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SEC 21-22

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militarydog said:
Yeah I agree. To her credit Coach McCray-Penson brought in some hard nosed and talented players. It was also my understanding she brought in Coach Novak because of his ability to game plan and make in game adjustments. I’m not sure if we would have had the same results if she was still here but you are correct. Everything looks more organized and just a much better overall product.
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I think y'all need to cut coach McCray some slack. She only coached one season and it was at the height of the pandemic and who knows what health issues she was dealing with. She inherited a talented squad that initially came toj Mississippi State to play for Schaefer. I think you have to look at team chemistry and see who she retained plus what was added during the off-season into consideration. These players who stayed bought into her vision and I don't doubt that success they've had this season would be similar if she was still running it. Coach Novak was a great addition by McCray and has impressed so far, too bad she was unable to really get her fair shot at showing people what she can do at a SEC program.
 
Also, wasn't there some last minute coaching changes for Miss State this season? In hindsight this may have worked out better for the program in the end. I really hope so too as I'm a fan of Rickea Jackson and just want to see her have a great season.
 
GCKSFN4L said:
I think y'all need to cut coach McCray some slack. She only coached one season and it was at the height of the pandemic and who knows what health issues she was dealing with. She inherited a talented squad that initially came toj Mississippi State to play for Schaefer. I think you have to look at team chemistry and see who she retained plus what was added during the off-season into consideration. These players who stayed bought into her vision and I don't doubt that success they've had this season would be similar if she was still running it. Coach Novak was a great addition by McCray and has impressed so far, too bad she was unable to really get her fair shot at showing people what she can do at a SEC program.
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Unfortunately that's just the way it goes. People were unhappy because lots of us think women's basketball is dead in Starkville. I don't know if it's fair or not, but the team I saw vs Michigan is probably gonna go 8-8 in the SEC and if McCray stays only to go 8-8 that's just moving further and further away from any chance of a comeback. Best for both the school and her to go our own ways.
 
SimpleDawg said:
Unfortunately that's just the way it goes. People were unhappy because lots of us think women's basketball is dead in Starkville. I don't know if it's fair or not, but the team I saw vs Michigan is probably gonna go 8-8 in the SEC and if McCray stays only to go 8-8 that's just moving further and further away from any chance of a comeback. Best for both the school and her to go our own ways.
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Coach McCray was the worst coach for the Vic recruits we could hire. Vic was:
DEFENSE - Constant pressure, physical, box out, rebound, and overall toughness.

OFFENSE - Drive to hoop, get ball inside to the bigs, weave into the lane, and overall toughness.

Vic was constantly involved in the game, verbally involved from the sidelines, pumping the crowd, motivating the girls.

Coach McCray was a finesse coach. She stressed the outside shot having the players shot threes rather than drive the ball to the hoop, totally uninvolved during the game turned both the fans and players off, not the coach needed with these players. I agree with Simple, she was the worst thing that happened to MSST WBB! Just hope we can recover. A large part of that recovery has to come from the fans, this team is talented and giving us all they have, WE NEED TO SUPPORT THIS TEAM.
 
IMO, it was not at all fair to McCray, but the gal who comes after the guy is always going to get it worse.

Even when the thing had slipped beforehand.
 
Jmsdawg said:
I agree with Simple, she was the worst thing that happened to MSST WBB! Just hope we can recover. A large part of that recovery has to come from the fans, this team is talented and giving us all they have, WE NEED TO SUPPORT THIS TEAM.
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The fans have abandoned. Those early crowds for the non-conference games are not promising. I know lots of Bulldog families and the kids really liked Rickea Jackson and to a lesser extent Myah Taylor. They might come out to see the last of the Vic recruits, but once they graduate I think the gym will go back to being empty again. They might migrate to volleyball which reached capacity crowd for our most recent game.
 
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SimpleDawg said:
The fans have abandoned. Those early crowds for the non-conference games are not promising. I know lots of Bulldog families and the kids really liked Rickea Jackson and to a lesser extent Myah Taylor. They might come out to see the last of the Vic recruits, but once they graduate I think the gym will go back to being empty again. They might migrate to volleyball which reached capacity crowd for our most recent game.
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That's horrible. I love it when the women teams fill their arenas.
 
jumpstart said:
That's horrible. I love it when the women teams fill their arenas.
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I also love a full house for WBB. It was not too long ago that MSST fans filled the Hump and seats were hard to come by. I sure hope Simply is wrong and our fan base returns but talk on the MSST message boards indicates Simply may be correct.
 
SimpleDawg said:
The fans have abandoned. Those early crowds for the non-conference games are not promising. I know lots of Bulldog families and the kids really liked Rickea Jackson and to a lesser extent Myah Taylor. They might come out to see the last of the Vic recruits, but once they graduate I think the gym will go back to being empty again. They might migrate to volleyball which reached capacity crowd for our most recent game.
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I hope they dont completely abandon them. It took a lot of work by Vic to get Miss St to where they were. But when you lose it, it takes a while to get it back sometimes. LSU used to pack the PMAC back when Fowles/Augustus were here. Things slide off a bit under Van and then Nikki took over. Nikki's product was horrifically bad at the end and it shriveled up the crowds and booster club. Ever since Kim was hired everything has taken off for us, much larger crowds and support immediately. Its definitely not easy to maintain though.
 
Jmsdawg said:
I also love a full house for WBB. It was not too long ago that MSST fans filled the Hump and seats were hard to come by. I sure hope Simply is wrong and our fan base returns but talk on the MSST message boards indicates Simply may be correct.
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I understand the frustration. However I’ve been to three home games this season and it is not quite as bleak.

The most recent peak for attendance was the two national runners up. The following year with T McCowan and A Howard still had mostly full houses. Coach Schaefer’s last season still had very good attendance but the listed attendance averaged about 2,500 less than the previous three seasons. It was a young team and there were some growing pains with some of the new players. Coach Schaefer’s press conferences reflected it. Coach McCray-Penson’s first season was the COVID year. The first two games there were some concern raised about the lack of defensive intensity. The third game was the loss to South Florida and there were some pretty bad emotional blowups to include the technical before half by J Mingo-Young. Things then went completely downhill after the Kentucky loss.

In my opinion there are two sets of fans. The ones that post on message boards are often students and younger fans. The fans that attend are mostly older fans (retirees) and families with kids. Obviously there are also some students. The biggest frustration the attendees express is a lack of effort on defense. There were some complaints about it Coach Schaefer’s last season but it was loud, very loud last season. By the end of the season several older friends said they didn’t care to watch.

The biggest difference most of the older fans I know have expressed this season is they like that Coach Novak preaches defense. He stands up and is fired up on the sidelines. R Jackson and M Taylor are still popular. However most of the compliments I hear are about J Jordan and D Carter.

Obviously we won’t know what would have happened if Coach McCray-Penson had stayed. However these were her players and Coach Novak would have been the associate head coach. I was very skeptical before the season but she does need to get some credit for how well things are going so far.

Before he left Coach Schaefer recognized he needed size and a steadiness and more defense at guard. All those recruits followed him to Texas. Hindsight is 20/20 but it is looking more and more that the situation wasn’t as shiny as last season’s preseason hype suggested.
 
militarydog said:
I understand the frustration. However I’ve been to three home games this season and it is not quite as bleak.

The most recent peak for attendance was the two national runners up. The following year with T McCowan and A Howard still had mostly full houses. Coach Schaefer’s last season still had very good attendance but the listed attendance averaged about 2,500 less than the previous three seasons. It was a young team and there were some growing pains with some of the new players. Coach Schaefer’s press conferences reflected it. Coach McCray-Penson’s first season was the COVID year. The first two games there were some concern raised about the lack of defensive intensity. The third game was the loss to South Florida and there were some pretty bad emotional blowups to include the technical before half by J Mingo-Young. Things then went completely downhill after the Kentucky loss.

In my opinion there are two sets of fans. The ones that post on message boards are often students and younger fans. The fans that attend are mostly older fans (retirees) and families with kids. Obviously there are also some students. The biggest frustration the attendees express is a lack of effort on defense. There were some complaints about it Coach Schaefer’s last season but it was loud, very loud last season. By the end of the season several older friends said they didn’t care to watch.

The biggest difference most of the older fans I know have expressed this season is they like that Coach Novak preaches defense. He stands up and is fired up on the sidelines. R Jackson and M Taylor are still popular. However most of the compliments I hear are about J Jordan and D Carter.

Obviously we won’t know what would have happened if Coach McCray-Penson had stayed. However these were her players and Coach Novak would have been the associate head coach. I was very skeptical before the season but she does need to get some credit for how well things are going so far.

Before he left Coach Schaefer recognized he needed size and a steadiness and more defense at guard. All those recruits followed him to Texas. Hindsight is 20/20 but it is looking more and more that the situation wasn’t as shiny as last season’s preseason hype suggested.
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It's bleak, man.

If Denae Carter is getting compliments, that indicates how much they know about women's basketball. She stood out like a sore thumb trying to rebound against a much bigger Michigan team. She's way too small as a rebounder like she's being used right now, and she's not talented enough as a guard. Completely average player. When did standards get so low in Starkville?

2 players followed Vic to Texas. Ebo and Gaston. Maybe Texas fans can fill me in on those 2 players, but I'm not seeing those 2 as particularly huge losses. They're better than who we have right now, but I don't think they're good enough to where they can be used as excuses for why we don't have a frontcourt.

Last year was a failure by McCray all the way. It's not because of the situation from the year before. That's a really bad excuse, man.

How things are going? How things are going is that this team is gonna beat all the bad teams and lose to all the good teams. Michigan game pretty much proved that.
 
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SimpleDawg said:
It's bleak, man.

If Denae Carter is getting compliments, that indicates how much they know about women's basketball. She stood out like a sore thumb trying to rebound against a much bigger Michigan team. She's way too small as a rebounder like she's being used right now, and she's not talented enough as a guard. Completely average player. When did standards get so low in Starkville?

2 players followed Vic to Texas. Ebo and Gaston. Maybe Texas fans can fill me in on those 2 players, but I'm not seeing those 2 as particularly huge losses. They're better than who we have right now, but I don't think they're good enough to where they can be used as excuses for why we don't have a frontcourt.

Last year was a failure by McCray all the way. It's not because of the situation from the year before. That's a really bad excuse, man.

How things are going? How things are going is that this team is gonna beat all the bad teams and lose to all the good teams. Michigan game pretty much proved that.
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Have to say, I agree with Simple about McCray but I see a ray of hope with these players and coach Novak. We lack size but we have chemistry. I did not see the Michigan game but the stats indicated we did not play well and I am concerned the Michigan game may do to this year’s team what the Kentucky game did to the team last year. I hope Jessica Carter does return to the team soon and help with the size problem, I long for the glory days!
 
Mississippi State beat McNeese State 102-55. First three quarters were some of the best basketball MSU has played this season. Fourth quarter got a little sloppy. 27 assists, 11 blocks, 13 steals with only 12 turnovers. Ran a lot of high low and back doors on offense and man to man pressure on defense. At the beginning of the Coach Novak said he wanted to run more high low but the team wasn’t ready to run it at the time.

R Jackson with 40 points and 9 rebounds. D Carter with 11 points and 14 rebounds. M Taylor with 10 assists, 6 steals, 2 turnovers. A Hayes and J Jordan with 15 and 12 points respectively.
 
militarydog said:
Mississippi State beat McNeese State 102-55. First three quarters were some of the best basketball MSU has played this season. Fourth quarter got a little sloppy. 27 assists, 11 blocks, 13 steals with only 12 turnovers. Ran a lot of high low and back doors on offense and man to man pressure on defense. At the beginning of the Coach Novak said he wanted to run more high low but the team wasn’t ready to run it at the time.

R Jackson with 40 points and 9 rebounds. D Carter with 11 points and 14 rebounds. M Taylor with 10 assists, 6 steals, 2 turnovers. A Hayes and J Jordan with 15 and 12 points respectively.
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I AGREE! Our girls played team basketball last night and I give the credit to Coach Novak. Totally unselfish play, everybody was on the same page and I felt the effort even though I was not in actual attendance. I LOVE THIS TEAM!
 
Jmsdawg said:
I AGREE! Our girls played team basketball last night and I give the credit to Coach Novak. Totally unselfish play, everybody was on the same page and I felt the effort even though I was not in actual attendance. I LOVE THIS TEAM!
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After being out for a while Ashley Jones was back on the bench last night. However she was in street clothes. Not sure on exactly the illness or injury but it would help a lot to get her back in the rotation.
 
Below is history of this season's Bracketology by Creme (google sheet), teams ranked as per the recently released NET Rankings (thread).

1638840227418.png


Screenshot updated. Thanks @visitingcock
 
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I can not wait for SEC conference play to begin! Holy smokes!! Talk about competitive. There will be some major battles. On any given night, anybody could fall in this conference. Florida is putting everything together and could be problem in the SEC.
 
It's funny.

In the preseason, everyone was touting the PAC and Big Ten followed by the ACC, then SEC and dead last, the Big 12.

Now, after the "Pre-Conference Season", it's almost upside down.

Stanford's games against UT and SCar will just about wrap up the conference pecking order.
 
Oh wow! Georgia vs NC State tonight! ACC Network....ugh! These are the types of games that should be on the sports leaders networks. But I will be listening to the game.
 
I'm curious to see what UGA looks like vs a true contender. Haven't gotten much of a look at them yet.
 
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With the SEC schedule around the corner, I have to say that I agree. This is looking like another great season for the SEC.

Looking backwards at how I felt in the preseason, I think the biggest disappointment so far this season is Ole Miss. I thought they would take the next step forward but they just seemed stuck in mediocrity.

I can't say there are any true surprises but I were to pick one, it would be Tennessee. They have definitely exceeded my expectations and without Burrell.

South Carolina, UGA, and Tennessee have separated themselves from the pack. There are other great teams, for sure, but I think only these 3 teams have a chance to win the SEC regular season with South Carolina as the most likely candidate.
 
Gamecockfan77 said:
I'm curious to see what UGA looks like vs a true contender. Haven't gotten much of a look at them yet.
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Let me say first that I love Joni Taylor and think UGA is so much fun to root for.

As evidenced by a gritty knockout of NCST tonight, Georgia is for real. I went to the UGA/GA Tech game that handed UGA its only loss and thought some of the calls in that game really swung the momentum. Not writing it off—GT’s a good team—just saying they could very easily be undefeated right now if a call or two had gone the other way.

I think the problem for UGA in the SEC is that they play a lot like South Carolina, but historically haven’t been quite as good at it. Not a team that will regularly hang 80 on you (although they did in OT tonight), but play tough, physical defense and hustle hard. Not a terrific shooting team but not bad, either. I’m not sure they play through Staiti in the post as much as SC does Boston, but she is a very skilled and competent post player who seems to play well against the Gamecocks more often than not.

I think SC wins the SEC with relative ease this year, but could absolutely see UGA or Tennessee taking a game or two.
 
GamecockFam said:
With the SEC schedule around the corner, I have to say that I agree. This is looking like another great season for the SEC.

Looking backwards at how I felt in the preseason, I think the biggest disappointment so far this season is Ole Miss. I thought they would take the next step forward but they just seemed stuck in mediocrity.

I can't say there are any true surprises but I were to pick one, it would be Tennessee. They have definitely exceeded my expectations and without Burrell.

South Carolina, UGA, and Tennessee have separated themselves from the pack. There are other great teams, for sure, but I think only these 3 teams have a chance to win the SEC regular season with South Carolina as the most likely candidate.
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Agree 100%. And while I see SC as a step above all, GA and TENN will give them a game and have a shot at knocking them down. Gonna be fun watching how the season plays out.
 
Troy first road win 73-66 over MSST. Not much to say except, BRING ON THE SEC, We can not play any worse than we did this game.
 
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