What a great game by the Mississippi State Bulldog basketball team against the Ole Miss Rebels. This was a complete and total dismantling of the 17th ranked team in the nation. Mississippi State dominated both ends of the court in an impressive 20 point win over the hated rival.
This team is really starting to come together. They had their struggles early in the year with a tough non-conference schedule, but this team has reeled off 9 wins in a row and is currently 5-0 in SEC play.
Charles Rhodes is getting healthy and had a break out game today with 26 points in 28 minutes of play. If he continues to play like this, this team will be very dangerous in the long run.
Defense wins championships, and this basketball team plays great defense. Jarvis Varnado is great on the inside defensively and leads the nation in blocked shots. Everyone else around him does a great job of cutting off penetration, and with him in the paint, they can take a few more chances with steals on the perimeter.
This team also has great guard play. Guard play is the key to winning when NCAA tournament time comes around. Jamont Gordon, Barry Stewart, Phil Turner, Ben Hansbrough, Riley Benock, and Ravern Johnson give Mississippi State one of the deepest set of guards in the nation.
On the inside, Mississippi State has Jarvis Varnado, Charles Rhodes, and are getting good contributions from both Elgin Bailey and Brian Johnson. Overall, this is a very deep team that has the potential to make a deep run if things continue to improve.
The present and future of this Mississippi State basketball team is very bright, and despite what some Ole Miss fans will say, Mississippi State remains the king of basketball in this state. It isn't even close.
Great job Bulldogs!! Keep it up!!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Tony Sparano, the new head coach of the Miami Dolphins, is starting to fill out his coaching staff. Last week, Tony Sparano hired Mike Maser to coach the offensive line. Mike Maser is a very respected offensive line coach at both the collegiate and NFL levels. Tony and Mike coached together on the Jaguars' staff in 2002. Maser was a long time assistant for Tom Coughlin at Boston College and the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is known as an in-your-face type of coach that will not hesitate to holler and scream at his players. Maser was most recently the offensive line coach with the Carolina Panthers from 2003-2006. He didn't coach anywhere in 2007. Needless to say, Tony Sparano and Mike Maser have a lot of respect for each other.
The Dolphins have also officially announced that they have hired James Saxon as the running backs coach and Evan Marcus as the strength and conditioning coach. I really like the James Saxon hiring. He's a very good running backs coach who has coached with the Kansas City Chiefs for a while now. His running backs know how to run the football, and he has done a great job of developing the younger backs he has had a chance to coach.
Evan Marcus was most recently with the Atlanta Falcons. Before being hired by the Falcons last season, Evan worked for Al Groh at the University of Virginia as their head strength and conditioning coach. Obviously, the connection to Al Groh is a big key in his addition to the coaching staff. I don't now much about Evan Marcus, but I do know that his players who were NFL prospects at Virginia were typically very NFL ready relative to their strength. Some of his pupils at Virginia were Heath Miller, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Chris Canty, and Wali Lundy, and current NFL prospects Chris Long and Branden Albert were also coached by Marcus at Virginia.
It is also being reported that Todd Bowles has told the Dallas Cowboys that he will be going to Miami to take on the role of assistant head coach and secondary coach. Todd is a guy that Bill Parcells is very high on. At one point, I thought Todd was going to be a legitimate candidate for the head coaching job in Miami. Bill Parcells was never very fond of Mike Zimmer in Dallas, so the guy he would use as a sounding board among the defensive coaches on his Dallas staff was Todd Bowles. Todd was also on the coaching staff with the New York Jets when Parcells was the head coach there. His track record as a secondary coach has mixed results, but overall, he carries the Bill Parcells stamp of approval.
While it isn't official yet, Karl Dorrell has apparently decided to join the Dolphins coaching staff as the wide receivers coach. Karl was most recently the head coach at UCLA, and he has experience coaching wide receivers in the NFL with the Denver Broncos. Overall, this is a very good hiring for the Dolphins. He's got a lot of experience, and the early talk is that they will groom him to eventually become the offensive coordinator in Miami.
Dan Henning will probably be announced as the Dolphins offensive coordinator sometime in the next couple of days. He has a history of being a good coordinator, and he believes in the power running game. Dan is getting older though, and he probably is only a short term option as the offensive coordinator. This is why the Dolphins have apparently discussed grooming Karl Dorrell as his heir apparent. Look for the Dolphins to use a lot of single back, two tight end sets with Dan Henning calling the plays. His offense mostly resembles the Joe Gibbs offense of the 1980s.
Paul Pasqualoni is expected to be named the defensive coordinator. I'm expecting this to happen within the next couple of days as well. Paul most recently coached the linebackers for the Dallas Cowboys. He was the head coach at Syracuse before joining Dallas, and his defenses at Syracuse varied. He initially was a 3-4 guy, then switched to the 4-3 as well as a hybrid scheme that utilized the talents of outside speed rusher Dwight Freeney. It will be interesting to see what defense he decides to run in Miami.
The Dolphins have also officially announced that they have hired James Saxon as the running backs coach and Evan Marcus as the strength and conditioning coach. I really like the James Saxon hiring. He's a very good running backs coach who has coached with the Kansas City Chiefs for a while now. His running backs know how to run the football, and he has done a great job of developing the younger backs he has had a chance to coach.
Evan Marcus was most recently with the Atlanta Falcons. Before being hired by the Falcons last season, Evan worked for Al Groh at the University of Virginia as their head strength and conditioning coach. Obviously, the connection to Al Groh is a big key in his addition to the coaching staff. I don't now much about Evan Marcus, but I do know that his players who were NFL prospects at Virginia were typically very NFL ready relative to their strength. Some of his pupils at Virginia were Heath Miller, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Chris Canty, and Wali Lundy, and current NFL prospects Chris Long and Branden Albert were also coached by Marcus at Virginia.
It is also being reported that Todd Bowles has told the Dallas Cowboys that he will be going to Miami to take on the role of assistant head coach and secondary coach. Todd is a guy that Bill Parcells is very high on. At one point, I thought Todd was going to be a legitimate candidate for the head coaching job in Miami. Bill Parcells was never very fond of Mike Zimmer in Dallas, so the guy he would use as a sounding board among the defensive coaches on his Dallas staff was Todd Bowles. Todd was also on the coaching staff with the New York Jets when Parcells was the head coach there. His track record as a secondary coach has mixed results, but overall, he carries the Bill Parcells stamp of approval.
While it isn't official yet, Karl Dorrell has apparently decided to join the Dolphins coaching staff as the wide receivers coach. Karl was most recently the head coach at UCLA, and he has experience coaching wide receivers in the NFL with the Denver Broncos. Overall, this is a very good hiring for the Dolphins. He's got a lot of experience, and the early talk is that they will groom him to eventually become the offensive coordinator in Miami.
Dan Henning will probably be announced as the Dolphins offensive coordinator sometime in the next couple of days. He has a history of being a good coordinator, and he believes in the power running game. Dan is getting older though, and he probably is only a short term option as the offensive coordinator. This is why the Dolphins have apparently discussed grooming Karl Dorrell as his heir apparent. Look for the Dolphins to use a lot of single back, two tight end sets with Dan Henning calling the plays. His offense mostly resembles the Joe Gibbs offense of the 1980s.
Paul Pasqualoni is expected to be named the defensive coordinator. I'm expecting this to happen within the next couple of days as well. Paul most recently coached the linebackers for the Dallas Cowboys. He was the head coach at Syracuse before joining Dallas, and his defenses at Syracuse varied. He initially was a 3-4 guy, then switched to the 4-3 as well as a hybrid scheme that utilized the talents of outside speed rusher Dwight Freeney. It will be interesting to see what defense he decides to run in Miami.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Introduction
I am new to the blogging scene, so this blog is going to be a basic introduction of myself and give you a little insight on my sports interests. My name is Keith Box. On most of the sports forums I am a member of, my handle is KB21. Obviously, K and B are my initials, and the #21 is in remembrance of Keffer McGee, a former running back at Mississippi State University.
I graduated from Mississippi State, and Mississippi State is my college team. I bleed maroon! I am also a big fan of the Atlanta Braves in MLB, Miami Dolphins in the NFL, and the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA. On this blog, I will try to post my thoughts on all of my teams.
I graduated from Mississippi State, and Mississippi State is my college team. I bleed maroon! I am also a big fan of the Atlanta Braves in MLB, Miami Dolphins in the NFL, and the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA. On this blog, I will try to post my thoughts on all of my teams.
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