not so long ago Mississippi State basketball was based on three fundamentals - defense, rebounding and pound the ball inside to our big guy (M. Austin or L. Roberts) to attempt a high percentage shot.
That seems to be a fairly sound philosophy. Most of the time it seemed to work quite well. On the nights it didn't work, I often found myself thinking it would be nice to have a shooter or two on the team who could relieve some of the pressure on the big guys and maybe take over a game when needed.
At the time, I thought it would be easier to recruit shooters and teach them to play defense than it would be to recruit sound defensive guys and teach them to shoot.
It seems like Stans may have been thinking along the same lines. We have six or so guys who can really shoot. Some still struggle defensively, but on any given night they can score. We have a strong presence underneath the basket.
I'm wondering if this is the perfect storm that has been building for a while now. The real question is whether Coach Stansbury can collect these seemingly random and haphazard components and make something useful of them.
I think this group of guys has both the inside and outside game that Stans has never had before. And may never have again. These next few months should be interesting to watch.
