Well...

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

at least they played the first half well.

 

[treeddeep]

MN just doesn't have the confidence to slash to the basket or take over a game. I wish he had swords tenacity.

 

[rugbdawg]

Haha. Arkansas is a dumpster fire. This is Anderson's last year.

I think it is very clear...Malik is coming back next year. I'm actually starting to question whether he has a NBA future at all. No explosion. No quickness. No hops. Above average shooter. I hope he is hurt because if he is just trying to get acclimated to the game...the physical athleticism isn't there. AT ALL.

 

[treeddeep]

No question Malik would benefit playing one more year but there is 0% chance of that happening. He could not play another game all year and he's still gone. I just hope he finds his groove here soon.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

The free throw shooting is terrible. The form and the results. After the 1-4 today he's down to 65%. I know that's not something the NBA cares about, but come on.....65%? And he's missed some key ones too.

 

[rugbdawg]

Unless something clicks, he will be back.

Teams really aren't that concerned about guarding him either.

 

[The Maroon Pug]

They just fell apart those last few minutes. Either Arkansas was shooting lights out or that was terrible defense, probably a mixture of both. This team has to learn how to finish a game.

 

[hailstate19]

This group of seniors don't know how to win at all. This team frustrates the hell out of me. That game made my blood boil.

 

[KurtRambis4]

Not according

to Horatio and his old AAU coach.

 

[hailstate19]

The team probably wonders why people don't want to watch them play. Its becasue nobody wants to watch a frustrating game like that.

 

[patdog]

Depending on how far he falls in the draft, Horatio and his old AAU coach may change their mind. He's gone from a lottery pick to borderline 1st round in half a season of college ball. Question is, does he have a Dontea Jones second half of the season (minus the Final Four) and move back up, stay about where he is, or fall further. I don't think anyone knows the answer to that yet.

 

[KurtRambis4]

They have

said that it really doesn't matter if he's a lottery pick or not.

 

[Dawg1976]

I haven't seen anything in him that resembles an NBA player to this point. Perhaps pro teams have seen enough to believe they can mold him into one.

 

[Mafiadawg]

Where is he going to go next year? Yall do realize that there are only 2 rounds right? And if you don't go in the first round, chances are slim of even making the roster. I could declare for the draft too but unless someone selects me, then it doesn't mean ****. It's clear he isn't an Nba player at this time. At this point he's a mediocre SEC player.

 

[57stratdawg]

Are we sure Weatherspoon isn't better than Newman?

 

[KurtRambis4]

Why do

State fans seem to think it's good for us to have him come back? I'd argue that it is MUCH greater for our program for him to be in the nba.

 

[anon1787432961]

MN has NBA jump shot. Needs work on everything else.

Q is personally my favorite player, love his game so far.

 

[patdog]

No doubt that he goes if his projection stays where it is. But if he keeps falling, they may have a change of heart. And no, I don't think it's a good thing if he comes back. It's a good thing if he moves back into that lottery projection and we start winning a lot of games the next 2 months.

 

[KurtRambis4]

Things

can certainly change, but as of now, he's going, regardless of where he's drafted. His goal is to play in the nba as quickly as possible.

 

[msstate7]

can certainly change, but as of now, he's going, regardless of where he's drafted. His goal is to play in the nba as quickly as possible.

As a 1 or 2? He isn't big enough to play the 2 is he and his ball handling isn't good enough for a 1 right now. Seems to be a tweener right now. He needs to really work on his ball handling and become a 1 to get drafter in a decent slot imo

 

[KurtRambis4]

I think, for

our program, he needs to go to the nba next year. I don't want him back.

 

[msstate7]

I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think Malik coming back hurts us at all. I'm not sure how many upper 5*'s we'll be pulling in anyway. So far, we seem to be able to land players in the 30-100 rank moreso than the upper 30. If Malik comes back we'll have a nice shot at getting postseason next season, which will help our program as much as Malik getting drafted this year imo. Either way though, we'll be fine with the class we have coming in along with nick weatherspoon, garrison brooks, and I'm sure another good player or 2 next season

 

[KurtRambis4]

You

don't think a coach taking a consensus 1st round pick w all the accolades that MN has, and "turning" him into a player not drafted would be used against us with every other recruit from here on out under Howland, right or wrong?

ETA: ALL these high profile kids care about is getting to the NBA.

 

[msstate7]

If Howland had a history of doing that or no history of nba players, I'm sure it would. Howland has a laundry list of very good nba players though, so that argument doesn't hold water imo

 

[KurtRambis4]

But thats

at UCLA. People will say "look, he can't do it at State. Look at what happened to MN." Do you not think so,

 

[msstate7]

I'm sure they would. Would it work? Who knows? I just don't think we'll be in on too many 1-and-done's anyway. I think we'll make our living on that next level (4* and high 4*)

 

[KurtRambis4]

We certainly

won't if this one fails. Like I said, it's in our programs best interest for it to not fail.

 

[engie]

at UCLA. People will say "look, he can't do it at State. Look at what happened to MN." Do you not think so,

Did they do it to Cal when the Harrison twins came back? Newman's situation is about as similar as possible

 

[KurtRambis4]

Cal

has established at UK that they are the the exception, not the rule, it seems. Howland hasn't established that at MSU.

Bottom line, it's good for MSU basketball to start getting guys in the NBA, is it not?

 

[msstate7]

I think Malik will get to the nba. Would it be better for us if he barely goes in the first round this year or he goes higher next season after working on ball handling another year?

 

[KurtRambis4]

If there's a chance

he can go this year, he's going, regardless of the round.

 

[Utah_Chaney]

he can go this year, he's going, regardless of the round.

I hope he doesn't go, but I'm going to have to agree, if he hears positive things about him getting drafted, he's going.

 

[KeyserSoze1999]

"His goal is to play in the NBA as quickly as possible. "

Well if he leaves this year without improving his skills, then he will play quickly---and then be quickly shipped off to a developmental league somewhere, if not quickly just sent to play somewhere in Eastern Europe.

 

[Mafiadawg]

Well to get drafted he will probably need to be better than the 3rd best player on arguably the worst team in a weak conference.

 

[olblue.sixpack]

No question Malik would benefit playing one more year but there is 0% chance of that happening. He could not play another game all year and he's still gone. I just hope he finds his groove here soon.

The 2017 draft is much deeper than 2016.

 

[olblue.sixpack]

Did they do it to Cal when the Harrison twins came back? Newman's situation is about as similar as possible

The Harrisons are prime examples of a couple of guys who should have gone after year one. The more NBA scouts saw of them, the more they didn't like.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

The more NBA scouts saw of them, the more they didn't like.

Interestingly, I felt the same way.

 

[engie]

has established at UK that they are the the exception, not the rule, it seems. Howland hasn't established that at MSU.

Bottom line, it's good for MSU basketball to start getting guys in the NBA, is it not?

Sure. But that's not the question. The question is what is best for Malik and what is best for MSU. Howland has established his ability to do this before. Talent development isn't any different in Starkville than in LA. One guy doesn't make or break a decade-long reputation built as long as Howland has a half dozen guys tearing up the league and is among the elite 10 coaches in the country with number of players there.

If Malik needs two years here to adjust to the only position he's got a pretty good chance to make it in the NBA, I don't see the problem with giving it to him. He doesn't have the size to be a 2 in the NBA. He doesn't have the handles nor distributing/creating part of being an NBA point figured out yet. Not enough to do it at a very high level in the SEC even. Everyone keeps waiting on the switch to flip and it has not happened yet. It might at any time -- and as soon as it does -- Malik should go. Until it does, he needs to plan on being back, and working as hard as he possibly can to really learn the 1.

 

[engie]

The Harrisons are prime examples of a couple of guys who should have gone after year one. The more NBA scouts saw of them, the more they didn't like.

From that approach -- this is a fair observation. I was mainly speaking to them being seen a bit as tweeners. But in fairness, both are still 3" taller than Malik. Neither of the twins improved to a notable extent while in college either. They were prettymuch finished products the day they arrived.

If Malik is as good as he can be as a point guard right now -- he should go and take whatever he can get. But I don't think any of us actually believe that part to be true -- and the NBA isn't the place to go learn how to be a point guard. His other skills aren't elite enough to stick around the league long enough to learn it IMO. He might be as good of a shooter and slasher as he can be right now -- but he's not near a ceiling as a ball handler or facilitator in my opinion. At this point, I don't see the risk of going this season matching the reward.

 

[KurtRambis4]

His

goal is to get to the NBA. As of now, he and his dad plan on him leaving after this year.