It’s been a brutal season for Mississippi State basketball.
The Bulldogs closed the regular season with 13 straight losses — one shy of the worst run in school history — before going 1-1 in the SEC Tournament to end the year 14-19.
Fans are disheartened and disgusted and rightfully so.
Attendance has been dreadful, and fans have simply tuned out.
But before Bulldog faithful start calling for the head of coach Rick Ray, let’s take a deeper look at how MSU’s once-proud program has found the cellar of the Southeastern Conference.
Ray inherited an absolute dumpster fire in Starkville after taking over for Rick Stansbury, who was forced out following the 2011-2012 season best known for a nationally-televised fistfight between MSU teammates Renardo Sidney and Elgin Bailey in the stands during a tournament in Hawaii.
Ray started his tenure at State with a major clean-up job, weeding out some bad apples.
That clean-up job along with a couple of player defections and three season-ending knee injuries left the cupboard practically bare. Nobody expected Ray to win that first year, and there were no surprises — not with just six scholarship players.
The Bulldogs struggled to a 10-22 mark that included just four Southeastern Conference victories.
With seven scholarship players this season, some improvement was expected, but there didn’t seem to be much.
The Bulldogs are 24-41 in Ray’s first two seasons and have won just seven SEC games.
But I do believe Ray deserves at least a third year and probably a fourth to get things turned around.
Ray is a better on-court coach than Stansbury and is much better at developing players. But Stansbury had the one thing that Ray has yet to have, the most important piece of the puzzle, talent.
The talented players Ray does have are inexperienced.
Roquez Johnson, a junior, is the only Bulldog to log minutes in the SEC on scholarship for more than two seasons. He appeared in four games as a freshman for a total of four minutes.
Johnson now starts in a lineup that’s changed six times this season. Ray can tinker with it all he wants, but it won’t add experience.
The numbers move into Ray’s favor next season. He returns starters Gavin Ware, Craig Sword and Fred Thomas. I.J. Ready returns as a sophomore, and Roquez Johnson will be a senior. Trivante Bloodman will be in his third season with Ray.
Ray has to get better as a recruiter and is showing strides. He recently landed three three-star recruits, including sharp-shooting Amanda Elzy guard Maurice Dunlap II. And the MSU coach is high on redshirts Fallou Ndoye, a 6-foot-11 center from Senegal, and Travis Daniels, a 6-8 junior college transfer.
It’s hard for fans to look at the bigger picture. They only see wins and losses.
Fans aren’t happy and made their point as the Bulldogs stumbled and bumbled down the stretch — as attendance failed to exceed 7,000 in the final three games.
MSU averaged 7,370 fans during SEC play — the third fewest in the last 12 years.
At this point, the only way to get the fans back is with wins.
MSU Athletic Director Scott Stricklin told the Clarion-Ledger last week that Ray is no danger of losing his job and will soon have the Bulldogs “competing for postseason opportunities.”
Once Ray gets better players and a full roster next season, then I will be much harsher judging his performance from the bench.
The only way he doesn’t stick around for a fourth season is if the Bulldogs again finish last in the SEC.
nContact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com. Follow on Twitter:@Bill_Burrus.
