Mississippi State Sports Blog

FoxSports.com is reporting that Jamont Gordon will declare for the NBA Draft.

“I’m definitely coming out,” the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Gordon told FOXSports.com on Monday night. “In fact, I’m sending in the letter to the NBA tomorrow.”

He has not signed with an agent yet, and may hold off on that for now. That allows him to do some work-outs and “test the waters” while leaving the option open to return to the Bulldogs for his Senior season.

Both Gregg Ellis and Kyle Veazey have tried to confirm this story with Gordon, but he hasn’t returned their calls yet.

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The MSU athletic department released news yesterday that sophomore Ben Hansbrough has decided to transfer away from Mississippi State after his spring semester is over. Hansbrough was MState’s fourth-leading scorer this past season at 10.5 points per contest.

Although the statement from the athletic department didn’t give any reasons for his departure, Gregg Ellis spoke with Hansbrough who had this to say:

Basically, he told me he wants to be a better basketball player, but the facilities at MSU don’t give him that opportunity.

A self-described gym rat, he can’t get into the Hump to work on his game and isn’t sure when he’ll be able to.

“I’m not going to beat anyone on talent alone,” he said. “I have to outwork people. And to do that, I need to be in the gym. Right now, I can’t get into the Hump, and I won’t be able to for another couple of months. I know it sounds petty, but without a practice facility, I can’t get better as a player.”

With Charles Rhodes graduating, Jamont Gordon still considering the NBA, and now Hansbrough leaving, what will this do to our team next year? What does this say about the state of our basketball program?

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For the third-consecutive year, Mississippi State’s spring football game will be televised. Regional television station CSS will broadcast the game on a tape-delay basis, with the first airing set for Sunday, March 30, at 11:30 a.m. CT.

Steve Ellis and Matt Wyatt will call the action, and head coach Sylvester Croom will join the pair in the broadcast booth. The game will also air on Tuesday, April 1, at 2:30 p.m. CT. An “enhanced” version, featuring interviews and behind the scenes footage will debut on April 10, at 8 p.m. CT.

On the practice fields, Croom’s troops put in 90 minutes of work as the team focused on special teams and game situations. The final 30 minutes of the practice session, after the team was separated into Maroon and White teams, focused on trick plays that could be used on Saturday.

The spring football game will begin at 12 noon on Saturday, and general admission seating will be available for $5.

Via Athletic Media Relations

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Mississippi State’s Ron Polk, the winningest baseball coach in Southeastern Conference history, announced he will resign effective at the end of the current season, MSU Director of Athletics Larry Templeton confirmed.

“It goes without saying that we are most appreciative of the outstanding job Ron Polk has done for Mississippi State baseball,” Templeton said. “His decision does not come as a surprise because we had a conversation about this timeline even before this season started.

“With Ron making his decision public at this time, it will allow our institution to properly put together a process for the selection of our next head baseball coach,” Templeton added.

Polk is in his 29th season as head of the M-State baseball program, his 35th as a collegiate head coach and his 40th in all levels of coaching college baseball. He has won 1,360 games as a college head coach, ranking among the nation’s top 10 all-time winningest coaches, the fifth-most wins among active NCAA Division I baseball coaches. He became the winningest baseball coach in SEC history in 1997.

A native of Boston, Mass., Polk has guided 23 of his previous 34 teams to NCAA regional play, including the last five straight. He has taken eight of those clubs to the College World Series, including six while at State.

Polk was twice honored as the National Coach of the Year (1973 and 1985). He has been elected to the American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame (1985), both the state of Mississippi and the Mississippi State University Sports Hall of Fame (1988), and the Georgia Southern University Hall of Fame (1990). He was honored by his peers as the recipient of the ABCA’s Lefty Gomez Award.

Via Athletic Media Relations

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Gregg Ellis reported on his Daily Journal blog today the standout QB Chris Garrett of Tupelo has committed to play for Les Miles at LSU. This is a reversal of the verbal commitment he had made to play for Sly Croom last October.

The commitment to the Tigers comes after a visit to LSU and a scholarship offer from Les Miles. With a family that has strong ties to MSU, this was a tough decision to make.

“He’s been praying about it for weeks, and he thinks this is what’s best for his future and career,” his father, David Garrett told me this morning. “It’s tough for him, because he’s been a Mississippi State fan his entire life. He loves Coach Croom and the staff, but just feels LSU is what’s best for his future and chance to play in the NFL.”

LSU has already received a commitment from 5-star recruit Russell Shepard of Houston, completing their QB recruiting for the 2009 class.

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In his NCAA Tournament debut as a starter, Mississippi State senior forward Charles Rhodes slammed the ninth-seeded Oregon Ducks (18-14) for a career-high 34 points on 10-of-12 shooting to lead the eighth-seeded Bulldogs (23-10) to a 76-69 victory Friday evening in first-round action.

Rhodes, who has posted at least 20 points in seven of his last 10 outings, also recorded nine rebounds and knocked down 14-of-18 free throws attempted. First-team, all-SEC junior Jamont Gordon struggled from the field but led the team in rebounding and assists, with 11 and nine, respectively. Leading the nation in blocked shots, sophomore defensive presence Jarvis Varnado moved just five swats shy of matching the all-time SEC single-season record with four alterations in the game, along with eight boards.

Senior guard Malik Hairston led the Ducks with 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting, while Tajuan Porter hit 5-of-17 shots from the field to register 18 points.

The Bulldogs could find no offensive rhythm in the first half, shooting just 10-of-29 from the floor as a team and managing just 28 points, despite a 16-point, first-half effort from Rhodes. State, the league’s top rebounding squad, was also beaten on the board 19-18 in the first stanza and shot 0-of-10 from long range. Oregon took a 38-28 advantage into the break.

Momentum began to shift in the middle of the second half, however, as sophomore shooting guard Barry Stewart hit the squad’s first three-pointer at the 13:21 mark to spark an MSU offensive barrage that would include a 12-1 run and the squad ending the half by scoring on 14-of-22 (63.6%) shots from the floor. In the same time frame, State’s nationally second-ranked field-goal percentage defense locked down Oregon, holding this year’s most efficient offense in the Pac-10 to just 8-of-32 (25.0%) shooting in the half, including 2-of-21 (9.5%) from beyond the arc.

The Bulldogs now move on to the second round to face the top-seeded Memphis Tigers, who defeated 16th-seeded Texas-Arlington. That game is set to tip-off around 3:45pm CT in Little Rock.

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Via Athletic Media Relations

Making their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last seven years, the eighth-seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs (22-10, 12-4 SEC) meet the ninth-seeded Oregon Ducks (18-13, 9-9 Pac-10) of the Pac-10 Conference Friday evening in Little Rock, Ark., during first-round tournament action of the South Regional. Tip-off at the 16,060-seat Alltel Arena is set for 6:25 p.m. CT.

All NCAA Tournament games will be televised by CBS Sports, with Ian Eagle and former Duke standout Jim Spanarkel scheduled to call the action from Little Rock this weekend. The winner of Friday’s MSU-UO matchup will advance to take on the winner of the game between the top-seeded and second-ranked Memphis Tigers and No. 16 seed Texas-Arlington Sunday.

Winners of eight of their last 11 contests, coach Rick Stansbury’s 22-10 Bulldogs claimed their fourth SEC Western Division title in the last six seasons with this year’s 12-4 regular-season league mark. MSU won the SEC West by three games over runner-up Arkansas. Most recently in Atlanta during last weekend’s SEC Tournament, State posted a 69-67 overtime triumph over divisional rival Alabama on Friday evening before dropping a 64-60 decision to eventual tourney champion Georgia during Saturday’s semifinal-round action held at Georgia Tech’s Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

Entering postseason tournament play still ranked second in the nation in both field-goal percentage defense (.368) and blocked shots (7.94 bpg), the Bulldogs are paced by the first-team, all-SEC veteran tandem of junior guard/forward Jamont Gordon (17.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg & 4.8 apg) and senior forward Charles Rhodes (16.9 ppg, 7.7 rpg & 56% FGs). Defensively, SEC Defensive Player of the Year Jarvis Varnado (7.7 ppg & 7.9 rpg) continues to top the NCAA in blocks with 4.63 swats per contest.

Hailing from Eugene, the University of Oregon Ducks are 18-13 overall on the year and finished the regular season with a break-even 9-9 mark in Pac-10 Conference play. Guided by 11th-year head coach Ernie Kent, a 1977 Oregon graduate, the Ducks currently rank 11th nationally in three-point field-goal percentage (.401) and 12th in overall field-goal percentage (.485). Featuring three 1,000-point career scorers, Oregon is paced by second-team, all-Pac-10 senior forward Maarty Leunen, who is second on the team in scoring (15.2 ppg) and the club’s No. 1 rebounder at 9.2 boards per game to rank 37th nationally. Senior guard Malik Hairston averages a team-high 16.1 points a game and ranks as one of four UO players to have hit at least 49 three-point field goals on the season.

Get your NCAA 1st Round Tickets:

• NCAA 1st & Second Round - Little Rock - Session 1
• NCAA 1st & Second Round - Little Rock - Session 2

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An article in The Register-Guard out of Eugene, Oregon talks about soon-to-be Mississippi State Athletics Director Greg Byrne and his connection to Oregon. Oregon is matched up against MSU in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Tournament this Friday in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Byrne has quite a connection to Oregon. In addition to heading up their fund raising efforts in the mid-90’s, his father Bill served as Athletics Director there from 1984-1992.

“My dad used to wake me up in the morning, and tell me to put on my painting clothes, because there wasn’t any money to do anything, so if Mac Court needed a fresh coat of paint, we’d be down there painting halls,” he said.

“I remember the Friday before my dad’s first football game as AD, he came home all sun-burned, and his hair was sticking up all over the place. He’d been out there painting parking spots, because the guy who was supposed to do it didn’t show up.”

After a stint at Oregon, Byrne went on to Oregon State as associate AD before leaving for Kentucky.

It is a good read if you want more background information on our new AD. Check it out.

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Mississippi State, which finished the regular season with a 22-10 overall record, gained a No. 8 national seed and will open NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship play against 9th-seeded Oregon in first-round tournament action at the Alltel Arena in Little Rock, Ark., Friday, March 21. The Bulldogs and Ducks will meet at 6:25 p.m. CT Friday evening.

The MSU-Oregon winner will play the winner of the No. 1-seeded Memphis and No. 16 Texas-Arlington contest on Sunday, March 23, for the right to advance to the Houston, Texas, regional the following weekend.

Mississippi State will be allotted 550 tickets for the first- and second-round games. Bulldog players, coaches and travel party will receive tickets from that allotment.

State men’s basketball season ticket holders with a Bulldog Club rank of 250 or better may begin requesting up to four tickets by email at mrichey@athletics.msstate.edu or by calling 662-325-3074, beginning at 8:30 a.m. CT Monday.

Submission of a request does not guarantee that tickets will be issued. Bulldog Club members will be notified by 9 p.m. Monday on the status of their request. Credit card information will be required with the request and Bulldog Club members who receive tickets will be charged immediately.

Those tickets must be picked up by the Bulldog Club member or his/her immediate family. Should the Bulldogs advance, those Bulldog Club members are committed to those tickets for Sunday’s second-round game.

Tickets are priced at $53 per session. First- and second-round games are separate sessions.

Fifty (50) tickets will be held for MSU students with a valid university identification, and will go on sale to them Wednesday at 8 a.m. CT, at the Bryan Athletic Administration Ticket Office. One ticket will be available per student ID.

There are also tickets available at many of the online ticket outlets. Here are a few of them.

• NCAA 1st & Second Round - Little Rock - Session 1
• NCAA 1st & Second Round - Little Rock - Session 2
• NCAA 1st & Second Round - Little Rock - Session 3

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Via Athletic Media Relations

On an emotional Senior Day, Mississippi State senior Charles Rhodes capped a tremendously successful career in Humphrey Coliseum by scoring a team-high 27 points to lead the 25th-ranked Bulldogs (21-9, 12-4 Southeastern Conference) to an 84-75 home victory over the visiting LSU Tigers (13-17, 6-10) in the regular-season closer for both teams.

The 29th all-time member of MSU’s 1,000 point club, Rhodes notched his ninth double-double of the season and 15th of his career with 10 rebounds to go along with his 27-point performance. For the second time in as many games, Cousy Award finalist Jamont Gordon joined Rhodes in contributing more than 20 points with 23 to go along with nine rebounds and four assists. Sophomore shooting specialist Ben Hansbrough tallied 12 points on a 3-of-6 performance from behind the arc, while the nation’s leading shot-blocker, sophomore Jarvis Varnado, swatted seven shots and claimed six rebounds in the game.

LSU junior standout Marcus Thornton tied his previous career high in the game by recording 38 points on a 6-of-12 effort from long range while junior center Chris Johnson pitched in 17 points and six rebounds for the Tigers. Freshman Anthony Randolph rounded out LSU scorers in double digits with 14 and 10 rebounds to record his ninth double-double of the season.

The game began well for State, as the Bulldogs were lifted by two-straight, three-pointers from Hansbrough. The Tigers came back late in the half, however, gaining the lead at the 2:42 mark by a score of 36-35. LSU would ride that to a slim 43-42 advantage at halftime.

The affair would remain tight well into the second stanza until the Bulldogs stormed out to a 24-5 run between the 18:11 mark to the 7:21 mark, highlighted by the first made three-pointer of Varnado’s Maroon and White career. Thornton responded for the Tigers in a fashion all too familiar to MSU, by getting hot from three. Thornton drained three-straight treys to cut the Bulldog advantage to 75-71 with 2:14 remaining. The streak would end, however, as the junior missed two long-range attempts and State pulled away in the closing minutes.

With the victory, the Bulldogs posted their 12th regular-season SEC win, the most since 2003-04. State also completed back-to-back sweeps of the LSU Tigers for the first time since 1997-98.

In the win, State also broke Kentucky’s 240-block SEC single-season record, recording 10 blocks in the affair to total 243 rejections on the season.

With the completion of regular-season play, MSU will now head to postseason play in Atlanta, Ga., next weekend (March 13-16) for the 2008 SEC Tournament. As the Western Division’s top seed, the Bulldogs have a bye in the first round on Thursday. On Friday, March 14, State will face the winner of the Thursday matchup between Florida (the Eastern Division’s #4 seed) and Alabama (the Western Division’s #5 seed). The Bulldogs’ first contest is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. CT) Friday in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.

Get our SEC Tournament Tickets now.

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Via Media Relations

Mississippi State University’s 18th president, Robert H. “Doc” Foglesong, today [March 7] announced his plans to leave his position no later than June 30.

He was named president in 2006, following more than 30 years of service in the U.S. Air Force, where he retired as a four-star general.

In announcing his decision, Foglesong issued the following statement:

“With the express purpose of helping the university move forward, I have asked the Commissioner of Higher Education that I be relieved as President not later than June 30, 2008. Mary and I are incredibly proud of the past two years and of the new records in enrollment and research, the economic development opportunities that have evolved across the state, the leadership performance of individuals and teams across the campus, the energy and enthusiasm of the Dawg Pack, and, of course, proud of our friends. Godspeed Bulldogs. Doc Foglesong.”

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The latest NCAA Men’s Basketball Polls are out and Mississippi State re-enters the Coaches Poll at number 25 but are the #2 team out of the AP Top 25.

In other news, Bracketology has been updated over at ESPN.com, and we have moved up a little. We were in an 8/9 matchup in Little Rock for the 1st and 2nd round of the South region. As of today, we are a 7 seed, matched up against West Virginia, a 10 seed, and playing our 1st/2nd round action in Washington D.C. as part of the East Region.

The game on Wednesday night in Nashville against Vanderbilt will be a tough one. They are coming off the upset over Tennessee last week and are playing great at home in Memorial Gym. If you are in Nashville, there are tickets available for the game.

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Spurred by last week’s career-best, 30-point performance against Auburn, Mississippi State senior forward Charles Rhodes has been named the SEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. The announcement was made Monday by the league office headquartered in Birmingham.

With his first-ever weekly league honor, Rhodes becomes the third different Bulldog player this season to garner the SEC’s player of the week recognition. Earlier this year, junior all-America candidate Jamont Gordon and sophomore guard Barry Stewart earned the laurel on Jan. 21 and Dec. 31, respectively. Now with three selections on the year, State joins current SEC leader Tennessee as the only two schools to have more than one individual collect the league’s weekly honor this season. The only two previous times that MSU has had three SEC Player of the Week recipients in the same season came during the team’s 2003-04 SEC championship season (Lawrence Roberts-twice & Timmy Bowers) and the club’s 1995-96 Final Four campaign (Darryl Wilson-twice & Erick Dampier).

A preseason All-SEC First Team selection by the league’s head coaches, Rhodes averaged 22.5 points on 63 percent field-goal shooting (17-of-27 FGs) and 71 percent from the line (10-of-14 FTs), along with 8.5 rebounds, for the week in helping lead coach Rick Stansbury’s SEC West Champion Bulldogs to an 89-78 home win over Auburn and a 68-59 road triumph over Florida. The Jackson native began the week by pumping in a career-high 30 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 from the line, in addition to pulling down nine rebounds against Auburn. Rhodes became the first Mississippi State player to score 30 points in a game since Winsome Frazier tallied 30 points against UMKC in 2004-05 and the first to do so for the Bulldogs in an SEC game since Mario Austin scored 30 versus Arkansas in 2001-02. After ranking as the SEC’s third-leading scorer (22.0 ppg) during the month of February behind Vanderbilt’s Shan Foster and Sundiata Gaines of Georgia, Rhodes capped MSU’s 2-0 week and tipped off the month of March by adding 15 points and eight rebounds in Saturday’s nine-point win in Gainesville.

A second-team all-SEC recipient each of the previous two seasons, Rhodes enters the week ranked ninth in the conference in scoring (16.2 ppg), seventh in rebounding (7.4 rpg), sixth in field-goal percentage (.560) and 10th in blocked shots (1.32 bpg) for all games. In league action, the former Jackson Lanier product stands tied for 10th in scoring (16.7 ppg), eighth in rebounding (7.5 rpg), fourth in field-goal percentage (.567) and ninth in blocks (1.31 bpg). Averaging 19.2 points over his last 10 contests, Rhodes also ranks fifth in the SEC with seven double-doubles on the year, including three double-double efforts in his last nine outings. In addition, he has also come up just one rebound shy of posting three more double-doubles (Auburn, at South Carolina & Alabama) and was two boards away at Florida from another double-double during his recent nine-game stretch.

One of two senior players set to be recognized prior to Saturday’s home contest against the LSU Tigers, Rhodes is presently ranked 11th on MSU’s all-time scoring list with 1,317 career points, 14th with 634 career rebounds and sixth with 134 career blocks. He also stands just outside the school’s all-time top-10 leaders for career field-goal percentage (.560), which includes a school-record 166 career dunks (51 this season).

Via Athletic Media Relations

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Senior Charles Rhodes recorded a career-high 30 points Wednesday evening to help Mississippi State (19-8, 10-3 Southeastern Conference) secure at least a share of its fourth SEC Western Division title in the past six years with a 89-78 triumph over the visiting Auburn Tigers (14-12, 4-9).

Tonight’s defeat of the Tigers marked the 13th win in the past 15 meetings of the teams for Mississippi State.

Rhodes hit 11-of-14 shots from the floor, including a made three-pointer on his lone attempt from long range, and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to victory. All-America candidate Jamont Gordon added 20 points on a 4-of-8 effort from behind the arc, claimed four rebounds, and handed out six assists while America’s current block leader, Jarvis Varnado, swatted four shots, scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting, and notched nine boards.

Sophomore shooters Ben Hansbrough and Barry Stewart each contributed 11 points. As a team, MSU hit 60.0% from the field, a new season standard.

Senior forward Quan Prowell excelled in the Tiger loss, scoring 20 points by halftime and ending the contest with a game- and career-high 31 points on a 7-of-10 mark from three-point range to go along with eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Lucas Hargrove claimed a career-high 10 rebounds and added 11 points to record his first career double-double.

The first half was marked by excellent shooting and defense from MSU, though the Bulldogs gave the ball up several times, holding just a 42-35 halftime advantage.

As the Tigers clawed back and shrunk the State lead to just 51-48 at the 13:28 mark of the second period, the Bulldogs responded with bite to score eight straight points on consecutive three-pointers from Hansbrough and Gordon to push the lead back to 59-48. The MSU advantage hovered around 10 for the remainder of the game, as Rhodes drained his lone attempted three-pointer with 40 seconds to go to push the lead to 89-72.

With Arkansas’ loss on the road at Alabama Wednesday night, State is guaranteed at least a share of this year’s Western Division crown.

MSU has also now posted wins in 12-straight games hosted in the Humphrey Coliseum versus SEC West opponents. Currently owning 10 wins in the SEC with three games remaining , State has posted double-digit conference wins for the first time in four years.

State now travels to Gainesville, Fla., to face the Florida Gators this Saturday, March 1. The 3 p.m. CT tipoff will be televised by CBS.

Via Athletic Media Relations

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ESPN’s Joe Lunardi released his latest Bracketology update and has Mississippi State playing a 1st round game against Baylor in an 8 vs. 9 matchup in the South Region, playing in Little Rock. The significance of this is that the winner of an MSU/Baylor matchup would likely go on to play Memphis.

I am sure the brackets will continue to evolve over the next few weeks as the regular season wraps up. We will keep an eye on it through the start of the NCAA tournament. Aside from home games against Auburn and LSU, where MSU is favored, we have road games against Vanderbilt and Florida. Those two games will make or break our place in the NCAA Tournament. Of course, winning the SEC tournament couldn’t hurt either.

Looking for NCAA Mens Basketball 1st and 2nd Round Tickets?

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