Miss St Article

[SimpleDawg]

Did she ever attend any classes at State? I thought she made the Italian trip and was working out well as a teammate. Must have really screwed up because Vic usually is tolerant of freshman players until they just can not cut it and they decide to leave.

She always struck me as the type that whined too much. "I can't do this/I'm not gonna make it." Vic won't tolerate that. He probably deemed her as too mentally untough for his liking.

Good news is, we're at the point that we can pick and choose who we want and don't want. Vic is basically the male Kim Mulkey now. He can ripe and pick recruits and not lose much from a full roster. I truly think that Arizona Juco transfer Yemiyah Morris we're recruiting is going to play a bigger role for us than any of the other big girls we got next year. She'll be ready to go by November, and I think she can create lots of plays for us.

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[Jmsdawg]

She always struck me as the type that whined too much. "I can't do this/I'm not gonna make it." Vic won't tolerate that. He probably deemed her as too mentally untough for his standards.

Good news is, we're at the point that we can pick and choose who we want and don't want. Vic is basically the male Kim Mulkey now. He can ripe and pick recruits and not lose much from a full roster. I truly think that Arizona Juco transfer Yemiyah Morris we're recruiting is going to play a bigger role for us than any of the other big girls we got next year. She'll be ready to go by November, and I think she can create lots of plays for us.

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I only saw Promise play two times, both against MSST. She played Big Tee heads up and did well. I think she will be the starter next year. Still surprised Vic did not spend more time with Daphne. I believe Big Tee was hard to work with as a a Freshman and look what he did with her so I suspect it was more than whining.

 

[GDawg]

For those saying Myah doesn't look like she'll cut it, I remind you to remember how AWFUL Jazz was her freshman season. Myah was light years ahead of where Jazz was her freshman year. And now Jazz will leave as one of my all-time favorites! The difference is, she wasn't thrown to the wolves since we had Morgan. Myah may have to learn by trial.

I did see that Taja Cole (Georgia) plans on grad-transferring. Not sure if she's Vic's type but she is fast and a dynamite PG.

 

[DanishBulldog]

Promise Taylor has the same wingspan as Montez Sweat. Let that soak in for a while. She will be a shot blocking machine.

 

[GDawg]

Promise Taylor has the same wingspan as Montez Sweat. Let that soak in for a while. She will be a shot blocking machine.

Can she get after the QB?

 

[Shades]

The loss of Holmes might be the hardest to replace.

McCowan is irreplaceable.

Their rotation might be:
C-Taylor
F-Bibby
G/F-Scott
G/F-AEH
G-Taylor

Bench:
Post-Carter
Wing-Jackson

Schaefer seems to adhere pretty strictly to a seniority system. McCowan didn’t start until very late in her sophomore year. So this Promise Taylor would have to be amazing to be a starter out of the gate in Schaefer’s system.

 

[GDawg]

Not exactly the case. McCowan was clearly better than Chinwe Okorie by the middle of T's sophomore year, but Vic wanted her to get the "6th Person (man?) of the year award" and kept bringing her in very early, but not starting. It's like my uncle used to say, "It's not who you take to the dance, but who you leave with". T got alot more minutes than Chinwe her Soph. year and then started her JR and SR year. Vic doesn't have a seniority system, he just does a great job of bringing young players along and not throwing them to the wolves early.

 

[DaBball]

Not exactly the case. McCowan was clearly better than Chinwe Okorie by the middle of T's sophomore year, but Vic wanted her to get the "6th Person (man?) of the year award" and kept bringing her in very early, but not starting. It's like my uncle used to say, "It's not who you take to the dance, but who you leave with". T got alot more minutes than Chinwe her Soph. year and then started her JR and SR year. Vic doesn't have a seniority system, he just does a great job of bringing young players along and not throwing them to the wolves early.

Incorrect. Teaira averaged 19.7 MPG and Chinwe averaged 18.8 MPG. Less than one MPG does not qualify as a lot. Didn’t Vic also change up his starters at the end of the year that season?

I thought Bri Porter getting that award this season was messed up. She started 15/22 games this season. How in the world does that qualify as 6th man!?

 

[SECbbfan24]

Schaefer seems to adhere pretty strictly to a seniority system. McCowan didn’t start until very late in her sophomore year. So this Promise Taylor would have to be amazing to be a starter out of the gate in Schaefer’s system.

While I agree with the seniority comment, who is gonna out play Taylor on the current roster bearing some type of big impact grad transfer? Next years team is a bit different than Vic's roster over the past few years. The post play will be young next year unless they add a transfer.

Carter was only a true freshman this season. At least Promise has a full year experience starting in the SEC. She was a good little rebounder and one of the best shot blockers in the SEC on a team with no talent. So I do think she has much more ground work than Carter as of right now. I don't think this is Vic's ideal situation but Promise will be playing very early and often, with carter. Yes she will start early and often unless they add some big grad transfer in the post. Now how they perform during that OOC slate will pave the way for that starting lineup going into SEC play. I expect Carter and Promise to start a bunch during the early part of the year.

 

[Shades]

It looks like Mississippi St has their first ever McDonald’s All American coming in as a freshman in Rickea Jackson. She’s somebody that will likely start.

 

[DanishBulldog]

It looks like Mississippi St has their first ever McDonald’s All American coming in as a freshman in Rickea Jackson. She’s somebody that will likely start.

I have her on my list of starters for next year, but with Vic, you never know. If she doesn't mind mixing it up a bit, I can see her as the starter at the 4 in a Victoria Viviens type of role. I think AEH and Bibby will have the 2 and 3 locked up.

 

[Britt87]

It looks like Mississippi St has their first ever McDonald’s All American coming in as a freshman in Rickea Jackson. She’s somebody that will likely start.

It's crazy what Vic has been able to accomplish with zero top recruits. Give him a top recruiting class and he's taking over.

 

[SECbbfan24]

It looks like Mississippi St has their first ever McDonald’s All American coming in as a freshman in Rickea Jackson. She’s somebody that will likely start.

I have her as one of my starters but not at the 5, likely at the 4. AEH and Bobby should start although AEH will need to amp up her defense next year a bit. Point guard is the slippery slope. Taylor brings elite defense to the table but her ball handling was questionable this year at times and she had no touch on her shots. Maybe Vic can make a offseason miracle with his PG like he has done every year. Vic has been harping on this incoming freshman class for quite a while now so maybe he has some big plans for some of them. I do think Martinez is the diamond in the rough. Not sure how she was only a 3 star, she was dominant every time I have seen he play and she had offers from Louisville, Florida St, UCLA, South Carolina, NC State among other schools.

 

[DaBball]

I do think Martinez is the diamond in the rough. Not sure how she was only a 3 star, she was dominant every time I have seen he play and she had offers from Louisville, Florida St, UCLA, South Carolina, NC State among other schools.

I too was very impressed when watching Martinez. She even stood out on a loaded team that featured Balogun Massengill, Cardoso, and Hunt, despite being the only unranked player (likely due to being new to the US). I think she will be a stud for Vic. Reminds me a little bit of Anriel Howard in the way I've seen her snatch some strong rebounds out of nowhere, but I think she will be even better. Not sure where she will find herself in the final set of rankings since she tore her ACL, but top-100 or not she can play.

I also watched Aliyah Matharu play Azzi Fudd a few times, and and she was super impressive. They both looked like 4/5* when I watched them.

 

[militarydog]

This is my prediction of the minutes distribution of our team next year. I can only see Bibby and Moore scoring 15.7-16.2 points per game.


Bibby - 28 mpg
Moore - 25 mpg
Dra - 23 mpg
Bre - 22 mpg
Wiggins - 16 mpg
Jackson - 16 mpg
Promise - 16 mpg
Myah - 15 mpg
Carter - 15 mpg
Morris - 14 mpg


Hemingway, Matharu, Young, and Martinez will probably get the scrub minutes (7-9 min and games where they won't play) unfortunately in their first years. Even though I would hope at least 2 of them redshirts. It's partially their choice too. Myah is smart and took the redshirt, but there are some girls I never doubt their intelligence. I never doubted Myah's.


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My concern regarding that mix of players is the lack of ball handling and ability to defend smaller and quicker players. Obviously Moore and M Taylor are your points. However the mix of minutes you list would have Espinoza-Hunter, Scott and Wiggins playing two guard minutes. Scott may be fine but I’m not sold yet on the other two. I think they are more suited for wing.

 

[DaBball]

My concern regarding that mix of players is the lack of ball handling and ability to defend smaller and quicker players. Obviously Moore and M Taylor are your points. However the mix of minutes you list would have Espinoza-Hunter, Scott and Wiggins playing two guard minutes. Scott may be fine but I’m not sold yet on the other two. I think they are more suited for wing.

In the game I watched (@South Carolina) Scott was an absolute liability on both ends of the floor, but South Carolina had trouble containing Espinoza-Hunter. As soon as Scott went in for Espinoza-Hunter due to foul trouble SC began to comeback.

 

[Jmsdawg]

My concern regarding that mix of players is the lack of ball handling and ability to defend smaller and quicker players. Obviously Moore and M Taylor are your points. However the mix of minutes you list would have Espinoza-Hunter, Scott and Wiggins playing two guard minutes. Scott may be fine but I’m not sold yet on the other two. I think they are more suited for wing.

Who is Moore?

 

[DaBball]

Who is Moore?

Minyon Moore is a grad-transfer from USC highly considering Mississippi State, along with Oregon and Baylor. Will decide by the end of May.

 

[Jmsdawg]

Minyon Moore is a grad-transfer from USC highly considering Mississippi State, along with Oregon and Baylor. Will decide by the end of May.

That is what I thought but the post had me wondering if she has decided on MSST. Hope she does because PG is a position I believe we need to shore up. I did not see MM play at USC but some of the post I have read indicates she would be a great get. I believe Myra Taylor will progress a great deal this next year but Vic’s pressure defense really needs two really good PG.

 

[militarydog]

That is what I thought but the post had me wondering if she has decided on MSST. Hope she does because PG is a position I believe we need to shore up. I did not see MM play at USC but some of the post I have read indicates she would be a great get. I believe Myra Taylor will progress a great deal this next year but Vic’s pressure defense really needs two really good PG.

The original post to which I responded had her listed so I left her in the equation. However the more I look at it the more I think she is a big key for the coming season. With her combination of talent and experience she could really help our younger players develop and keep our team focused. We are going to have so many players trying to fight for positions and roles Coach Schaefer has to have someone keeping them going in the same direction. It would also be helpful to give M Taylor another year without the pressure of running a young team.

 

[SimpleDawg]

Now with Minyon Moore to Oregon, the good thing about that is my long awaited anticipation of seeing Myah Taylor play full-time minutes.

She's a much better player than Jazzmun Holmes (or will be), and I'm tired of seeing her on the bench. This also makes me wonder how we'll use Aliyah Matharu and J'mya Young next year as back-ups. Don't think it's necessarily good to give highly rated recruits only 3 minutes per game - but I'm guessing that both will play next year now.

 

[bballnut90]

Now with Minyon Moore to Oregon, the good thing about that is my long awaited anticipation of seeing Myah Taylor play full-time minutes.

She's a much better player than Jazzmun Holmes (or will be), and I'm tired of seeing her on the bench. This also makes me wonder how we'll use Aliyah Matharu and J'mya Young next year as back-ups. Don't think it's necessarily good to give highly rated recruits only 3 minutes per game - but I'm guessing that both will play next year now.

Strongly disagree. Holmes was the top PG in the SEC last year and I believe had the best A/TO ratio on the country. Not sure how you figure Taylor is going to be a better PG than Jazz when she struggled with decision making and turnovers during limited minutes. Jazz wasn't flashy but she played within herself, always made the right decision, and was a stellar on ball defender.

 

[militarydog]

Strongly disagree. Holmes was the top PG in the SEC last year and I believe had the best A/TO ratio on the country. Not sure how you figure Taylor is going to be a better PG than Jazz when she struggled with decision making and turnovers during limited minutes. Jazz wasn't flashy but she played within herself, always made the right decision, and was a stellar on ball defender.

I agree. Even when M William was the starting point J Holmes would come in and calm things down when needed. She focused on defense and not turning the ball over. In high school she wasn’t a shooting guard playing point but knew she had to do something at MSU to carve out a role. M Taylor was a scorer and her high school team was best when the offense ran through her. She is still learning how to be a point and what Coach Schaefer wants from her. At the beginning of the season she was very likely to jack up an ill advised three. However as the season progressed she did better at initiating the offense and playing within the system. Hopefully she understands the position isn’t hers and how much Coach Schaefer thinks of A Matharu and J Mingo-Young.

 

[SimpleDawg]

Strongly disagree. Holmes was the top PG in the SEC last year and I believe had the best A/TO ratio on the country. Not sure how you figure Taylor is going to be a better PG than Jazz when she struggled with decision making and turnovers during limited minutes. Jazz wasn't flashy but she played within herself, always made the right decision, and was a stellar on ball defender.

Ok well, to each his own. I can't trade my goggles for yours. The reality of the matter is that Myah Taylor is our future and we'll need to figure our future with Myah Taylor as our starting point guard sooner or later, so better to think about how we're gonna do that than to cast doubt. Even if Minyon Moore would've transferred to State, that point still stands for the year after.

I agree with you about Jazz's assist to turnover ratio. I also agree with some of what you say, but let's factor off-ball defense into it too. I don't think she's a great off-ball defender even though you mention on-ball defense. While you admit Jazzmun Holmes is not spectacular, I agree.... and while I'm not saying Taylor is spectacular yet, she does have more upside and at least if played against Oregon - wouldn't be allowed so much space to shoot like they made Holmes do. For one. I also think she's a more natural point guard and if you saw the games like Texas A&M and South Carolina I would think you may agree though she struggled early on against Jackson State and the likes of those whom are irrelevant items to base anything on. Ultimately Holmes not being spectacular I think makes her more replaceable and I can't possibly think we'll be a worse team next year without Holmes.

I would also like to say that the biggest problem last year - in the Oregon game - was the fact that there was no defense at the 4. Compared to the year before and such, the 4 spot was routinely exploited by Oregon. Not a diss on Anriel or anything....(not pointing to anyone specifically on that) she's simply not a 4, she's a slasher forward. Point I'm trying to make is that the bigger issue at hand is the 4 and 5 spot - spots that are responsible for a lot of defense which we lacked last year giving up routinely 80 points. And even worse are allowing bad SEC teams to score 70+ on us.

We'll be fine at the point guard spot, I don't think that's a spot to be concerned about at all - because of how loaded we are at the wings, I think those players will take care of lots of responsibilities of the point guard.... and Taylor doesn't need to do a whole lot. She simply needs to be great at facilitating and playing within the system, and not allow teams to give her so much space to shoot (meaning she needs somewhat of a 3-point shot). The bigger concern, imho, is the 4 and 5 spot. If you count out Bibby who wavers between a 3 and a 4 - we don't have anyone proven yet at the 4 and 5.


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[bballnut90]

Ok well, to each his own. I can't trade my goggles for yours. The reality of the matter is that Myah Taylor is our future and we'll need to figure our future with Myah Taylor as our starting point guard sooner or later, so better to think about how we're gonna do that than to cast doubt. Even if Minyon Moore would've transferred to State, that point still stands for the year after.

I agree with you about Jazz's assist to turnover ratio. I also agree with some of what you say, but let's factor off-ball defense into it too. I don't think she's a great off-ball defender even though you mention on-ball defense. While you admit Jazzmun Holmes is not spectacular, I agree.... and while I'm not saying Taylor is spectacular yet, she does have more upside and at least if played against Oregon - wouldn't be allowed so much space to shoot like they made Holmes do. For one. I also think she's a more natural point guard and if you saw the games like Texas A&M and South Carolina I would think you may agree though she struggled early on against Jackson State and the likes of those whom are irrelevant items to base anything on. Ultimately Holmes not being spectacular I think makes her more replaceable and I can't possibly think we'll be a worse team next year without Holmes.

I would also like to say that the biggest problem last year - in the Oregon game - was the fact that there was no defense at the 4. Compared to the year before and such, the 4 spot was routinely exploited by Oregon. Not a diss on Anriel or anything....(not pointing to anyone specifically on that) she's simply not a 4, she's a slasher forward. Point I'm trying to make is that the bigger issue at hand is the 4 and 5 spot - spots that are responsible for a lot of defense which we lacked last year giving up routinely 80 points. And even worse are allowing bad SEC teams to score 70+ on us.

We'll be fine at the point guard spot, I don't think that's a spot to be concerned about at all - because of how loaded we are at the wings, I think those players will take care of lots of responsibilities of the point guard.... and Taylor doesn't need to do a whole lot. She simply needs to be great at facilitating and playing within the system, and not allow teams to give her so much space to shoot (meaning she needs somewhat of a 3-point shot). The bigger concern, imho, is the 4 and 5 spot. If you count out Bibby who wavers between a 3 and a 4 - we don't have anyone proven yet at the 4 and 5.


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I understand having an optimistic outlook for your future PG but she doesnt have to be an upgrade from Holmes for Mississippi State to be excellent. Holmes wasnt spectacular but you dont want a spectacular player at PG, you want someone who will make good decisions, control pace of play, run the offense and put your team in a good position to score. Holmes did that perfectly for Vic. She was basically Morgan William 2.0 in that regard, hence why there was no drop off in PG play last year. And Holmes lacked an outside shot but she was the reason Mississippi State hung around as long as they did against Oregon. She hit her midrange jumpers and put teammates in a position to score. Do you really think Taylor would've led MSU to 84 points that game? Or put up 15 points, 13 assists and no turnovers? And I'm not sure how you figure a slew of wings are going to handle a lot of PG duties. What duties are you referring to?

The defense wasnt as good last year as a whole but they didnt routinely give up 80 points. It happened 3 times in 36 games. Mississippi State will still have a strong roster next year, but on paper the PG spot is the biggest weakness I see since Taylor hasnt resembled the low error/highly efficient PG prototype that Vic has relied upon with William and Holmes the last 4 years, and I dont see anyone on the roster prepped to step into that role. I'd love to see Taylor prove me wrong but right now I just dont see it.