Just my opinion...

[Rick Cleveland]

Don’t overreact to what happened today. Ole Miss is really good... and it takes two good teams and a special atmosphere to produce a basketball game as entertaining and well-played as we saw today. My take: https://mississippitoday.org/2019/01/12/this-ole-miss-hoops-story-just-got-real/

 

[Dawg1976]

OM will beat us again and we will lose several more. NIT is where we are headed.

 

[hailstate19]

We will beat them in Oxford in a payback game. I predict that we will be looking pretty good by then and a ncaa lock.

We are not a bad team, but had some though breaks lately. Hell, we played great at times today, just not as consistent as we needed to be. Got some terrible breaks too. Hope they get a big win on Tuesday

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

We have good players

just not a good TEAM.

They correct that, and we could go far.

 

[Shamoan]

Rick, you do a great job, but sometimes, people just want to lay in a pool of their own blood.

 

[SyonaraStanz]

Rick, you do a great job, but sometimes, people just want to lay in a pool of their own blood.

That's not blood... It's vomit.

 

[Seinfeld]

Ole Miss is a good team, and aside from just a couple bottom feeders, the SEC is full of others that are good. Issue is that we were supposed to be better than these “good” teams, and we’re just not

We are likely a middle of the pack SEC team that will be sweating it come selection Sunday, and that is unacceptable in year 4

 

[thatsbaseball]

More like we **** the bed and wallowed in it

 

[tatedog]

In the current SEC when you draw SCar road and Ole Miss at home to start and you don't at least go 1-1, it's going to be a long conference season. Ole Miss is better than expected, but a competent team will beat them at home.

 

[hatfieldms]

Want to bet?

 

[Bulldogg31]

The goal has not changed...make the NCAA tourney. Still within reach.

 

[PineGroveBully]

This team has entirely to much talent for just making the tourney to be their goal. It should be more than just making an appearance.

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

just not a good TEAM.

They correct that, and we could go far.

They put a group of 3 stars on the court with actually plays to create open jump shots and they also used their bigs to pull ours out away from the goal and allow their 3 star guards to penetrate for easy baskets.

Meanwhile, our 4 and 5 stars played make it take it with each other, each one wanting to be mr. hero on offense and played like matadors waving a red cape at Ole Miss 3 stars bulling their way to easy baskets.

They are a much better “team.” And play as one.

 

[Bulldogg31]

This team has entirely to much talent for just making the tourney to be their goal. It should be more than just making an appearance.

I hear you, but we haven’t even made the tourney in a decade or so.

The goal is to get there, then we’ll take our chances and see what happens.

This has been a 100% rebuild, and making the tourney would be a positive progression along that path.

 

[Pars]

Your man crushing gushing for Kermit is a little creepy there Ricky.

 

[Rick Cleveland]

Ain't a man crush. Any fool can see he can really, really coach...

 

[eckie1]

If you don’t mind answering...

Ain't a man crush. Any fool can see he can really, really coach...

What is your take on Howland and why he’s had such a struggle here? I’ve been lukewarm on him for a while now. We are doing better than under Rick Ray, but not really significantly, IMO.

 

[Seinfeld]

This is not to pick at you, rather just an honest question... If your mindset is that positive progression is always the goal, what will your stance be next year if/when we almost assuredly take a substantial step back?

 

[hatfieldms]

You do realize every program takes a step back at times when it loses its better players. The goal is to not completely fall off the map which I doubt we will do

 

[TBone.sixpack]

Curious here as well.....

 

[thatsbaseball]

crickets **

 

[Bulldogg31]

This is not to pick at you, rather just an honest question... If your mindset is that positive progression is always the goal, what will your stance be next year if/when we almost assuredly take a substantial step back?

Good question. First, there’s no guarantee we regress. Teams start “fresh” all the time, especially in basketball.

Even so, positive progress might look like those two freshmen improving, maybe Nick and Tyson taking more of a leadership role, and improvement in the culture of the team and the program.

Progress isn’t just W/L, although that’s obviously important.

 

[anon1787432961]

Ain't a man crush. Any fool can see he can really, really coach...

He can really really coach recruit nationally in one year. I'll give him that credit. Like Bruce Pearl recruits.

Coaching? Yeah not so much.

 

[Bulldogg31]

He can really really coach recruit nationally in one year. I'll give him that credit. Like Bruce Pearl recruits.

Coaching? Yeah not so much.

Recruiting is maybe the biggest part of coaching in college basketball.

Go get me 5 All Americans and I’ll bet I can coach em.

 

[Seinfeld]

Yes, I do realize that, and that was part of my point in asking the question that I asked. You can't always measure success by blindly noting progress over the prior season because different seasons will bring different sets of circumstances. Next year, we'll likely lose 3/5 of our starting lineup and 50% of our scoring, so a step back is to be expected.

Likewise, when you have a year like this year with a team full of talented upperclassman that have played together for years, I just have a hard time calling a trip to the dance success. If we make it as a 5 seed or better, we will have met any reasonable fan's goals this year. On the other hand, if we sneak in as 10 seed and lose in the first game, I'm not going to be happy just because we made the tournament for the first time in a decade. This team should be better

 

[jdbulldog]

What is your take on Howland and why he’s had such a struggle here? I’ve been lukewarm on him for a while now. We are doing better than under Rick Ray, but not really significantly, IMO.

well IMO you must be freakin nuts if you do not see a significant improvement over any Rick Ray team

 

[paindonthurt_]

Wanna bet on the NIT?

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Ain't a man crush. Any fool can see he can really, really coach...

Rick, Rick, Rick... you have to ditch the unobjective approach around here and go more for the passive-aggressive, snarky, wise-*** reply for this place and I bet you could throw some back if you had to.

 

[anon1787432961]

Recruiting is maybe the biggest part of coaching in college basketball.

Go get me 5 All Americans and I’ll bet I can coach em.

Agreed. Works for Coach K. Pitino. Calipari. Pearl. But Rick Barnes inherited a gold mine.