Miss St Article

[SimpleDawg]

I understand having an optimistic outlook for your future PG but she doesnt have to be an upgrade from Holmes for Mississippi State to be excellent. Holmes wasnt spectacular but you dont want a spectacular player at PG, you want someone who will make good decisions, control pace of play, run the offense and put your team in a good position to score. Holmes did that perfectly for Vic.

I agree. That's what I'm arguing. Taylor doesn't need to be spectacular next year. If "spectacular" is measured by points, we certainly don't need points from her. Bibby, Dra, and Scott is certainly gonna put up most of the points next year - Taylor doesn't need to score all that much. Just when she has the leeway - but otherwise she shouldn't be scoring like her life depended on it. Also at the wings is Rickea Jackson and Xaria Wiggins (more of 2-guard though imo). Based on that line of reasoning, do you see us dropping much just because we lost Holmes? I think we'll have the points. Bulldog fans certainly think Taylor's ball handling is pretty great, if not better. Her crossover moves and an array of other moves is more evident if just raw. I don't hear anyone criticize her point guard skills, and they don't fault her defense at all. So based on all that, I think the main thing she'll lack is the points that Holmes had the ability to put up - but mainly those midrange jumpers which Taylor just doesn't have yet. I guess she also lacks Holmes' ability to go cross-court finding the best spot/shot.

She was basically Morgan William 2.0 in that regard, hence why there was no drop off in PG play last year.

I don't agree with that. I don't think they're equal. Morgan showed up in the big games. Even though her stamina seemed a bit weak - because she was held down in the championship game vs South Carolina after her legendary efforts against Baylor and UConn. I wouldn't ever think the two are equal though, but moreso I think their playing styles are different. If equal in terms of... did they both run our offense very well?..... then yeah I agree.

Do you really think Taylor would've led MSU to 84 points that game? Or put up 15 points, 13 assists and no turnovers?

No, certainly not. For that year, at least. That's why Vic had Holmes in the game... she was our best option on a depth-thin team. Just making a hypothetical guess for next year if we play Oregon again. And they don't give our point guard so much space to shoot. And we finally have some defense at the 4. And some depth at Center. I'm just imagining things obviously. Not spitting confidence out there that we'll have a strong enough squad to take on Oregon next year.

And I'm not sure how you figure a slew of wings are going to handle a lot of PG duties. What duties are you referring to?

I covered most of that already. Once the ball is out of the point guard's hands... she's a player on the perimeter like all of the wings. Because we're loaded at the wings I don't think we'll lose much having Taylor out there on the court with 3 deadly wings. If you're thinking Taylor has high turnover tendencies, that's proven false based on games near the end of the year. Not sure which games you're thinking of when applying your perspective on Taylor. But I'm thinking Texas A&M and South Carolina. She had only 8 turnovers starting from the first South Carolina game (Jan 17) on to the end of the year. And 28 turnovers before that. So I'd say that's quite a drastic change.

The defense wasnt as good last year as a whole but they didnt routinely give up 80 points. It happened 3 times in 36 games. Mississippi State will still have a strong roster next year, but on paper the PG spot is the biggest weakness I see since Taylor hasnt resembled the low error/highly efficient PG prototype that Vic has relied upon with William and Holmes the last 4 years, and I dont see anyone on the roster prepped to step into that role. I'd love to see Taylor prove me wrong but right now I just dont see it.

The other way to look at it is that Center is the more important position than PG. And the dropoff could be bigger because you're replacing a spectacular generational Center even if the replacement (Promise Taylor) is more ready to play than the replacement PG. I just don't think we'll lose much replacing Holmes as long as Taylor has the same low turnovers as she had near the end of the year, be as smart as Blair was on switch and screen concepts (she's the smartest player on our team with a GPA of 4.0 so I have confidence), but every other aspect I think Taylor is easily gonna surpass Holmes on eventually. She's a more natural point guard, and I think she has better body agility as well as her ball-handling and her low-dribble maneuvering.


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[Jmsdawg]

Now with Minyon Moore to Oregon, the good thing about that is my long awaited anticipation of seeing Myah Taylor play full-time minutes.

She's a much better player than Jazzmun Holmes (or will be), and I'm tired of seeing her on the bench. This also makes me wonder how we'll use Aliyah Matharu and J'mya Young next year as back-ups. Don't think it's necessarily good to give highly rated recruits only 3 minutes per game - but I'm guessing that both will play next year now.

I was a big Jazz fan and believe she will be hard to replace. That being said I do think Myah will progress this year, Vic’s history is his PG get better each year, but I think Vic’s style of play requires two active PG. I have always been high on J’mya and Aliyah looked great her senior year. I realize Minyon was held in high regard by many but I was turned off by nudging out a undergrad scholarship player to make room for a graduate transfer. My opinion, much better to develop our incoming freshmen than to depend on graduate transfer. I see this next season as a reload season, I expect MSST to be good but not great next season so why not spend effort on developing our freshmen for the following season when we may very well be NC caliber?

 

[Jmsdawg]

I agree. Even when M William was the starting point J Holmes would come in and calm things down when needed. She focused on defense and not turning the ball over. In high school she wasn’t a shooting guard playing point but knew she had to do something at MSU to carve out a role. M Taylor was a scorer and her high school team was best when the offense ran through her. She is still learning how to be a point and what Coach Schaefer wants from her. At the beginning of the season she was very likely to jack up an ill advised three. However as the season progressed she did better at initiating the offense and playing within the system. Hopefully she understands the position isn’t hers and how much Coach Schaefer thinks of A Matharu and J Mingo-Young.

Mildog, love your post, you seem to have an insight to the program, are you directly connected to MSST WBB?

 

[SECbbfan24]

However as the season progressed she did better at initiating the offense and playing within the system. Hopefully she understands the position isn’t hers and how much Coach Schaefer thinks of A Matharu and J Mingo-Young.

Maybe I am reading too much into things but I find it interesting how much Schaefer has raved about these two and how important they will be next year but has been a little quiet in regards to Taylor's role moving forward. No doubt she is great defensively but her decision making and shooting was not very good last year. She seemed to settle down more at the end of the year but she still has ways to go. I know Vic typically prefers someone with more experience and he will typically go that route. Although I do think if those incoming freshmen show well, that will change pretty quickly.

I don't think PG was Taylors natural position in HS as the offense ran through her so learning that position is difficult. That said her offense was just as much a concern. I think Half her shots were bricks or airballs.

 

[militarydog]

Mildog, love your post, you seem to have an insight to the program, are you directly connected to MSST WBB?

Thanks but no, I am just a fan.

 

[militarydog]

Maybe I am reading too much into things but I find it interesting how much Schaefer has raved about these two and how important they will be next year but has been a little quiet in regards to Taylor's role moving forward. No doubt she is great defensively but her decision making and shooting was not very good last year. She seemed to settle down more at the end of the year but she still has ways to go. I know Vic typically prefers someone with more experience and he will typically go that route. Although I do think if those incoming freshmen show well, that will change pretty quickly.

I don't think PG was Taylors natural position in HS as the offense ran through her so learning that position is difficult. That said her offense was just as much a concern. I think Half her shots were bricks or airballs.

I don’t know if I would read more than he is excited about his new players.