Rumor du jour about the basketball program...

[dawgstudent]

Steele looks to be transferring to Middle Tenn State.

UPDATE - Heard from someone else who has close ties that he is staying. So we will see who is right.

 

[dawgstudent]

Steele looks to be transferring to Middle Tenn State.

UPDATE - Heard from someone else who has close ties that he is staying. So we will see who is right.

 

[tenureplan]

nm</p>

 

[coach66]

bunch of clowns and their coaches possessed. Me, me, me, me, me,me and no MSU,MSU,MSU. Loyalty to MSU means<div>absolutely nothing to these guys and I have a hard time dealing with that.</div>

 

[mstatefan88]

And I'm being serious. I guarantee these kids on the team right now were told what they could expect from a Stansbury-led team from the guys that were on the team before. Not a ton of working out, mostly running, and not as much work compared to the other teams in the conference. I think Ray is busting these guys hard, and they didn't sign up for this.

I think the type of kid we are going to bring in here from now on is going to be a whole lot different than what we were used to under Stansbury, and I like it. I have a hard time seeing Ray bringing in kids that aren't ready to bust their *** every day. This transition is going to suck, but I think in the end, Ray will bring in kids that will compete every single day. These freshmen are going to get thrown into the fire early, and hopefully that will benefit us down the road.

Ray is changing the attitude of MSU basketball. It's going to take some time, but I think he is going to overhaul the culture of MSU basketball just like Mullen did with football. I liked Steele, but if he's not willing to buy in to Ray, he needs to go. </p>

 

[DrKennethNoisewater]

Along with all the basketball coaches who weren't interested in the job. Actually expected him to go and Hood to stay. And damn skippy this all falls on Stans.

 

[fishwater99]

Maybe he is just waiting to grab some headlines of his own later this week..

 

[Shmuley]

"all the way to the ground, dig out the dirt, and start completely over, including walk-ons."

 

[codeDawg]

maroonisallthatmattersku

 

[snoopdog]

since theRichard Williams days. We may not win a damn game, but as a 43 year old man who gets further removed every yearfromrelating to what motivatesthese kids, it will be a breath of fresh air for me. Sometimes you have to hit bottom first to get to where you need to go.

 

[patdog]

I think that may be just what the program needed. And I include Rodney Hood in that to a degree. He's always been all about him and he and his dad were hard to deal with dating back to before he even enrolled. Not saying I'm glad he left, but good riddance to all the others.

 

[Canis]

We should have plenty of open scholarships to manage the incoming APR penalties without having to cut any recruits loose (if they stick around).

 

[AROB44]

nm

 

[Moonlight Graham]

Yes it proves that Stans had lost total control of the team. I don't look for Lewis to stay around either since they had to call his grandma every few weeks just to keep the kid in line. O well Scott screwed the pooch on this one. We won't be relevant in bball again in a long long time. I'm glad that Stans is gone but if we would have hired someone with at least a little name recognition or connections in the industry we might not be in quite as bad of shape. We may not be able to field a team next year.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

..

 

[Skink]

maybe I don't remember as clearly as you guys do, but Timmy Bowers, Lawrence Roberts, Jarvis Varnado, Winsome Frazier, and Branden Vincent played their asses off as far as I remember. In fact, Renardo Sidney is the only State player that I remember that I would classify as "lazy." From the most recent team, it seemed to me that Dee Bost and Moultrie played hard all the time too.

Stans' players were out of position quite a bit, but they seemed to play hard to me. So where is this reputation for lazy play coming from? Are ya'll just @%%%++@# that guys are leaving?

On what do you base Rick Ray's reputation for an incredible work ethic? You know nothing about the guy.

I saw Hood play in high school and at State and nothing about him strikes me as "lazy" either.

 

[freddawg]

in your defense. We had absolutely no defense last year, which was the cause of most of our losses. Dee Bost played hard. Moultrie did too. But on defense, we had no heart, and there's no way to describe it other than being lazy.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

and it's done to soften the blow of the realization we are not a top 25 program and we are relegated to hiring some no-name coach which results in everyone from starters to walk-ons to leave the program en masse.

 

[Shmuley]

will likely finish second in the west* next year without having to do much of anything.

[/* "second in the west" is used euphemistically]

 

[Coastdog28]

But I have a really bad feeling that were going to be irrelevant for a long, long time.

 

[AgDawg]

I still think this whole thing hinges on what players we bring in to replace these people. But this stinks of Croom ball as it is now....Its clear you can't win with just hard work and toughness anymore. You have to have talent that works hard and is tough. He can't just sign players so you can have a 5 on 5 practice.

 

[dawgstudent]

so we will see which person was right.

 

[DAWG61]

I had him pegged as our leading scorer.

 

[shotgunDawg]

This is getting ridiculous! It's like our basketball players have determined that it is COOL to transfer even when there is no logical reason to do so, I.E. Hood and potentially Steele. Middle Tennessee State? Middle 17ing Tennessee State? Why in the hell would a basketball player transfer and sit out a year to go to Middle Tennessee State? Its like our players our suffering from "Salem Witch Trail" type stuff. Mass Hysteria has infested the basketball team, and people are trying to jump ship because they think we won't have a team or something.

This is stupid! Middle Tennessee 17ing State? Really Steele?

 

[tenureplan]

nm</p>

 

[patdog]

First post Steele is leaving. Then post that he's staying. Then a few weeks later say I was right, I was right, I was right, I was right......

 

[dawgstudent]

he would take less of a beating. Instead, he posts what he hears as fact.

The people that I heard from have been right a lot more than they are wrong. They each gave conflicting stories. So - just throwing out what I heard with their permission.

 

[DerHntr]

Are you claiming this on just Rodney Hood's statement about the first practice or have I missed something else being said about Ray? If you are basing it solely on Hood's statement about it being the hardest practice ever, then you may want to hold off on Ray being such a badass. To me it seemed that Hood was comparing that practice to his other practices with Rick Stansbury. Think about that for a second.

 

[jackstefano]

This is getting ridiculous! It's like our basketball players have determined that it is COOL to transfer even when there is no logical reason to do so, I.E. Hood and potentially Steele. Middle Tennessee State? Middle 17ing Tennessee State? Why in the hell would a basketball player transfer and sit out a year to go to Middle Tennessee State? Its like our players our suffering from "Salem Witch Trail" type stuff. Mass Hysteria has infested the basketball team, and people are trying to jump ship because they think we won't have a team or something.

This is stupid! Middle Tennessee 17ing State? Really Steele?

 

[anderlin21]

http://mississippistate.247sports.com/Article/Ray-Bulldogs-Moving-Forward-69486

 

[Foronce]

RT @barrentinem61: All we got next year is @Jalensteele0 and @TheGreat30... Y'all better be ready
RT @TheGreat30: @barrentinem61 @Jalensteele0 we might not have that
RT @barrentinem61: @TheGreat30 please don't go... We need at least one forward
RT @TheGreat30: @barrentinem61 idk yet

RT @TheGreat30: Laying in my bed think about what I'm do next year

 

[drt7891]

nm

 

[Shmuley]

nm

 

[anderlin21]

You should get a membership...

But here's what he said about Jalen and Wendell:

"I've been really, really pleased with Jalen Steele," said Ray. "He is made of the right stuff and he cares about the team. He wants to be successful and I know he is going to work hard to be successful. But I told him he's got to make sure he's not the only one, though. He has to rub that off onto other people.</p>

"And then Wendell is going to be key for us. He's got a big body and runs well and he actually has some post moves down there. We need Wendell to be huge for us and have a big senior year. I think those two guys are going to be key components in how we do this year."</p>

 

[RiverCityDawg]

I never thought we'd be a position where I actually gave a crap whether Wendell stayed or left.

 

[drt7891]

I've heard great things about 247, but have not had the money for a membership.

 

[maroonmania]

Robert Kirby. I don't know what kind of head coach Kirby would make just like I don't know what kind of HC Rick Ray will make but at least Kirby was a known quantity to most of these players and I believe would have held the roster and signees together plus added Pollard. Ray may have the best of intentions but I don't want to see our basketball program become a laughing stock because EVERYONE is seemingly jumping ship. And I find it hard to believe that EVERY player we have, apparently including Hood, doesn't want to work to get to be a better player if that's what we are blaming the mass exodus on.

 

[drt7891]

But I sure as hell don't want Stans' "good cop" running our program if all it meant was keeping some recruits on board. It sounds like Ray is doing a complete overhaul of this program and that may be a good thing.

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

nm

 

[maroonmania]

we did pretty dang well for the first 10 years of his tenure. I know, I know, not the NCAA tournament success a lot of folks wanted but overall a good basketball product none the less.