Looking ahead to South Carolina

[jumpstart]

The Miss St/South Carolina game would be totally different on a different night. People seem to think these girls all play the same, game in and game out. I would bet that South Carolina would win 8 out of 10....The UCONN game will not be a repeat of this game anymore than the Baylor games. If someone gets hot...or if the team has a let down or foul trouble...just wait until the game. It should be a good one. I think South Carolina is still going through the growing pains of so many freshmen...so anything can happen. These teams will all be different come NCAA tournament time.

 

[VivaLsVgs]

So sick of the word “generational” .....I’m not discounting her talent but before crowning her the “GOAT’ lets see how her career plays out. She’s played barely 1/2 a season, any coronations are premature at this point IMO. Let’s focus on the Tennessee game.

 

[Steelerone]

We can't get them all but the future looks bright. With the height we have coming in for the next few years rebounding, which has been our primary problem for the past few years since Stewie left.

 

[oldude]

The Mississippi State bigs will get better under Vic. McCowan was underwhelming until her junior year when she turned into an absolute beast. Taylor will probably be much more effective next year if she can stay healthy, she's extremely long and a good shot blocker. Carter is much improved from a year ago too.

Carter certainly has room to get better, but I wouldn’t necessarily bet on Morris or Taylor getting a whole lot better. Morris is already a junior who’s been around. She’s just an extra big body as far as I can tell. Taylor is also in her 3rd season of college basketball as a RS-soph. I had heard a lot about her so I was somewhat surprised at her lack of athleticism. Finally, whatever Bigs MS St has next year, they will likely have to yield PT to Sidney Cooks who is currently redshirted.

 

[bballnut90]

Carter certainly has room to get better, but I wouldn’t necessarily bet on Morris or Taylor getting a whole lot better. Morris is already a junior who’s been around. She’s just an extra big body as far as I can tell. Taylor is also in her 3rd season of college basketball as a RS-soph. I had heard a lot about her so I was somewhat surprised at her lack of athleticism. Finally, whatever Bigs MS St has next year, they will likely have to yield PT to Sidney Cooks who is currently redshirted.

Taylor has only played one season and is coming off an ankle injury and still doesn't look 100% physically or conditioning wise. If she gets back to freshman form she'll be a difference maker. 7-0 wing span and was 3rd in the SEC in blocks as a freshman, plus shot 60% from the floor.

Morris I'm not too high on improving a lot. Guessing she loses minutes with Taylor's improvement and Cooks entering the lineup.

 

[ReadR00ster]

Mississippi State is much improved from what I have see of them. They were not missing close or semi-close to the basket and making incredibly tough shots seem routine. Maybe a zone defense would have given them more of a difficult time. Who knows. I don't think it was a typical game from MSU either. They gave their absolute best shot and SC took it.

 

[Zinethar]

I found myself actually rooting for SC in that game. UConn can control its own destiny by actually playing them where MS seems to not play against a great schedule outside of conference. They took a loss so will move back. SC could easily still be #1 when UConn comes to town... will make for a good RPI win for the good guys .

 

[DaBball]

Carter certainly has room to get better, but I wouldn’t necessarily bet on Morris or Taylor getting a whole lot better. Morris is already a junior who’s been around. She’s just an extra big body as far as I can tell. Taylor is also in her 3rd season of college basketball as a RS-soph. I had heard a lot about her so I was somewhat surprised at her lack of athleticism. Finally, whatever Bigs MS St has next year, they will likely have to yield PT to Sidney Cooks who is currently redshirted.

Morris was a JUCO player, and most JUCO players aren’t great (with exceptions like Natasha Mack who used a JUCO to get back on track after getting stabbed at Houston).

Promise Taylor is as slow as I’ve seen. She also hasn’t played basketball in a very long time. She was out all of last season and all summer after reconstructed ankle. I think she was slow before but not that slow. She would have to get into some seriously good shape to contribute. She is shooting 81% on her 21 attempts on the year, but she is so limited.

Cooks should help next year. She also shoots threes good.

My concern for UConn is certainly ONO getting into foul trouble. Egbo did, Carter did, and hopefully ONO will not. I think its a game Griffin could thrive in if she’s ready. Harris/CD will be a fun matchup.

 

[Steelerone]

Of all the schools in the top five or ten the one that surprises me most is Mississippi State. The climate beyond humid, it has always been the poor sister to the University of Mississippi and it actually sets in the middle of a swamp. Somebody in that program is a genius.

 

[MSUFan2003]

Of all the schools in the top five or ten the one that surprises me most is Mississippi State. The climate beyond humid, it has always been the poor sister to the University of Mississippi and it actually sets in the middle of a swamp. Somebody in that program is a genius.

Getting SEC TV money has helped a lot. Our rise also coincides with the decline of some other SEC programs. So there was an opening that Vic took advantage of. We owe a lot to Victoria Vivians for deciding to come to State. It was just pure luck that a player of her caliber lived an hour down the road. She gave us some credibility and a foundation.

But anyway, I truly have no idea who will win the UConn-South Carolina matchup. We were able to take advantage when Boston was out, so I would think that would be part of the strategy. Our dribble drive worked well because they played man to man. LSU played zone against us, and we had problems. Y'all usually have really good ball movement, so I think it will come down to making shots. South Carolina is a good rebounding team, but we were able to hold our own there. Even with our bigs performing atrociously, we almost won.

 

[Steelerone]

For the remainder of the season we, like any other team, will be at a disadvantage when playing teams with really athletic "bigs". The same condition existed when teams had to play us when we had those types of players and will again for the next few years.