The End of the Sword, Thomas, Ware Era
Today is Senior Day at the Hump, featuring tributes to Craig Sword, Fred Thomas, Gavin Ware, Johnny Zuppardo and Travis Daniels.
It can be hard to believe, but it’s been four years since the dismissal of Rick Stansbury. None of the above seniors ever played for MSU’s all-time winningest coach. They were recruited by him, so as the bulk of the Rick Ray era exits stage left so does the last remnants of Stansbury.
Zuppardo and Daniels came aboard a couple of years ago as junior college transfers. They’ll filled various roles on the team, but the nucleus of MSU’s basketball program has been centered around Sword, Thomas and Ware for the last four years.
You don’t often see three players start for a SEC team as freshman, then stick around to their senior year, and never have a winning record. You’d figure that if they were good enough to start as freshman maybe one of them would leave early for the pros, or they’d be pushing for the postseason as they got older and more experienced.
That hasn’t been the case for these three, in an strange set of circumstances that has left good basketball players without much to show for their time at State.
When Stansbury left after the 2012 season, the team was dismantled. Dee Bost and Bryan Bryant graduated, Arnett Moultrie and Renardo Sidney declared for the NBA, and Rodney Hood transferred to Duke. The only player remaining that played significantly was Jalen Steele, and he battled injury during the 2013 season and eventually transferred out.
With all the departures, Sword, Thomas and Ware were able to log as much playing time as they could handle in 2013. It was a bad year: 10-22 (.313); the worst winning percentage since 1987 (.250). Despite the losing, Sword and Ware were named to the SEC All-Freshman team.
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2014 featured a handful more wins and some slightly improved stat lines for all three. There wasn’t much improvement in 2015 as all three had roughly the same averages and the team finished 1/2 game worse in record. Craig Sword, however, did get named to the Second team All-SEC.
Once Rick Ray was fired and Ben Howland hired, it offered a chance for this trio to salvage their careers at MSU. They had stuck with it and played hard, but had little to show for it. There were depth issues that plagued them under Rick Ray, and often times were put in tough situations – but they kept battling. With obvious talent to work with from these seniors and some ultra-talented incoming freshmen, it looked like a perfect recipe for a resurgent season in 2016.
Unfortunately, it’s going to go down as another losing season. At 13-16 heading into today, the Bulldogs would have to make the SEC Tournament Championship to have a winning record; or even win it if they get a bye from the first round.
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It’s really hard to figure why this group has struggled so much. They have averaged at or near double figures their entire career. You see flashes of great athleticism from Sword, dominance under the basket from Ware, and a solid defense with a three point stroke from Thomas. But aside from an incline from Ware and decline from Thomas this year, they all seem to produce the same season, year in and year out.
The Sword, Thomas and Ware era is a head-scratcher. For three talented guys who have garnered SEC awards to collectively start roughly 90% of their team’s games in a four year career and toil in the cellar of the league the entire time – it’s unusual and sad.
These three, along with Zuppardo and Daniels, deserve a good send off on Senior Day. It’s unfortunate they were unable to win at Mississippi State. They are all likable players who’ve played hard and never quit, which is why it’s hard to let go despite all the losing.