbury. I’m talking about a guy that pulls guys like Austin and Sharpe out of Bama’s backyard, Gordon and Varnado from Tennessee, transfers like Power Robert’s and then locks down most of Mississippi. Not all worked out obviously, but the man was constantly bringing in talent. We’ve basically gotten one year of that from the last ten
2) Stricklin pissed off a ton of diehards and students with his cash grab during the late 2000s
3) SEC network
4) Refusal to bring the hump into the 21st century
1) Haven’t had an “all in” coach since Stansbury. I’m talking about a guy that pulls guys like Austin and Sharpe out of Bama’s backyard, Gordon and Varnado from Tennessee, transfers like Power Robert’s and then locks down most of Mississippi. Not all worked out obviously, but the man was constantly bringing in talent. We’ve basically gotten one year of that from the last ten
2) Stricklin pissed off a ton of diehards and students with his cash grab during the late 2000s
3) SEC network
4) Refusal to bring the hump into the 21st century
So, you're saying if we won the SEC in baseball this year but lost in our regional, it wouldn't count? That's idiotic, man.
Basketball, like baseball, isn't ALL about the postseason. It's about having a good-to-great regular season and earning a spot in the postseason, where anything can happen.
You have to play meaningful games in January and February to get a chance to play meaningful games in March. We played a lot of them in the Stansbury years. Not so much in the Howland years.
You wouldn't catch me still trying to get our baseball team to be like a team that lost in a baseball regional 15 years later regardless how we did that year regular season. That'd be kinda like celebrating deep NIT runs. Like I said way at the beginning. We have some real 17ed up basketball "fans" on this board that ruin EVERY thread. Stansbury never did **** yet he's treated like god by some still. Embrace who we got now he might could use the support. Go to games. End/
Howland is Stansbury. Stansbury is Howland.
They both have the same results. I actually agree with Dawg61 on this one.
They both have the same results. I actually agree with Dawg61 on this one.
Agree.
For me, all of men's college basketball (not just Mississippi State) has evolved into a sport that is much less interesting to watch than it used to be. The primary causes are the existence of the 3-point shot and the strategies that result from it.
In my opinion, men's college basketball offense consists essentially of only two options: 1) take a 3-point shot; or 2) drive to the hoop from the 3-point line. That's just not interesting basketball to me.
Getting back to the topic of this thread (i.e., Mississippi State men's basketball under Howland), how often have we seen the following: our offensive players standing around the 3-point line, passing the ball . . . until the shot clock gets near zero, which prompts a 3-point shot from whomever has the ball?
It is the craziest thing I've ever seen. When I was in school ('03-'08) the Hump was 17ing lit and fan support was through the roof. And then it all just died and has been a shell of itself ever since. I've heard people blame the Hump reseating, and obviously Rick Ray didn't help things......I don't know what killed it, but whatever it was did a hell of a job.