Jackson St

State of '08: Mississippi

Shawn Siegel — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:17:52 -0700

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Duke or Carolina? BC or UMASS? Gonzaga or Washington.. or Washington State? What is the best program in each state? While there's not much competition in Hawaii.. there are great debates to be had in loaded regions like California, North Carolina, and Texas. The State of '08 is a ranking of every program in every state.. based mostly on recent success (the last five years) mixed in with subjective factors such as conference prestige, historical success, and overall program direction.

For more info, check out the State of '08 introduction.

MISSISSIPPI

MISSISSIPPI STATE - MSU returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first since 2005, when they made 4 trips in a row. This year though, both Ole Miss and Southern Miss could/should be better teams.

OLE MISS - The Rebels don't have the best history when it comes to basketball. Outside of 2001's surprising Sweet Sixteen run, NCAA Tournament wins have been extremely rare. But the last two seasons have been solid under Andy Kennedy (despite last year's post 13-0 collapse), and a Tourney trip would not be a surprise in 2009.

SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI - Many expected a swift turnaround under Larry Eustachy, but he enters his fifth season at USM without a postseason trip. While 19 & 20 wins looks impressive each of the last two years, the win totals have been padded with joke non-conference wins against DII teams and SWAC opponents.

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE - They've met Jackson State in the SWAC finals the last two seasons, splitting the Tourney bids. MVSU was unfortunate to face UCLA in the first round, losing 70-29, and shooting just 19% from the field.. the lowest Tournament output in over 20 years. Still, MVSU hasn't finished below .500 in SWAC play since 2000.

JACKSON STATE - JSU is coming off two solid seasons. In 2007, they made the Big Dance, knocking off legit non-conference foes (a rarity for the SWAC) like UTEP, Rutgers, and UIC. Last year they were one basket away from a return trip.. losing to in-state rival MVSU. The Tigers should once again be in the running for the conference title in 2009.

6. ALCORN STATE - It wasn't that long ago that Alcorn was one of the better teams in the SWAC, making the Big Dance in 99 & 02 for example with consistent top of the table finishes. But the last four years have been brutal, with sub-300 RPIs. The Braves haven't won a non-conference game against a D1 team since December 2004.

Last: Michigan - Next: Missouri

State of '08: The Introduction (& State list/links)

Three Stars of the Day: Augustin, Maxey, Angley

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:40:13 -0800

Three Stars of The Day

We handpick the best performances of the day, whether it be stat lines that make you drool, or clutch performances. Either way, its our way of showing the love:

DJ Augustin - Texas

With 26 points, the Longhorns best player made the difference in a close affair against Oklahoma State

Grant Maxey - Jackson State

A rare appearance by a SWAC player, Maxey owned Texas Southern with 28 points and 10 boards

Brody Angley - Santa Clara

Besides scoring 24, the senior point guard added a career best 13 assists against Pepperdine

Other Top Performers

Stephen Curry - Scored 29 and helped the Wildcats bowl over a bad Western Carolina squad

Joe Zeglinski - Hartford - The Hawks improved to 3-2 in league play behind the sophomore's career-best 28

Previous Stars of the Day

January 20th - Dezmon Harris - Weber State

January 19th - James Gist, Maryland

January 18th - Abbott/Harden, Arizona State

January 17th - Dionte Christmas, Temple

January 14th - Roy Hibbert, Georgetown

January 11th - Lester Hudson, Tennessee-Martin

January 9th - DJ White, Indiana

January 8th - Lester Hudson, Tennessee-Martin

January 7th - Wayne Ellington, UNC

January 6th - Shan Foster, Vanderbilt

January 5th - Damon Huffman, Brown

January 4th - Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

January 3rd - Damon Huffman, Brown

January 2nd - Martin Zeno, Texas Tech

November/December Star of the Day Archive

Daily Conference Poll: Who Will Win the SWAC?

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:11:47 -0700

2007-08 Jackson State Basketball Preview

Joel Welser — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 12:17:53 -0700

Jackson State Tigers

Overall Rank: #140

Conference Rank: #1 SWAC

2006-07: 21-14, 12-6, 2^nd

2006-07 postseason: NCAA

Jackson State will be looking for a new team leader on multiple levels after the terrific career of Trey Johnson has come to an end. Johnson went out with a bang, averaging 27.1 points and reaching the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers even held their own for a little while against Florida in the first round before the depth of two time champions was too much for the SWAC squad. Replacing the points of Johnson will be done by committee, but the leadership role will fall on point guard Catraiva Givens. The 5-8 senior averaged 4.1 assists per game last year and will need to figure out how to pass the ball to somebody besides Johnson.

Who’s Out:

Johnson took 752 shots during his senior campaign. The next highest on the team was 244. That is a lot of shots that will be distributed out to a group of underappreciated returning players. After living in the shadows of Johnson, they are ready to make a mark on Jackson State basketball. But more on them later. The backcourt also lost Julius Young who averaged 8.7 points per game.

Who’s In:

The newcomers will be looking to take a handful of those shots left behind by Johnson. In fact, Jenirro Bush has the talent to take a lot of them. The 6-7 wing is a prolific scorer and was ranked in the top 100 in the class by some recruiting services. Bush, a Crawford, Mississippi product, led his high school team to a state championship and averaged 24.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals as a senior. That is not a bad way to start replacing Johnson. Fellow newcomers Jerome Davis, Christopher Hyche and De’Suan Dixon will add depth on the wings. Point guard Rod Melvin will play behind Givens and has the potential to take over for the senior next season. Oliver Jefferson and Brandon Baker will battle for minutes in the frontcourt. Baker, a 7-footer, is a major presence under the basket on the defensive end, but will need to spend some time developing his overall basketball skills.

Who to Watch:

Grant Maxey and Jeremy Caldwell are talented frontcourt scorers. Maxey had a tremendous freshman campaign, averaging 8.9 points and a team high 5.7 rebounds and should develop into a big time SWAC player by year’s end. Caldwell will not be as prolific of a scorer, but still was fourth on the team with 7.0 points per game. Edwin Jarrow may be too important to keep out of the starting lineup despite what his 1.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game imply. Jarrow, a 6-6 senior, will do the dirty work under the basket and give open up space for Maxey or Caldwell. Marcus Jones started ten games and is at least good for a foul or two a game, but he will not put up big numbers.

Final Projection:

The only thing lacking from the returning players is a shooter. Kay Martinez, who made 29 long balls as a junior, needs to step up for his senior year. He will be expected to drastically increase his shot numbers and developing a little shooting consistency from the outside will go a long way to helping the Tigers. Most of the scoring talent is now on the interior and somebody has to start hitting the long ball to open up space in the paint. Jackson State will likely have trouble early in the year while finding its new scorers and developing a game plan that does not involve Johnson, but by the end, the talent level will have the Tigers in the thick of another trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

Projected Starting Five:

Catraiva Givens, Senior, Guard, 5.3 points per game

Kay Martinez, Senior, Guard, 5.1 points per game

Jenirro Bush, Freshman, Guard, DNP last season

Grant Maxey, Sophomore, Forward, 8.9 points per game

Jeremy Caldwell, Junior, Center, 7.0 points per game

Complete Top 144 Ranking | 2007-08 Preview | Discuss the Preview

11/22: Daily Dribble

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:03:20 -0800

Listening to Dukie V, you'd think Marquette's win over the Blue Devils last night was the biggest in the program's history. The fact is though that Marquette easily had the best player on the court in point guard Dominic James. James easily outclassed Greg Paulus with 25 and 7 assists as compared to his counterparts 7 and 1. Despite what V thinks (saying this man's full name is simply too painful), beating Duke doesn't automatically mean you're a lock to be a top 10 team all season. Both of these teams have flaws that will be exposed in the future. Flipping back and forth, I also caught much of UCLA's impressive 73-68 win over Kentucky. While 18 points and 5 boards isn't Earth shattering, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute's play was extremely impressive. This is a kid who didn't score double digits until his 6th game last year and never had more than 15 all last season. With 24 in the season opener, and 18 last night, Mbah a Moute is on pace to be one of the season's most improved players. Its hard to imagine anyone else that has improved so much in the past two years. Perhaps Josh McRoberts should take some lessons from Luc Richard.. Big East teams aren't supposed to lose to SWAC teams.. ever. Jackson State's win on a neutral court against Rutgers is stunning. Last year, the SWAC had 8 non-conference wins ALL season, and was 1-24 coming into yesterday (Alabama A&M's victory over independent South Dakota State the lone win). Rutgers 71-70 loss is a bad sign for things to come. Last year Clemson started 11-0, but then finished the season 8-13 and 7-9 in conference play. This year Clemson is 6-0 after beating Mississippi State, but its hard not to predict a similar fate for the Tigers this time around. After exploding for 93 points in Oregon's first three games, freshman guard Tajuan Porter has come back to Earth with 27 points on 10 of 30 shooting in his last two. The Ducks are 5-0 and perhaps ready to atone for a couple seasons in a row of dissapointment though. Bucknell lost again and is now 0-4, the lone Patriot Leage team yet to pick up a win. Is this the year that Lehigh or Holy Cross finally get over the Bison hump? My guess is that Bucknell will still turn it around. JR Giddens is already making a big impact for New Mexico. The Kansas transfer is averaging 21 points per game and the Lobos are 4-0 after dispatching with Kansas State by a 24 point margin. New Mexico has a home and home series with in-state rival New Mexico State in the next few weeks after which we'll learn a lot about both of these potential mid-major sleepers. Do Utah fans wish Rick Majerus was still around? The Utes are 0-3 after dropping games to Southern Utah, Santa Clara, and Colorado. To make things worse, the losses to Southern Utah and Colorado were at home. To make things even worse, Colorado had lost by 38 and 41 in their previous two games. Its pretty common knowledge that guards win college basketball teams.. but the Utes backcourt play is simply not up to par.

SWAC Conference Preview

CHN — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 09:54:45 -0800

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

SWAC Preview

Conference Rank: 31st

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - Trey Johnson, Jackson St, G

Delvin Thompson, Alcorn St, G

Michael Ford, Alabama A&M, G/F

William Byrd, UAPB, F

Christopher Moore, Texas Southern, F

Nat'l	Team (Click for Preview)	Conf	Tourney
139	Alabama State	1	NCAA
177	Jackson State	2
216	Alcorn State	3
258	Miss Valley St	4
260	Alabama A&M	5
295	Texas Southern	6
307	Grambling State	7
314	Southern	8
324	Prairie View A&M	9
333	Ark Pine Bluff	10