Howland and Miss St land another one

[JFCats22]

Have no idea why anyone would want to go to one of the worst places on earth - Starkville.

But, have to be kind of impressed with what Howland is doing there.

Evan Daniels ‏@EvanDaniels
Ben Howland & Mississippi State now have the nation's No. 3 class in 2016 with the addition of Mario Kegler. Five four-star recruits.

 

[RonEJones]

He recruited well at UCLA also until the last few years. But his coaching style and personality eventually ruined his team chemistry and caused west coast coaches to no longer send their players his way. We will see how he does at MSU and if it's the same Ben, then he may have some issues in the not so distant future.

 

[hotelblue]

they will be decent eventually because he's a good defensive coach. i still can't believe he's coaching there.

 

[Xception]

It's going to be awful to watch when we play them , 60 points will win it .

 

[Untouchables22]

To be fair both Newman and Kegler were Mississippi boys and went to either the same high school or the same AAU team I can't remember off the top of my head. Not all but Most high school football and basketball players prefer to play close to home. But I give the man his due he is recruiting exceptionally well for talking people into coming to live in Starkville. Both Mississippi State and Texas A&M are trending toward consistent top 25 programs in the next several years and Avery Johnson is off to a nice start at Alabama. Obviously Pearl is turning into a recruiting power again and Auburn looks poised to have its best run in basketball ever. Stallings has a consistent team at Vandy every 3 years it seems. Really excited about where the SEC is heading.

 

[tbone.ky]

He recruited well at UCLA also until the last few years. But his coaching style and personality eventually ruined his team chemistry and caused west coast coaches to no longer send their players his way. We will see how he does at MSU and if it's the same Ben, then he may have some issues in the not so distant future.

Out of curiosity, what kind of personality or reputation was he known for on the West Coast?
He did seem to recruit well, and during the first part of his tenure at UCLA, had some nice teams and runs in the tourny.

 

[price499]

Out of curiosity, what kind of personality or reputation was he known for on the West Coast?
He did seem to recruit well, and during the first part of his tenure at UCLA, had some nice teams and runs in the tourny.

He had a reputation of being a jerk and being phony to some AAU coaches, and that didn't sit well with some of them.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

If anyone is going to gather alot of talent other than UK, id prefer it to be anywhere Howland coaches. Hes terrible. Look at the talent in the NBA he coached, and did basically nothing other play football on the hardwood. Also with these new rules, opposing teams will shoot 100 free throws.

 

[EMMCAT]

Howland's offense makes Tubby ball look like Paul Westphal's teams..

 

[Orange Soda King]

If anyone is going to gather alot of talent other than UK, id prefer it to be anywhere Howland coaches. Hes terrible. Look at the talent in the NBA he coached, and did basically nothing other play football on the hardwood. Also with these new rules, opposing teams will shoot 100 free throws.

Also, Rick Barnes

 

[Smashcat]

SEC West teams MSU, Auburn and Bama are adding really significant talent. The 8-9 basketball fans at those three schools must be thrilled.

 

[RonEJones]

Out of curiosity, what kind of personality or reputation was he known for on the West Coast?
He did seem to recruit well, and during the first part of his tenure at UCLA, had some nice teams and runs in the tourny.

To elaborate on what Price said, he stopped being able to land talent from the west coast (specifically southern cal which had been very good to him when he was going to FF's) due to the turmoil on his teams, an arrogant nature/double talk to local AAU coaches and preferential treatment of certain players to the detriment of the team. He had several off the court issues with discipline and the administration grew tired of his style. At the very end, he hired the head coach of the AAU team Atlanta Celtics, who landed him Tony Parker out of GA but it was too little too late with the UCLA administration.

He may be a good coach for MSU but if he does not learn from his past mistakes, his recruiting will dry up and teams will self implode. He needs to bottle up what he was doing when he went to 2-3 FFs in a row and replicate that at MSU. Doubt he'll win at the same clip because it's MSU vs. UCLA but he may be successful enough to have a good career.

Time will tell which Howland they get.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I've seen Kiegler play in person. Good player not spectactular by any means but is a good role player who does his job well. Good pick up for them.

 

[KyCatFan]

Howland's offense makes Tubby ball look like Paul Westphal's teams..

So you're saying Tubby was fast paste?

 

[mj2k10]

Howland is a solid coach, seems to have a decent eye for talent, and seems to put enough effort into recruiting to make his teams relevant. However, I've always wondered how much of his success at UCLA was just luck. If you look at the guys who were major contributors on his 3 FF teams, Howland had a run of "jackpot" hits on recruits who were wildly underrated coming into college. Darren Collison was barely top 100, and turned into an All-American caliber player. Luc Mbah a Moute was barely on anyone's radar, and turned out to be a key guy on all 3 of those FF teams. And then there's Russell Westbrook, who turned into one the all-time late-bloomers.

Maybe Howland saw things that the average coach couldn't, but his recruiting in his later years at UCLA really wasn't any different in terms of player ratings (it was actually better), but yielded results that weren't even close to what he had earlier.

Point is, we'll see if his recruiting success actually translates. He's doing enough that Miss St. will have potential, but how much is a legit question.

 

[miracle7s]

I'm not sure if he's ever written an article on it but on the CBS Sports College Basketball Podcast Gary Parrish said right before he got the MSU job that he would. And that he would get it because Adidas would force MSU's hand a bit. Apparently the Adidas high ups love Ben Howland, he's close to their #1 guy. Now I don't want to say it's all shoes and Adidas and blah blah blah because I hate when people use that tired ass Nike rhetoric with UK. However I will say that exactly as Parrish predicted recruits that Miss St. normally wouldn't get they're getting and it seems to be trending more that way than the other.

 

[bigc45157]

I'm not sure if he's ever written an article on it but on the CBS Sports College Basketball Podcast Gary Parrish said right before he got the MSU job that he would. And that he would get it because Adidas would force MSU's hand a bit. Apparently the Adidas high ups love Ben Howland, he's close to their #1 guy. Now I don't want to say it's all shoes and Adidas and blah blah blah because I hate when people use that tired ass Nike rhetoric with UK. However I will say that exactly as Parrish predicted recruits that Miss St. normally wouldn't get they're getting and it seems to be trending more that way than the other.

Interesante.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

If anyone is going to gather alot of talent other than UK, id prefer it to be anywhere Howland coaches. Hes terrible. Look at the talent in the NBA he coached, and did basically nothing other play football on the hardwood. Also with these new rules, opposing teams will shoot 100 free throws.

Didn't he make 3 straight FF's?

 

[Bkocats]

Didn't he make 3 straight FF's?

yes he did; and that was recent enough that these players he is getting would remember, or at least know about them. And he does, currently, have players in the NBA. I think he would use those facts, plus a little negative recruiting (Cal wouldn't have room for you - look at what happened last year with too much talent) to get players. It's not really a shocker, IMO.

 

[IL Wildcat]

I can't speak to anything regarding Adidas, but I'm sure that's a factor in his landing these guys. But the problem he has with many recruits is just his style of play, which focuses on defense and not offense much at all. As another said above, his teams prefer to play in the 60s and it's half court sets pretty much all the time. They are the opposite of a wide open or running style. It's just not very entertaining basketball. That just didn't fly in Cali. But in Starkville, the pressure won't be as high and they probably won't care. Still, the guys who believe they can get to the NBA quickly likely won't go there. But I'm not surprised he has signed these local talents. He'll get the in state guys he wants and maybe a few from the surrounding region. He's definitely an upgrade from anything they've ever had, in my opinion.

 

[Bluegrass79]

Stansbury recruited well at Missy State too. Nba draft picks. He failed.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Didn't he make 3 straight FF's?

Im not talking about his coaching results, they speak for themselves. Im talking about player development. His teams all look the same to me, regardless if they have 3 stars or 5 stars. Hes had tons of NBA talent, but used them like 3 stars. Kevin Love may have been the only exception.

 

[KMKAT]

I think UCLA was a bit hasty in removing him as we've come to find out, they haven't matched his success since.
How fortunate are we that he didn't win a couple of NC while he was out there?

Howland made it to the championship game with Mbah a Moute, Afflalo, and Collison...he had Love and Westbrook for 1 year out of the 3. They made a mistake IMO, and I'll think we'll him from him soon enough in the SEC.

Perhaps though, the game has changed where his style is going to be tougher to win than what talent he could grab on the West Coast. He's going to have to play a deep roster though to slow down the game to his liking.

Nothing wrong with trying to improve the conference, and Howland is definitely a coach that makes his team an upper tier team in the conference.

 

[jrpross]

I hope he does really well. They, LSU, Vandy. and A&M are all looking up. The stronger the SEC, the better for us. I get sick of listening to the preppy ACC douche bags talk about the SEC being the weakest major conference. Plus the stronger tests late in the season could only help us finish the job in March.

 

[brianpoe]

Howland is a solid coach, seems to have a decent eye for talent, and seems to put enough effort into recruiting to make his teams relevant. However, I've always wondered how much of his success at UCLA was just luck. If you look at the guys who were major contributors on his 3 FF teams, Howland had a run of "jackpot" hits on recruits who were wildly underrated coming into college. Darren Collison was barely top 100, and turned into an All-American caliber player. Luc Mbah a Moute was barely on anyone's radar, and turned out to be a key guy on all 3 of those FF teams. And then there's Russell Westbrook, who turned into one the all-time late-bloomers.

Maybe Howland saw things that the average coach couldn't, but his recruiting in his later years at UCLA really wasn't any different in terms of player ratings (it was actually better), but yielded results that weren't even close to what he had earlier.

Point is, we'll see if his recruiting success actually translates. He's doing enough that Miss St. will have potential, but how much is a legit question.

Good points.

Does this mean Howland was very good at developing players?

Westbrook's offer list comprised of San Diego, Kent State, Creighton, Boston College, Miami (FL), Boston College, Wake, Washington and Arizona State. 3 star

With the constant internal strife i tend to agree with you on the luck side, althoughI hate to use that term in this situation.



Here is an old high school highlight video of Westbrook:

http://www.maxpreps.com/high-school...?videoid=69ff2ef5-8b51-41c2-b5be-f5b3daed9836

 

[Untouchables22]

I hope he does really well. They, LSU, Vandy. and A&M are all looking up. The stronger the SEC, the better for us. I get sick of listening to the preppy ACC douche bags talk about the SEC being the weakest major conference. Plus the stronger tests late in the season could only help us finish the job in March.

The SEC has definitely been down lately but especially the last 5 years the Pac 12 has been the worst major conference in basketball.

 

[kentucky_wildcat_#1]

I'm glad Howland is at mississippi state. He will have them turned around and will most years make the tourney. We need all the decent coaches we can get in the Sec. I'm not a huge fan of the way he coaches offense, but i guess i'll get over it if he can get the dogs back into the tourney.