you'd think you'd tell your players after the first 300 bricks to stop shooting the damn 3. Since 2001 the absolute worst year we had as a team shooting the 3 was in 2005-2006 with the Delk twins. We shot 31% as a team from 3 (167-532). That year we shot 45% in fg%. This year we are shooting 27% from 3 as a team (120-446) and 39% fg%. I've been saying this for months now. Excluding the depth issue our biggest weakness by a wide margin is we can't shoot for ****. It's impossible to win in basketball if you can put the ball in the basket. Teach defense till you're blue in the face and it won't make any difference if you shoot the ball like we do. Ray has allowed them to shoot 446 3's. Think about that for a second. It's very obvious it hurts your teams chances to win each time you allow a 3 to be shot so why let your players continue to shoot them? Hmmmm
Stop shooting 3's Rick Ray
- Thread starter DAWG61
- Start date
It doesnt have anything to do with our opponents leaving us open to shoot three's its the fact that were not big in the post and cant manufacture points down there so were forced to mid-range jumpers and three's. Were not shooting three's just to shoot three's were shooting them because its the only thing we got regardless of whether or not we can hit them.
You basically just answered yourself. If they are packing the middle and giving us threes, how are we supposed to score inside? In order for us to win, we have to make shots. That's where the problem lies. But we have to take the open shots. You can't force shots up (which we still do force 3s up as well). Can you name me one team that has been successful without a solid PG? And trust me, I'm not saying PG is our only issue. But that is where the offense starts.
Calipari has a mediocre point guard this year with NBA talent around him, and look where UK is compared to where they normally are. You can win games without a decent point guard (if that's your only problem, which is not our case), but you sure as hell can't meet the potential of the rest of the team.
You are slightly less annoying when you talk about his lack of walkons, but only slightly. The best thing about basketball ending will be your posting about it will hopefully stop too.
Set screens and shoot mid-range jumpers. Set screens and drive to the basket with Sword or Thomas. Set screens then roll to the basket and catch the pass after faking the mid-range jumper. Run back cuts when the mid-range shooter gets the ball. And on and on...there's hundreds of ways to score without jacking 3's all day. There isn't many ways to score if you just teach bad defense all day and never focus on shooting drills or offensive plays though.
Sorry man it's been a very long very trying basketball season. It is almost over though thankfully.
We tried to pound it in to Gavin last night for a good while and he couldn't get
a shot off! He would get good post position, get the pass, then couldn't get a decent shot off against the 7 footer. Same for Borchert. So, with that option not being an option and our point guard not being able to penetrate and dish to open up decent looks for Thomas or Steele or Sword or anyone for that matter we jack up threes. We got really stagnant at times in the offense with guys just standing around and Bloodman just dribbling at the point til less than 20 on the shot clock before we even set the first screen. This season can't get over soon enough.
a shot off! He would get good post position, get the pass, then couldn't get a decent shot off against the 7 footer. Same for Borchert. So, with that option not being an option and our point guard not being able to penetrate and dish to open up decent looks for Thomas or Steele or Sword or anyone for that matter we jack up threes. We got really stagnant at times in the offense with guys just standing around and Bloodman just dribbling at the point til less than 20 on the shot clock before we even set the first screen. This season can't get over soon enough.
Ray and team ...
have been handicapped this year BUT there is no excuse for not at least some semblance of an offense.
Pete Carril’s teams seldom if ever had a height advantage over any other team they played but he perfected the 'Princeton offense' and they led the country in offense most years he was there.
</SPAN>Serious question ... Has there been ANY visible improvement in the offense since the start of the season?
Newsflash - Best chance for improvement is if Lewis returns for next year. Of the signees, Ndoye is tall but a project; Daniels is 6' 8" but at 205 will not help in the post; I'm hoping that Mullen lets De'Runnya Wilson join the BB team ... he has a lot of BB upside potential.
have been handicapped this year BUT there is no excuse for not at least some semblance of an offense.
Pete Carril’s teams seldom if ever had a height advantage over any other team they played but he perfected the 'Princeton offense' and they led the country in offense most years he was there.
</SPAN>Serious question ... Has there been ANY visible improvement in the offense since the start of the season?
Newsflash - Best chance for improvement is if Lewis returns for next year. Of the signees, Ndoye is tall but a project; Daniels is 6' 8" but at 205 will not help in the post; I'm hoping that Mullen lets De'Runnya Wilson join the BB team ... he has a lot of BB upside potential.
You may ultimately be correct about all this, but
there are many factors that you are simply overlooking in your rants:
1. If the other team backs the paint and leaves the 3 open, you can't just simply run screens and get to the goal. They have 5 guys in a much smaller area to play help defense on all your screens and clog the mid/short area around the goal so you can't just maneuver with ease. It's really not that simple as you seem to think.
2. The lack of offensive execution can be seen as an area of concern, but I'm willing to take the wait and see approach. It's hard to work on offensive sets and fundamentals of running and executing offensive motion and plays when you don't have sufficient players to work on those offensive looks against a full-speed defense. It's one thing to memorize plays in a walk-through or while being guarded by your 47 year old assistant coach and an entirely different thing to do it against future NBA talent in Rupp Arena.
3. The players are dead tired at this point in the season. Its a combination of the young guys never having played a full season, and the complete lack of any depth to give them any breaks whatsoever along the way.
These same things apply on defense. It's one thing to work on guarding and blocking out on defense when you are guarding and blocking out your middle aged assistant coach, and an entirely different matter to do so against collegiate athletes. I'm willing to take a wait and see approach, at least until we have a full squad so that we can actually work on these areas you are so quick to ***** about.
there are many factors that you are simply overlooking in your rants:
1. If the other team backs the paint and leaves the 3 open, you can't just simply run screens and get to the goal. They have 5 guys in a much smaller area to play help defense on all your screens and clog the mid/short area around the goal so you can't just maneuver with ease. It's really not that simple as you seem to think.
2. The lack of offensive execution can be seen as an area of concern, but I'm willing to take the wait and see approach. It's hard to work on offensive sets and fundamentals of running and executing offensive motion and plays when you don't have sufficient players to work on those offensive looks against a full-speed defense. It's one thing to memorize plays in a walk-through or while being guarded by your 47 year old assistant coach and an entirely different thing to do it against future NBA talent in Rupp Arena.
3. The players are dead tired at this point in the season. Its a combination of the young guys never having played a full season, and the complete lack of any depth to give them any breaks whatsoever along the way.
These same things apply on defense. It's one thing to work on guarding and blocking out on defense when you are guarding and blocking out your middle aged assistant coach, and an entirely different matter to do so against collegiate athletes. I'm willing to take a wait and see approach, at least until we have a full squad so that we can actually work on these areas you are so quick to ***** about.
I get that it is a long season and we have no depth but come on, these are 18-19 year olds that have several days off between games. How much of a factor can fatigue really be in the first 10-15 minutes of games where we are getting hammered?
I would feel better if teams were pulling away from us in the second halves of games but we are getting slaughtered right out of the gate most nights. I can't name a single player that has improved this season from the beginning. That is what concerns me.
I would feel better if teams were pulling away from us in the second halves of games but we are getting slaughtered right out of the gate most nights. I can't name a single player that has improved this season from the beginning. That is what concerns me.
I'm just looking for something ANYTHING on the court that shows Ray is a good coach and knows what he's doing. We are not just average or less than average at ANY statistical category for basketball. We are horrible at everything. Shooting-awful, defense-terrible, offense-worse than terrible, assists-horrendous, rebounding-atrocious, turnovers-**** bad, free throws-shaqtastic, 3's-Varnado shoots them better, blocks-Muggsy gets more. You almost have to purposely try to be this bad at everything involved with basketball.
Look at these rankings.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/_/id/344/mississippi-state-bulldogs
Look at these rankings.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/_/id/344/mississippi-state-bulldogs
I'm not disputing the stats. We're just going to have to wait until next year to see what he's got. If these same things are happening next year with a full roster, then I'll be right here with you bitching about these things. Just my opinion.
I didn't watch the game last night. I only heard the last 5 minutes of the first half on the radio, and it was lay up after dunk, after lay up, after lay up, for UK. It sounded like we had 4 defenders on the court...
So then they interview Ray going in to the locker room, and I am expecting to hear him talk about the poor defense. Instead, he says "Bart, our LIKE problem is LIKE, we have got to hit these open shots. LIKE you know, Like, we are getting tons of like open looks, and like we just have to hit some shots. We aren't like playing that bad, we just like have to convert", I paraphrased that. But I was shocked...not ONE mention of shitastic defense, just blaming it on the lack of having good shooters. Is it because the defense is more his responsibility than the shooting? I typically like Ray's responses, because they at least sound strategic and like he may have a clue what to do once we get some depth...but that interview left me scratching my head. Not to mention all of the "likes" he threw in there. We really need to get him a speech coach or something to help break that high school girl "like" lingo he has going.
Im hoping these guys are just out of gas, and that what we saw in the non conference and first two SEC games is more of what we truly have in Ray. I just feel like defense is the one thing you can always do well, regardless of talent. And unfortunately our defense has taken an enormous step backwards as the season has progressed. Regardless of how bad we are, I've always been able to watch MSU in every sport. Not this year. I can't even watch this team anymore. I just check the score to see if I won my bet, which I did again last night. I took UK -19, and never had a doubt I would win it. Turribul.
So then they interview Ray going in to the locker room, and I am expecting to hear him talk about the poor defense. Instead, he says "Bart, our LIKE problem is LIKE, we have got to hit these open shots. LIKE you know, Like, we are getting tons of like open looks, and like we just have to hit some shots. We aren't like playing that bad, we just like have to convert", I paraphrased that. But I was shocked...not ONE mention of shitastic defense, just blaming it on the lack of having good shooters. Is it because the defense is more his responsibility than the shooting? I typically like Ray's responses, because they at least sound strategic and like he may have a clue what to do once we get some depth...but that interview left me scratching my head. Not to mention all of the "likes" he threw in there. We really need to get him a speech coach or something to help break that high school girl "like" lingo he has going.
Im hoping these guys are just out of gas, and that what we saw in the non conference and first two SEC games is more of what we truly have in Ray. I just feel like defense is the one thing you can always do well, regardless of talent. And unfortunately our defense has taken an enormous step backwards as the season has progressed. Regardless of how bad we are, I've always been able to watch MSU in every sport. Not this year. I can't even watch this team anymore. I just check the score to see if I won my bet, which I did again last night. I took UK -19, and never had a doubt I would win it. Turribul.
Running out of gas does happen. It happened to us last year. I did not get a chance to watch the game against Kentucky, but in other games I've seen, we've been horrific in the zone and better in man to man. Maybe we can get enough players to play predominantly man to man next year.
THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^
I have been reading this board on and off for about 6 years, but only decided to start posting recently. I can't think of hardly anyone more annoying than DAWG61. You would think 12 losses in a row with 6 scholarship players (only 1 of which who ever played in a D-1 game before this season) would be enough reason for the average human to realize we are terrible this year. We don't need empty shooting statistics to further prove this. We don't need any type of statistics -- we know we are bad. We can only hope he will stop with these ignorant topics until next year at least.
Let's talk about baseball. Or spring football. Or anything. Our basketball team is poor. Point taken. Give the man the spring/summer/fall and let's see what happens next year. This season was lost long ago.
^^^THIS^^^
"I can't name a single player that has improved this season from the beginning. That is what concerns me."
"I can't name a single player that has improved this season from the beginning. That is what concerns me."
I would like the have heard the interview Scott did with Ray where the lightbulb went off in SCott's head that said "Damn this is the Guy I've been looking for". Surely He wan't impressed with Rick's verbal skills. Or His proven record as a head Coach. Or His being an Asst Coach for a National Power. WTF was it?
Folks... We suck. While there's nothing wrong with optimism, we're still going to suck next year, and I'd be willing to bet that we're going to be no better than mediocre in year 3. I'm not happy about it, I think that most of our fans were insane to not appreciate the team's success during the last decade, and I have no reason as this time to think that Ray is going to take us to new heights.
With that said, it's time to accept the reality of this cluster. Trying to pick out one deficiency such as 3 pt shooting is like getting mad at your ex for dressing like a slut. Is it bothersome? Sure, but there are a million other things wrong that you could spend a lifetime picking apart. In other words, you may as well get over it for now.
Shooting a ton of 3s is most definitely not going to win a ton of games for us, but I don't think there's a basketball strategy on earth that will for this group. If you can't accept the situation for what it is, your best bet for the next couple years is to most likely to just block basketball out and enjoy the baseball season.
With that said, it's time to accept the reality of this cluster. Trying to pick out one deficiency such as 3 pt shooting is like getting mad at your ex for dressing like a slut. Is it bothersome? Sure, but there are a million other things wrong that you could spend a lifetime picking apart. In other words, you may as well get over it for now.
Shooting a ton of 3s is most definitely not going to win a ton of games for us, but I don't think there's a basketball strategy on earth that will for this group. If you can't accept the situation for what it is, your best bet for the next couple years is to most likely to just block basketball out and enjoy the baseball season.
You have 27 posts and about 20 of them have been direct replies to me. I'm guessing this is your "other" account on here and you'd prefer I didn't know your original. That's fine.
Now listen up please. In case you haven't noticed MSU has most likely the WORST BASKETBALL TEAM IN THE LAST 30 YEARS to play in a Power6 conference. Many on here ***** all year long about Chris Wilson and Ole Miss recruiting. I am NOT going to be quiet about our HORRIBLE BASKETBALL TEAM. So you can go 17 yourself if you expect me to grin and bear the awfulness that has become our basketball program.
Now listen up please. In case you haven't noticed MSU has most likely the WORST BASKETBALL TEAM IN THE LAST 30 YEARS to play in a Power6 conference. Many on here ***** all year long about Chris Wilson and Ole Miss recruiting. I am NOT going to be quiet about our HORRIBLE BASKETBALL TEAM. So you can go 17 yourself if you expect me to grin and bear the awfulness that has become our basketball program.
If you had read my post, I said I had been reading on and off for a long time but just recently posting. While that last post was about you, it was not a direct reply. haha.
I have replied to you about 5 times in the past few days because of reasons previously stated in those posts. I'll do my best to stop replying and just wade through the mess. As I have said multiple times, again, I know we are awful and indeed one of the worst teams in my entire lifetime, regardless of conference. That's not the problem. It's when you google search "highest scoring in JUCO 2013" and then come on here and act like Ray is some idiot for not offering scholarships to guys.
Rick Ray may end up being the worst coach in MSU history. He may also be a success with a full roster and proper personell. Our team may be the worst team in history. However, we may look back one day and say that was the beginnings of a change in the overall program at Mississippi State University. I'm not okay with losing, and I doubt any fan of MSU on this board is. But it bothers me even more when you have 3500 posts and all the sudden you are standard for the game of basketball. I cannot force you to stop making stupid comments, so as previously stated, I will do my best to overlook them. Till next season, good-day sir.
I wouldn't be posting as much about it if everyone wasn't being so mum. There's thousands of posts on here bitching about Chris Wilson but for some reason I don't understand nobody is saying jack besides myself and a few others about the gawd awful show going on at the Hump. I didn't google highest scorers I simply checked on Bradley because he's only 30 minutes away. That's when I saw Hunter and from there I researched him as best as i could. I'm curious why the highest scorer in Juco has no big time offers nor does Bradley but a way overrated player like Pollard has every team in the country drooling over him. From best as I can tell both of these guys would start day 1 for us but Daniels and Ndoye get offers. I find it troubling that Ray wouldn't even try to find out if these two guys are in fact a bad fit before deeming them that way from the start. Look at what Marshall Henderson has done for UOM. He was the Juco player of the year. The Bulldogs don't have to suck next year. Actions can be done to prevent that but I don't see Ray doing them so I'm going to speak up before we are all subjected to this **** show again.
This ^^^^^^. Except we will be subjected to Dawg61 bringing up random stats and complaining about what is happening. Should we be happy with this season? Absolutely not. Could Dean Smith win more games with our talent this year, possibly 2 more. We are playing a guy that is picked last in pick up games in the Sanderson. I like Baxter and he is doing his best but he is not suited for 4A basketball, much less SEC basketball.
He wants us to go after 2 guys that he has never seen play (in person), nor has he ever seen their competition. He doesn't know what their attitude, work ethic, or what their skill set is like, yet he is sure that they will turn our program around. People like him make miserable seasons more miserable.
He wants us to go after 2 guys that he has never seen play (in person), nor has he ever seen their competition. He doesn't know what their attitude, work ethic, or what their skill set is like, yet he is sure that they will turn our program around. People like him make miserable seasons more miserable.
My god. I never thought it would come to Coach Ray actually suiting up
Did someone else get suspended? Why is Ray shooting for us?
Did someone else get suspended? Why is Ray shooting for us?