Final Vanderbilt thoughts and some basketball notes
How long with the starters play? Plus reaction to Ole Miss's loss to Marquette
Hope everyone is having a good Friday. We’ve got a new podcast out in which I give some basketball thoughts off the top, talk to VandySports(dot)com’s Chris Lee and then hit Friday picks with LBs Greg. Check that out here or anywhere you get your podcasts.
We’ve got some football and basketball to dive into today.
Final Vanderbilt thoughts
What is there to say about this game? Ole Miss should win in a snoozer. I have no idea how long the starters will play. Some of that will be determined by how well the Rebels play in the first half. The rest will be up to the coaching staff. I think Kiffin and this staff realize the importance of next week and what is at stake on a short week. I don’t really buy a ton of stock into Kiffin leaving Corral in to pad stats to bolster his Heisman campaign. Maybe it’s a drive longer. But I am guessing he’d rather have a fully healthy and rested Corral heading into the biggest game of the season than for him to have an extra 70 yards passing and a touchdown to make his case look shinier.
I am interested to see if Jonathan Mingo plays, and if he does, how healthy he looks. I was skeptical about Mingo returning this year despite some chatter to the contrary. It just didn’t make much sense to me. But he did dress out last week. That has to mean something. Kiffin also mentioned last week that he expected Mingo to be back by the bowl game at worst, so that would lead me to believe there is a chance he plays in one of these last two games. That’ll certainly help heading into Starkville. It’s been a while since this offense has looked explosive and at full strength. Mingo’s return would get them as close as they can possibly be this year. That’s something to look out for.
That’s about all I have. Vanderbilt is terrible.
Speaking of Corral, if you’d like to purchase a Corral for Heisman sticker, or perhaps a shirt or a hat, you an do so right here. A friend of mine came up with these concepts and I am simply helping spread the word a bit.
Ole Miss loses to Marquette, 78-72
Ole Miss built up an early lead, lost it early on in the second half and came out on the wrong side of a seesaw affair. I wasn’t overly impressed with Marquette. The Golden Eagles seemed like a small team with two good, high-major scorers, and not much else. I came away thinking the Rebels let one slip away. Marquette will probably finish higher than 3rd to last in the Big East — where it was voted in the preseason — but I don’t think it is an NCAA Tournament team. Maybe I am wrong. Anyway, I thought there was some good things and some bad things from this for Ole Miss. Here are some notes from watching it on my couch.
Ole Miss has shot the ball better from 3-point range than I expected. It’s only three games, but the Rebels are hovering right at 40 percent right now. That number will likely dip a bit, but they were 8-20 (40 percent) last night, but just 2-9 in the second half after shooting the cover off of the basketball in the first 20 minutes. So far, it has looked how I figured it would look if this team was going to be better than expected in this department — meaning it his come by committee. Austin Crowley and Ty Fagan have shot it relatively well from three and even Luis Rodriguez has been alright, or at least decent enough to where he took six of them last night and I felt all of them were justified. This is a good sign if it lasts.
The final six minutes of this games featured the same problem that plagued Ole Miss all of last season (and made them a brutal team to watch). When the game slowed down last night, as most close college games do in the waning minutes, the Rebels didn’t have an identity on offense. They couldn’t figure out who to play through, who to run offense for and who could create shots. It looked like they started to play through Jarkell Joiner, but he didn’t do much after a nifty isolation stepback by the free throw line that cut the deficit to three with about four minutes left. I figured Ole Miss might try to play through Nysier Brooks, who has looked really good so far, but that didn’t materialize. The team’s best offense came on out of bounds plays and a pair of Ty Fagan drives. It wasn’t pretty.
Look, it’s the third game. This is natural. A TON of teams are still figuring this very thing out. But that’s the thing — it needs to be figured out before conference play. Last year’s team never quite figured it out. They sort of did in late January when Romello White became the guy through which the offense flowed, and it’s no coincidence that was the best stretch of the season. I am curious to see what it looks like the next time they get into a tight game in crunch time.
New day, new opponent 🔴🔵 🆚 Elon 📍 Charleston, S.C. 🕗 8 PM CT 📻 Ole Miss Network 🖥 rebs.us/2Z4MGTz 🎙 rebs.us/3nwzSyE 📈 rebs.us/3oH3okF #HottyToddy | #FamilyOn3Jarkell Joiner wasn’t great last night. He scored 13 points on 4-13 shooting in 39 minutes. He and Brooks tied for the team lead in points. Ole Miss needs more out of Joiner offensively, toward the end of games. He seems like the most obvious option for the note above. He’s shown some positives so far. He’s beating people off the dribble more frequently than he did at any point last year. That’s a GREAT sign. The last four minutes of last night’s game was not a great sign. It happens. But can he become that guy? That might be the most important and telling question concerning this team.
Nysier Brooks has been terrific. He looked great last night and is way more skilled on the offensive end than I thought he would be. It’s not a perfect analogy, but he’s sort of what Kermit wished Dom was on offense and what Bruce Stevens was on defense during Davis’ first year at Ole Miss — meaning he offers more than enough on both ends of the floor. I had a hunch last night might not be a game he would be a big factor in. Marquette is small and gets after your ass on defense and wants to speed up the tempo. Not only did Brooks look fine and kept up, he was good defensively, a menace on the glass and was a real asset to the Rebels for most of the time he was on the floor. That’s a great sign for the team’s mailability.
Ty Fagan looks like he’s been a nice addition. I didn’t really understand it when Ole Miss landed the transfer from Georgia, but I also knew it wasn’t just some completely random take and that the coaching staff saw something in him. He was great driving to the basket last night and also has good vision when he drives. A couple passes he made after he beat his defender off the bounce were really nifty. He scored eight points last night and only played 10 minutes. I can almost guarantee you will see his minutes load increase dramatically over the next week or so.
Jaemyn Brakefield has had some nice moments but hasn’t offered a ton offensively so far. I don’t think that means a ton just yet.
Matthew Murrell hasn’t been great offensively either. This is slightly more worrisome if you’re Ole Miss, but again, it’s early.
Ole Miss only turned the basketball over nine times against Marquette’s half, three-quarter and full court pressure. For a team that lacked a bit of backcourt depth coming into the year, and lost Daeshun Ruffin for three weeks, I thought the way the Rebels handled the basketball was pretty good.
Ole Miss had seven steals last night. The Rebels play hard defensively and the guards are active.
While Ole Miss may play hard on that end, it wasn’t always playing smart. A couple of crucial defensive lapses late led to open threes, fouls and free points at the line.
Ole Miss shot 40 percent from the free throw line. It’s tough to win games doing that, though I don’t think it is indicative of much yet.
Ole Miss lost a game it could’ve won. It’s not a killer. Marquette will be decent. I think the bigger thing is that the Rebels robbed themselves of a chance to play West Virginia on Friday night. That being an opportunity for a quality win is almost a certainty. Instead, the Rebels get Elon tonight at 8 p.m. This game will be underway or finished by the time most of you read this, but I figured the thoughts were still applicable.
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Around the SEC
Can we abolish the built-in SEC November bye? I get why the league does it, but man, it makes for a crap slate of games. I really only have two or three games I can even formulate a thought on.
Florida at Missouri - Dan Mullen looks like he’s going to survive until next season. For now. A loss at Columbia would almost certainly change that. Missouri isn’t good, but the Tigers have a really good running back and they score points. This will be fun from a train wreck waiting to happen standpoint.
Auburn at South Carolina - This Shane Beamer story is great, but will lose some luster if the Gamecocks can’t find that sixth win. They blew a chance at Missouri last week and now get an Auburn team without Bo Nix at home.
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