Time for a little glass half full

[DAWG61]

We got beat on the road in overtime to a program that was in the final four two years ago and we got beat to a team on a hot streak riding the momentum of a new coach in a back n forth 40 minute game we led by double digits for awhile. Basically our losses now are tightly contested games not 45 point beatdowns to Vandy and Mizzou. Just get to 9-9 in the SEC and we'll go dancing I think. That's really all we absolutely must achieve this year for it to not be a total **** show. Get us in the dance Howland and maybe we'll get lucky and get past the first weekend. Cheer up dawg fans. If we shore up our defense a little we can beat anyone in the SEC not named Tennessee.

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

You do realize that a glass half full.... is also half empty, right?***

 

[PineGroveBully]

You also could have included Kermit's taste for a beatdown to his alma mater that never gave him a call. And you know he was motivating his guys with that message. You add that to an already smoking hot team and you get what we got Saturday. A bunch of players playing for a coach and another group of players playing for themselves. Hopefully in the next 16 league games our players playing for themselves are better than the other teams players playing for themselves. The way this is playing out there could easily be 8 teams betwen 10-8 and 8-10 at the end of SEC play. Hopefully you're correct.

 

[Lettucexxxx]

You also could have included Kermit's taste for a beatdown to his alma mater that never gave him a call. And you know he was motivating his guys with that message. You add that to an already smoking hot team and you get what we got Saturday. A bunch of players playing for a coach and another group of players playing for themselves. Hopefully in the next 16 league games our players playing for themselves are better than the other teams players playing for themselves. The way this is playing out there could easily be 8 teams betwen 10-8 and 8-10 at the end of SEC play. Hopefully you're correct.

The story line for both coaches has been overblown, IMO. Howland isn’t this bad. Kermit isn’t the next Coach K. Let that redneck, I’m sure he’s good people, win a couple conference titles or go deep in the tournament before putting him in Ben’s league. Yes, as I’ve said, Ben’s better days are behind him, ok.

This loss, and the **** burger in Vegas....and the lack of heart in SC...to me....it’s on the players. What more...other than using more zone?......playing more Woodard? ...benching Q for being a beta? Those are descent questions ....but what more could Howland do? You can’t bench Lamar for his inner demons. You can’t bench Nick for completely losing focus every 5th minute of a half. You can’t bench our stretch 4 for being charmin strong. You have no other center with Ado’s attributes, thank goodness...but you can’t bench a 7fter....even tho he must have adopted John Rieks locker....God I hope not....

Wheres Carter been? It will be nice when he gets back. Any word when that’s going to be?

I read a few familiar names in a thread earlier. One being Sword and the other being Ware.
I read on here that those two would not start on this team.
I beg to differ. You see, what those two players had...was heart. I’m not sure anyone ever had as high a motor as Chicken. That son of a ***** was frustrating to watch but lack of hustle wasn’t his thing.
He was a hell of a defender, matchup problem and a dinamic finisher.

Ware, absolutely a 3 star player starting out..and that’s being nice. But he improved. Every year. And he hustled and he was a good teammate....and ya know what, by his senior year, he was one of the better BigMen in the SEC. So before you judge our future, know a lil about our past. We are a deep rooted, defensive basketball school. We block out. We rebound. We hold opponents to bad shooting nights. That is MSU Basketball. Hustle Heart Head Heath. Right now, we have the most important factor in making a good team. Everyone, from a physical standpoint has health

Its up to the players to find the other 3. You’ve heard and read the phrase often but it reads so true here to me:

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

 

[thatsbaseball]

Cliff notes ? **

 

[patdog]

It doesn't matter where South Carolina was 2 years ago, this year, they're going to finish near the bottom of the SEC. "Just" getting to 9-9 in the SEC won't be easy with the hole we've dug ourselves. The talent is definitely there, but they need to start playing as a team and not individuals pretty quickly.

 

[Seinfeld]

The good news for us is that basketball is a game of runs, and just as quickly as we hit a rough patch last week, we could go on a 4-5 winning streak. The concern for me is that the conference schedule is only going to get tougher, and we have shown a lot of weaknesses that I’m not sure you can just suddenly fix halfway through a season

There are glaring holes on defense that last the entirety of a game, we have zero post presence, and we show a complete lack of focus in crunch time. Howland clearly doesn’t like to draw anything up in the closing minutes of games, so you get what you get... hand the ball to Q or Peters, and tell everyone good luck. Shockingly, that strategy has now failed miserably in two consecutive games

I don’t know what the answer is at this point other than to simply let things play out, but it is really disappointing to have a roster full of upperclassmen that is likely only rivaled in the conference by UT, yet there are numerous glaring differences between the two teams. We’ve now been almost single handedly beaten by a sophomore and freshman in two consecutive games

 

[engie]

You also could have included Kermit's taste for a beatdown to his alma mater that never gave him a call. And you know he was motivating his guys with that message. You add that to an already smoking hot team and you get what we got Saturday. A bunch of players playing for a coach and another group of players playing for themselves. Hopefully in the next 16 league games our players playing for themselves are better than the other teams players playing for themselves. The way this is playing out there could easily be 8 teams betwen 10-8 and 8-10 at the end of SEC play. Hopefully you're correct.

We gave Kermit a call. He interviewed prior to hiring Ray.

He has OM playing well. They have several guys who have much higher basketball IQs than our guys ever show. I'm jealous of that. It's still the same streetball we played under Stans at the end. Without the defensive creativity and rebounding that made Stans special for a time.

Kermit's resume when we hired Ray(the actual mistake):

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Idaho Vandals (Big Sky Conference) <small style="font-size: 11.305px;">(1988–1990)</small>
1988–89	Idaho	25–6	13–3	1st	NCAA Round of 64
1989–90	Idaho	25–6	13–3	1st	NCAA Round of 64
Idaho (first):	50–12 (.806)	26–6 (.813)
Texas A&M Aggies (Southwest Conference) <small style="font-size: 11.305px;">(1990–1991)</small>
1990–91	Texas A&M	8–21	2–14	9th
Texas A&M:	8–21 (.276)	2–14 (.125)
Idaho Vandals (Big West Conference) <small style="font-size: 11.305px;">(1996–1997)</small>
1996–97	Idaho	13–17	5–11	5th
Idaho (second):	13–17 (.433)	5–11 (.313)
Idaho (total):	63–29 (.685)	31–17 (.646)
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Sun Belt Conference) <small style="font-size: 11.305px;">(2002–2013)</small>
2002–03	Middle Tennessee	16–14	9–5	2nd (East)
2003–04	Middle Tennessee	17–12	8–6	3rd (East)
2004–05	Middle Tennessee	19–12	7–7	3rd (East)
2005–06	Middle Tennessee	16–12	8–6	2nd (East)
2006–07	Middle Tennessee	15–17	8–10	5th (East)
2007–08	Middle Tennessee	17–15	11–7	3rd (East)
2008–09	Middle Tennessee	18–14	10–8	3rd (East)
2009–10	Middle Tennessee	19–14	13–5	2nd (East)	CIT First Round
2010–11	Middle Tennessee	16–16	10–6	2nd (East)
2011–12	Middle Tennessee	27–7	14–2	1st (East)	NIT Quarterfinals

<tbody>
</tbody>

A guy starting to win in year 10 at his current job looks like a sure thing hire to you? It doesn't look all that promising to me now -- and didn't at the time. Obviously we made a mistake in who was actually hired.

Here it is when we hired Howland:

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Idaho Vandals (Big Sky Conference) <small style="font-size: 11.305px;">(1988–1990)</small>
1988–89	Idaho	25–6	13–3	1st	NCAA Round of 64
1989–90	Idaho	25–6	13–3	1st	NCAA Round of 64
Idaho (first):	50–12 (.806)	26–6 (.813)
Texas A&M Aggies (Southwest Conference) <small style="font-size: 11.305px;">(1990–1991)</small>
1990–91	Texas A&M	8–21	2–14	9th
Texas A&M:	8–21 (.276)	2–14 (.125)
Idaho Vandals (Big West Conference) <small style="font-size: 11.305px;">(1996–1997)</small>
1996–97	Idaho	13–17	5–11	5th
Idaho (second):	13–17 (.433)	5–11 (.313)
Idaho (total):	63–29 (.685)	31–17 (.646)
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Sun Belt Conference) <small style="font-size: 11.305px;">(2002–2013)</small>
2002–03	Middle Tennessee	16–14	9–5	2nd (East)
2003–04	Middle Tennessee	17–12	8–6	3rd (East)
2004–05	Middle Tennessee	19–12	7–7	3rd (East)
2005–06	Middle Tennessee	16–12	8–6	2nd (East)
2006–07	Middle Tennessee	15–17	8–10	5th (East)
2007–08	Middle Tennessee	17–15	11–7	3rd (East)
2008–09	Middle Tennessee	18–14	10–8	3rd (East)
2009–10	Middle Tennessee	19–14	13–5	2nd (East)	CIT First Round
2010–11	Middle Tennessee	16–16	10–6	2nd (East)
2011–12	Middle Tennessee	27–7	14–2	1st (East)	NIT Quarterfinals
2012–13	Middle Tennessee	28–6	19–1	1st (East)	NCAA First Four
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (Conference USA) <small style="font-size: 11.305px;">(2013–2018)</small>
2013–14	Middle Tennessee	24–9	13–3	T–1st
2014–15	Middle Tennessee	19–17	9–9	6th	CIT First Round

<tbody>
</tbody>

A little better, but still far from what we got, on paper.

 

[MSUDawgFan86]

I think this team is mentally soft. Why are they sending out the freshmen to face the music to media while the juniors and seniors are in the locker room? I think they were pouting. How does a team that has been together for 2-3 years not trust each other? An experienced coach talking about making too many coaching mistakes the last 2 games? Damn fix it. If you want a player to get more minutes put him in the game. It’s not hard. There are more issues all of sudden than sunshine pumpers want to admit.

 

[Seinfeld]

Yeah, I really thought that Nick was going to be the floor general for us that would be able to glue the rest of the team together, but ever since Peters pretty much took over the PG spot late last year, Nick has really looked lost out there. There are times when I think he’s literally unsure as to what he’s supposed to be doing

 

[Len2003]

The NET rankings don't care that South Carolina went to the Final 4 two years ago or that Ole Miss had momentum and a new coach. It all starts with Lamar. When your PG plays undisciplined, it trickles down to the rest of the team. He's not a good fit for a PG. He doesn't set the right tone for the team. He has a scorer's mentality and wants it to be all about him at times. Sometimes, he'll just decide that instead of setting up the offense, he wants to show off his ball handling skills 1:1 and shoot an uncontested 3. That's not a team. It's a person who wants to show off his individual skills.

 

[muddawgs]

Are we sure South Carolina is going to finish at the bottom of the SEC?

It doesn't matter where South Carolina was 2 years ago, this year, they're going to finish near the bottom of the SEC. "Just" getting to 9-9 in the SEC won't be easy with the hole we've dug ourselves. The talent is definitely there, but they need to start playing as a team and not individuals pretty quickly.

I keep seeing this but they are 3-0 in the SEC and the only bad loss USC has is to Wyoming. Their opponents record are 85-32 that they have lost to with two top 10 losses and they have an SOS of 36. Maybe USC is better than most expected. They may very well finish at the bottom of the SEC but there is no indication of that at this time. The fact they went into florida and won is not too shabby.

 

[MSUDawgFan86]

The NET rankings don't care that South Carolina went to the Final 4 two years ago or that Ole Miss had momentum and a new coach. It all starts with Lamar. When your PG plays undisciplined, it trickles down to the rest of the team. He's not a good fit for a PG. He doesn't set the right tone for the team. He has a scorer's mentality and wants it to be all about him at times. Sometimes, he'll just decide that instead of setting up the offense, he wants to show off his ball handling skills 1:1 and shoot an uncontested 3. That's not a team. It's a person who wants to show off his individual skills.

Yep I agree. South Carolina going to the final 4 2 years is a damn joke of a reason to rationalize why we lost to a mediocre team. Nobody in the NBA is going to take Lamar’s “game” seriously when he only shoots 65% from the free throw line. He’s a damn guard. That’s unacceptable.

 

[Ranchdawg]

We can beat anyone in the SEC

We got beat on the road in overtime to a program that was in the final four two years ago and we got beat to a team on a hot streak riding the momentum of a new coach in a back n forth 40 minute game we led by double digits for awhile. Basically our losses now are tightly contested games not 45 point beatdowns to Vandy and Mizzou. Just get to 9-9 in the SEC and we'll go dancing I think. That's really all we absolutely must achieve this year for it to not be a total **** show. Get us in the dance Howland and maybe we'll get lucky and get past the first weekend. Cheer up dawg fans. If we shore up our defense a little we can beat anyone in the SEC not named Tennessee.

When our players share the ball and find the open man. On the flip side, we can lose to anyone when we play the final 5 minutes like we did against South Carolina and Ole Miss. And let's get Ado to catch the ball! Someone needs to spend about 1 hour ever day just throwing him a ball in traffic until he can catch it!

 

[PineGroveBully]

My mistake, didn't remember him interviewing, guess I've suppressed all memories from that error

 

[MSUDawgFan86]

I keep seeing this but they are 3-0 in the SEC and the only bad loss USC has is to Wyoming. Their opponents record are 85-32 that they have lost to with two top 10 losses and they have an SOS of 36. Maybe USC is better than most expected. They may very well finish at the bottom of the SEC but there is no indication of that at this time. The fact they went into florida and won is not too shabby.

Florida is a garbage team. Billy Donovan isn’t walking through that door for them.

 

[klong-dog]

They will give us everything we want and then some. Go look at their schedule. You can't go by their record and assume they'll be ****. Should have learned that from the south Carolina game.

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

in the Final Four 2 years ago......Talk about sugar coating things. They are NOT that team at all now. They lost to Wyoming, Wofford by 20!! and Stony Brook. They are not good at all.

 

[maroonmania]

in the Final Four 2 years ago......Talk about sugar coating things. They are NOT that team at all now. They lost to Wyoming, Wofford by 20!! and Stony Brook. They are not good at all.

If we lose tonight we can sugar coat by saying we lost to a team that only 10 years ago won back to back national titles.

 

[DAWG61]

Final four comment just means they are a well coached program. Frank Martin is a supreme ******* but he can coach up a team.

 

[MSUDawgFan86]

They will give us everything we want and then some. Go look at their schedule. You can't go by their record and assume they'll be ****. Should have learned that from the south Carolina game.

Wright St., without their best player on the floor, gave us all we wanted. The fact they Will give us hell doesn’t mean they aren’t a **** team.

 

[patdog]

And yet, he's 15 games under .500 in the SEC. Even the Final Four team was nowhere near one of the top 4 teams in the country. They just got hot at the right time.

 

[DAWG61]

And yet, he's 15 games under .500 in the SEC. Even the Final Four team was nowhere near one of the top 4 teams in the country. They just got hot at the right time.

So you don't think he's a good coach. Ok.

 

[patdog]

In 5 years at USC, he's made 1 NCAA tournament and is not projected to make it this year, so 1 NCAAT in 6 years. You tell me how great of a coaching job that is. Even at K-State, he only got past the 1st weekend once.

 

[DAWG61]

In 5 years at USC, he's made 1 NCAA tournament and is not projected to make it this year, so 1 NCAAT in 6 years. You tell me how great of a coaching job that is. Even at K-State, he only got past the 1st weekend once.

Idk but I'd think hard about taking 1 Final Four every 6 years for 5 years of ****** basketball the other years and if I was a Gamecock fan I'd take that in a heartbeat.