2013-14 Basketball Preview
Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
Well, since it’s a bye week, I thought that would be as good a time as any to take a look at the upcoming basketball season.
Truth be told, I’ve always gotten a lot of enjoyment out of the basketball team. That could be due to the fact that we have probably had more success in it over the last 20 years than we have had in football. That’s what has made the last few years (and especially last year) so painful. I’m hoping that Rick Ray can get our program back to relevancy, but I don’t see it happening this year. Most people are predicting us to come in next to last, which is better than what they predicted last year, which was dead last. We ended up 13th, one spot better than we were predicted to finish. Best case scenario this year is we scratch out some wins and end up 10th. Worst case scenario we finish dead last with just a few wins. Let’s take a look at the schedule:
Date |
Opponent
Location
Prediction
Fri, Nov 08Prairie View A&MStarkville
W
Thu, Nov 14Kennesaw StateStarkville
W
Tue, Nov 19Mississippi Valley StateStarkville
W
Sat, Nov 23Utah StateLogan, UT
L
Wed, Nov 27Jackson StateStarkville
W
Sun, Dec 01Loyola-ChicagoStarkville
W
Thu, Dec 05TCU
Big 12/SEC ChallengeStarkville
W
Fri, Dec 13Southeastern LouisianaTupelo, MS (BancorpSouth Arena)
W
Tue, Dec 17Florida A&MStarkville
W
Thu, Dec 19Florida Gulf CoastStarkville
W
Sun, Dec 22South Florida
Las Vegas, NV (Orleans Arena)
L
Mon, Dec 23Santa Clara/UNLV
Las Vegas, NV (Orleans Arena)
L
Thu, Jan 02Maryland Eastern ShoreStarkville
W
Wed, Jan 08Kentucky *Lexington, KY
L
Sat, Jan 11Ole Miss *Starkville
W
Wed, Jan 15Alabama *Tuscaloosa, AL
L
Sat, Jan 18Texas A&M *Starkville
L
Wed, Jan 22Auburn *Starkville
W
Sat, Jan 25Ole Miss *Oxford, MS
L
Thu, Jan 30Florida *Starkville
L
Sat, Feb 01Vanderbilt *Nashville, TN
L
Wed, Feb 05Texas A&M *College Station, TX
L
Sat, Feb 08Kentucky *Starkville
L
Wed, Feb 12Georgia *Starkville
W
Sat, Feb 15Auburn *Auburn, AL
W
Wed, Feb 19LSU *Baton Rouge, LA
L
Sat, Feb 22Arkansas *Starkville
L
Wed, Feb 26Tennessee *Starkville
L
Sat, Mar 01Missouri *Columbia, MO
L
Wed, Mar 05Georgia *Athens, GA
W
Sat, Mar 08South Carolina *Starkville
W
You can debate some of my predictions, but I think they won’t be too far off. If I am correct our record would be 16-15 with a 6-12 conference record. A decent showing in the Conference tournament with that record MIGHT get us an NIT bid.
Where We will Improve
Ballhandling: We were one of the worst teams in the SEC last year when it came to turnover to assist ratios. Trivante Bloodman did the best he could do, but he isn’t a pure point guard. Jacoby Davis and Andre Applewhite were brought in to be the point guards for this team and they both suffered season ending injuries before the season started. I’m hopeful they are both healthy and can help out with the ballhandling duties.
Three Point Shooting: I think Fred Thomas will get even better as a three point shooter, and that can only help. We were terrible at the three last year, which made life difficult on Gavin Ware. If we can space the floor more with outside shooting, It should allow Ware to be more productive on the inside.
Where We will Struggle
Free Throw Shooting: It drives me nuts when I see guys shoot around 50% at the free throw line. I just don’t get it. We struggled at the line last year, and I see no reason why that will get better.
Turnovers: I think this will be better, but it will still be a problem. We are young and that isn’t going to get a whole lot better until we get some more experience under our belt.
Why You Should be Hopeful About the Future
I have no idea what kind of a coach Rick Ray is going to end up being, but I do know that he is trying to get everything out of these players that he possibly can. With Steele giving up his basketball career and Wendell Lewis being dismissed from the team, Ray has all of his players in place. Every suspension from last year, except for one from Borchert, was a guy who was a holdover from the Stansbury era. I loved Stansbury, and I believe that his mostly successful coaching career will forever be overshadowed by the fact he couldn’t get a team past the second round of the NCAA tournament. But the discipline and effort from the last few teams he coached was abysmal and that is why we made a change. I hope Ray works out, but we won’t have a good idea of what kind of a coach he can be until next year at the earliest. If you want a good parallel, this is like what the baseball program was when Cohen first took over. We have to be patient and give Ray time. The guys play as hard as possible and give it all for 40 minutes every game. It’s hard to ask for much more than that of this particular group.