What time do the Rebels play tomorrow?

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Goat 4 Eva

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much like us. Unfortunately for them the upperclass was average. Not below average, but just not outstanding. <div>
</div><div>Will Allen, Bobby Wahl, Preston Overby and that bunch are talented. Some good pitching talent to work with as well.</div>
 
Jan 13, 2008
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That's all I heard in the Jackson area on radio shows in 2005. Yet we beat them in 2005 in the SEC tourney and went to Omaha in 2007. If I was to ever worry about ole miss baseball passing us severely, it would have been after the past 3 seasons. Even after the crap we saw up until this year, I would feel that most MSU fans are excited about the future while many rebel fans are skeptical about Bianco and what he can do for them in the future. I was worried 6 years ago. Not anymore.
 
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Goat 4 Eva

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they had it easy this entire decade, yet they did nothing with it. Southern Miss capitalized on our failures more than Ole Miss did. ****, WE ended up in Omaha in our worst stretch in program history. <div>
</div><div>They'll never be as good as they were from 2004-2007. Pomeranz carried them in 2008 and 2009. I knew they'd drop this year. I'm a little concerned about their freshmen, but they won't be as good as the Mississippi boys were back around 2005. And they did build a big stadium. They are still learning about baseball up there though. </div>
 
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I kind of sense the Rebels being the number 3 program in the state over the next couple of years if they make zero coaching changes. I know they have talent coming in, but so does everyone else. Hell, our pitching commits are very good and could make us really good over the next few years. There's also a small possibility that we bring our whole pitching staff back or at least most of it. Jones being the main one gone.
 

Todd4State

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Capitalized on our failure to recruit more than anything. They went to Omaha a couple of years ago with several players that would have been very happy to go to MSU if we had even given them the time of day.

They will have a really good class if Mason Robbins and Conner Barron go to school. Luke Lowery, Cody Livingston and Andrew Pierce are pretty solid pitchers.
 

HammerOfTheDogs

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at the Major College Level. The Ole Miss Rebels need to re-think their program and go somewhere where they'll be more competitive.....like the Gulf South Conference. The Mississippi State Universitywill becompeting for Conference and National Championships in the near, and we don't want inferior programs poaching the good role players we'll need for depth.
 

RebelBruiser

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It's all just ebbs and flows.

The potential for our baseball programs is about equal right now. I know a lot of MSU fans have a hard time admitting that, because you spent 20 years putting an effort into baseball while we treated ours like a club sport up until at least the 90s. We will mismanage our program sometimes, and you'll mismanage yours, but for the next 50 years or your life, neither will leave the other behind, because both fanbases care. It'll just be ups and downs.
 

OMlawdog

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I will be very surpsied if Barron doesn't sign a pro contract same goes with Mason Robbins.

Im pretty sure that Laxer and Buchanan will go to Ole Miss same with Lindgren and MSU.

The wildcards are Golson, Woodruff, Michael Reed, Dylan Chavez, and Fitts.

Golson and Reed are in the top 100 in various rankings and I just don't think Reed will play at Ole Miss, as for Golson, I think it comes down to who drafts him. I don't know enough about Woodruff but I would guess that top 10 rounds would be the area of concern.

I know this thread was just meant to be a dig at Ole Miss for missing the tourney, but no one knows what next year is going to bring for either school MSU replaces almost all of its offensive production, while Ole Miss will replace almost all of its pitching. There is no telling how each team will pan out next year. Im sure each side thinks their recruiting class is full of future first round picks so that is just meaningless to argue about.

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AlCoDog

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because you spent 20 years putting an effort into baseball while we treated ours like a club sport up until at least the 90s.
When do you think you will stop treating basketball like a club sport because when you guys decide to start taking it serious and putting effort into it, look out world!
 

RebelBruiser

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AlCoDog said:
because you spent 20 years putting an effort into baseball while we treated ours like a club sport up until at least the 90s.
When do you think you will stop treating basketball like a club sport because when you guys decide to start taking it serious and putting effort into it, look out world!

Well, when we build a new arena, we'll obviously be putting a little more effort into it, but we'll never be all that great at basketball. The potential just isn't there. Given the direction college basketball is going, I think I could personally be happy if we'd drop the program. It used to be a decent product, but not anymore.

And do you disagree with me on baseball? Where our program stands today is much different than where it was 20 years ago in terms of the amount of people that actually pay attention and the amount of money we invest in the program. There used to be a wide gap between the amount of MSU fans that cared about baseball and the amount of Ole Miss fans. Now there isn't much of a gap at all, if there really is one either way.

When facilities, fan interest, and commitment from the administration are equal between our two schools, there really is little difference between us in any sport. We share the same geography. The schools academically are pretty much on the same level, though each school has certain strengths over the other. The schools are fairly close to the same size with very similar size alumni bases. There aren't many tangible advantages either school can claim over the other in terms of potential with the exception being the commitment of the fans to specific sports.
 

AlCoDog

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Your fans didn't carebecause you sucked. You didn't suck because your fans didn't care. I know you hate Bianco, but that hire is what turned it all around for you. Was he not the one that put a better than expected product on the field where resources and support followed success? I wasn't paying that much attention when he was hired. I don't think ole miss decided, 17 this, we're ready to be good at baseball, and poof it happened. It was right hire at the right time. Maybe I'm way off here, but I took your initial post as we only sucked because we didn't care about baseball. Sucking causes apathy, especially in sports outside of football. As long as we care we will be good, and caring about something doesn't automatically make you good.

I know growing up it always seemed to bother the ole miss fans I knew that State was such a strong baseball program, and ole miss was not. Maybe that was just my isolated experience growing up with big baseball fans in the Jackson area.
 

RebelBruiser

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Disagree somewhat. We were good in baseball before and still played in a chain link fence park behind the football stadium with very little support.

We were also good in basketball before, and though the fans showed up, we made few strides at all in investing in the program. We did very little for facilities to try to support the success we were having, which is why Rob Evans jumped ship at the first reasonable offer.

Bianco deserves the credit for helping spark the enthusiasm, but the fans and administration chose to respond by putting money into the program when we hadn't before. That type of response didn't have to come from the fans. Now there is a level of accountability that comes with that, and that won't go away. Take football as an example. When we have down years, fan attendance dwindles. Same thing happens at MSU. That doesn't mean the core of the fanbase doesn't keep pushing for something.

That's the way it is with your baseball program and it's the way it'll be with our baseball program going forward. We never had that sort of push for basketball. Maybe it'll come the next time we make a good hire and hit a few NCAA tourneys in a row, but it hasn't happened to this point.

And no, having fans that care doesn't make you good, but it does mean that you'll have accountability in the program, and an AD won't be allowed to sit idly by and let a program struggle, which is what we did in basketball and baseball for a long time. There was never any pressure to do more in either sport. Now there is in baseball. We still aren't to that point with basketball. Good examples are the fact that we let Rod Barnes stay around for 4 straight losing seasons before firing him, and we've let Kennedy stick around despite the cabbie incident and his failure to make the NCAA tournament once. The accountability with our basketball program, from the fans and administration, isn't that high. It is with football and it is with baseball now, which means the AD has more pressure to find a winner for those sports. Having losing seasons doesn't change that.
 

Todd4State

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too- and yes, it has helped us this year. But getting to the postseason helps. There were several of Bianco's teams that made regionals that would not have earlier. It helped Pat Harrison too. The team we have now would have been on the bubble of making a regional in the past. Now, if you make the SEC Tournament, you are a lock unless you have a .500 record or less.

Also, if MSU had made a reasonable coaching hire instead of going to Polk II, Bianco's job would have been a lot harder- not having Stephen Head and the Henry brothers would have been a big loss for Ole Miss earlier in this decade. I give you credit for taking advantage.

And you say that the interest is still there- no doubt it is more now than it was in the 80's- 90's. But at the same time, your attendance has dropped this year despite the fact that your athletic dept. is lying about the attendance figures- let's be honest here. A few more seasons like this, and it will continue to dwindle. It has happened even in baseball at MSU- our attendance is down now compared to what it was- having three straight losing seasons was a lot of it.
 

RebelBruiser

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I'm not talking about attendance. I'm talking interest in the program.

Just because people decide not to show up to show their disapproval doesn't mean they aren't pushing for better results.

There is a difference in a program where the fans don't come and don't care and a program where the fans don't come but do care.

Even with your attendance being way down recently, the fanbase still has expectations for the baseball program, and they aren't willing to accept poor performance.

Your baseball program will make a full recovery because your fans care and wouldn't accept something like the Polk II tenure, and you wouldn't accept Polk naming his successor. Likewise, Bianco hopefully won't be allowed to stick around forever to tear down our program. and when he's let go, we'll be willing to pay what's necessary to bring in the best coach possible.

ETA: The baseball field expansion helps some, but most of Bianco's teams still would've made a 48 team field. You're talking the addition of 16 teams, 48 to 16, and if you count from the last at large bid, that cuts it back from around the 48 best teams to around the 32 best teams (2 seeds and better in the current format). In Bianco's tenure, we've been a 1 seed 5 times (04, 05, 06, 07, 09), a 2 seed 3 times (01, 03, 10), a 3 seed once (2008), and missed the tournament once (2002). So, in the 48 team format, Bianco would've had 8 tournament appearances in 10 seasons instead of 9 tournament appearances in 10 seasons. Back then, there were only 8 regionals with 6 teams each, so we would've only hosted a regional once (2005) when we were a national seed. This year, obviously our chances would be zero for making the tournament instead of the slim outside shot we hold right now with the 64 team format.
 

Todd4State

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than say his teams circa 2004- on. Those teams would have made regionals no matter what era. But having gotten into regionals earlier helped build Ole Miss to that point- going to the postseason builds fan morale and helps recruiting.

If Bianco keeps going to the postseason, he will be safe at Ole Miss. Just like Polk II. Now, I definately know where you are coming from- you have a larger vision for your program than a lot of your fans and administrators. But the reality if if Bianco keeps going to the postseason- we'll see if he does it this year- then he will be back. And I wanted Polk II gone in 2001- andif I was in charge he would have been fired after 2003 after grossly mismanaging the pitching in that regional.

The "problem" is Ole Miss is not a bad team- not bad enough to not make the postseason every year or at worst every other year, and therefore, likely not bad enough to make a change.

I don't doubt that you are right that there is still a lot of interest in Ole Miss baseball, but if you keep having seasons like this, it will dwindle.