Rush The Court

The SEC microsite will preview each of the league teams over the next few weeks, starting today with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Strengths. Continuity. Okay, continuity may not be Rick Ray’s best friend considering that his Bulldogs have gone just 24-41 since he took over the program two years ago. But players grow through experience, and Ray has a quintet of upperclassmen who have seen plenty of action together during his tenure. Trivante Bloodman, Craig Sword, Fred Thomas, Roquez Johnson and Gavin Ware know their roles and what to expect from one another. That kind of consistency is a step in the right direction for a program that has struggled with injuries and dismissals the last two years (although Sword’s recent back injury clouds that idea a bit).

Weaknesses. When you don’t expect to win the sheer talent battle on a game-to-game basis, you simply can’t give away free points. The Bulldogs did just that by shooting 66.3 percent from the free throw line as a team last season, good for 288th in the country. Part of the problem was that their lead guards, Sword (62.0%) and Thomas (62.5%) weren’t effective despite getting to the line at a high rate. When paired with a lack of three-point shooting, this resulted in a sub-standard 0.96 points per possession. The injury bug also extended its stay in Starkville by knocking out JuCo forward Johnny Zuppardo for the season. That leaves the Bulldogs entirely dependent on two freshmen (Oliver Black and Demetrius Houston) for frontcourt depth.

Non-Conference Tests. Can you say a murderer’s row of cupcakes? The Bulldogs travel to St. Louis to play the Billikens on November 28 and host Florida State on January 2, but other than that could be favored in all of their non-conference games. They will travel to Tulane to play a Green Wave team coming off a 17-17 season and head to Corvallis to play Oregon State in what might be the least compelling match-up between power conference teams before league play begins; but who am I kidding, I’ll probably still tune in.

Toughest Conference Stretch. It’s not easy right off the bat for a developing program. The Bulldogs host Tennessee before traveling to Florida and Texas A&M. As far as tough stretches go, that’s certainly on the milder side, but the SEC slate doesn’t offer many unbreachable walls.

Projected Starters

• PG Trivante Bloodman (6’0’’) Sr.
• SG Craig Sword (6’3’’) Jr.
• SG Fred Thomas (6’5’’) Jr.
• PF Gavin Ware (6’9’’)  Jr.
• PF Roquez Johnson (6’7’’) Sr.

Sword led the Bulldogs in scoring last season but still has plenty of room for improvement as he has struggled with turnovers and fouls throughout his career. Ware is a great defensive rebounder who has made the most of his limited offensive touches. If you are looking for a Hail State breakout player, it’s probably him. Bloodman and Johnson are solid contributors at their respective positions. Thomas is an effective slasher with a similar offensive profile as Sword.

Bench

• PG I.J. Ready (5’11’’) So.
• SG Maurice Dunlap (6’2’’) Fr.
• PF Oliver Black (6’9’’) Fr.
• PF Demetrius Houston (6’7’’) Fr.
• SF Elijah Staley (6’6’’) Fr.
• SF Travis Daniels (6’8’’) RJr.
• PF Fallou Ndoye (6’11’’) RFr.

I.J. Ready should — I just can’t resist the pun — be more ready to run the point in his second season on campus, and should be a quality backup. Ray will be looking high and low for someone to contribute anything from behind the three-point line. That could be Ready (35 percent on 48 three point attempts), but since he’s more of a facilitator it would be a big deal if freshman Maurice Dunlap can add that element to the offense. Houston and Black will be leaned on heavily to back up the starting big men with Zuppardo out.

If Everything Goes Right… Ray has set things up to a point where it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Bulldogs enter SEC play with only two or three losses. Mississippi State navigated its non-conference slate at 10-3 last season, but should have the talent and experience to avoid another conference schedule letdown (3-15 in 2013-14). Sword and Thomas have both shown an ability to create for themselves and get to the free throw line at high rate, and they could become a difficult duo to contain as their respective games develop. Ware has been an efficient offensive player (60.1 true shooting percentage) who could be ready to break out, and this would be complemented nicely by Johnson’s steady contributions. Despite its youth and inexperience, Ray has his most talented bench yet. Asking the Bulldogs to climb to an even mark in SEC play is a lot considering where the program currently is, but six or seven conference wins is not out of the question and would be a nice step forward.

If Nothing Goes Right… Sword’s injury lingers and the Bulldogs’ most dynamic scorer is not at full strength for a good portion of the season. Ware and Johnson have a small margin for error in terms of production and foul trouble if their freshmen backups don’t adjust smoothly to the college game (which is no easy task). Despite consistency in the starting lineup, the Bulldogs can’t improve on their below-average offense and languish again at the bottom of the SEC standings due to poor shooting and an over-extended starting lineup.

Extra Point. There’s some football flavor to the Bulldogs basketball team, and given how well Dan Mullen’s squad is currently doing, that’s certainly not a bad thing. Quarterback/forward Elijah Staley was a three-star basketball recruit who, as of now, appears to be planning to suit up once the football season is over. The same can’t be said for Bulldogs’ standout wide receiver De’Runnya Wilson, who only played a total of 52 minutes in seven games last season as a freshman. In September Mullen told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger that Wilson plans to focus solely on football this year. Bulldogs fans probably won’t mind as long as Wilson keeps finding the end zone, though.