McCready: 10 Weekend Thoughts, presented by Harry Alexander
1. Ole Miss really, really needed to beat Georgia Saturday.
I don’t like the term “must-win game,” because if there are more games after said “must-win game,” it wasn’t actually a game a team had to win.
But Ole Miss really, really needed to beat Georgia Saturday.
The Rebels, you may have heard by now, did not beat Georgia, dropping a 78-74 decision.
Ole Miss (6-6 overall, 1-4 in the Southeastern Conference) led by six late in the first half, only to trail by one at halftime. Georgia, which entered the game winless in the SEC, dominated the opening minutes of the second half, building a 15-point lead. Ole Miss got within a single score late but couldn’t climb all the way out of the aforementioned hole.
Rinse. Repeat.
Only two teams — Alabama and LSU — have just popped Ole Miss. The Rebels have now lost close, contested games against Dayton, Wichita State, Florida and Georgia. Make no mistake; those are losses. There are no morale victories in college basketball. This team has issues. From a coverage standpoint, it’s a bit of a conundrum.
2. Is it fair to start asking questions? Yes.
Why is this team so inconsistent? How can this team look as good as it looked for about 34 minutes Tuesday night in Gainesville and then look as bad as it did in the final six minutes of the loss to the Gators?
How can Ole Miss dominate a game for the first 17 minutes or so Saturday and then lose the lead just before the half? How can a team come storming back, take momentum and then commit silly turnovers?
How can a team be so bad rebounding one night and then control the glass a few days later? How can a team go 1-for-13 from the 3-point line in one half and then get hot from the same spots on the floor in the second half? How can that team go 5-for-15 from the free throw line?
For Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis and his staff, it has to be maddening.
3. I’ll take a stab at some answers.
Devontae Shuler is being asked to be the lead on this team. It’s a role he’s not had previously in his career at Ole Miss. He’s been inconsistent, really struggling some nights and carrying his teammates others.
He needs help in the backcourt. Jarkel Joiner, who scored 22 points in 35 minutes Saturday, has begun to find his shot after a very slow start. However, Joiner is a defensive liability. The only other real guard on the team, Matthew Murrell, had seven points in 15 minutes against Georgia.
If it were me — and keep in mind, I don’t see practice — I’d play the freshman more and live with his mistakes. College basketball is guard-oriented and this team is a guard short. Bryce Williams’ success at Oklahoma State is an indictment on that front, but that’s another topic for another day, I suspect.
Ole Miss brought in Robert Allen and Dimencio Vaughn as transfers. On Saturday, they combined to play 19 minutes and produce three points and three rebounds. Austin Crowley was a heralded recruit when he signed with Ole Miss. On Saturday, he had two assists and nothing else in eight minutes.
Romello White was brought to Ole Miss to be a star. On Saturday, in 23 minutes, he recorded eight points and three rebounds. Luis Rodriguez has been inconsistent. So has KJ Buffen. Khadim Sy, once considered a building block of the program, had a rebound and an assist in 14 minutes Saturday.
Redshirt freshman Shon Robinson, once a celebrated recruit, didn’t play and hasn’t been anything resembling a factor this year.
Is it fair to question roster construction? I think so. Why, if you needed guards, did you bring in both Allen and Vaughn?
Is it fair to question development? I think so. Why are some guys seemingly regressing? Is it fair to question offensive style? I think so. This team is best when it’s going downhill on offense. It’s best when it’s going fast. When it slows down and goes more side to side offensively, its lack of shooting weapons is exposed.
And, finally, is it fair to question coaching style? At this point, yeah, it is.
Make no mistake; that’s not an indictment of Davis. He’s an exceptional coach, but at this point, after last season’s struggles and the direction this season appears to be headed in, everything should be on the table. In today’s environment, fairly or not, no one gets forever to gain program momentum.
4. Along those lines, Davis and Co. are likely benefiting a bit from the extremely limited attendance at The Pavilion.
Ole Miss faces Mississippi State Tuesday night in Starkville before returning to Oxford Saturday to play host to Buzz Williams and Texas A&M. Assuming a loss to the Bulldogs (the Rebels will be underdogs, certainly), I think Ole Miss would have a difficult time drawing more than 4,500 fans Saturday versus the Aggies.
We’ve got pretty good analytics here at rivals. Throw in our YouTube channel and we can tell what’s viewed and what’s not. We have access to Chartbeat, which tells us what you read and how long you read it. Right now, you’re turning away from basketball. Every analytic says as much.
Given that it’s still mid-January, that’s not good news for Ole Miss. Heck, it’s bad news for us. Football recruiting is basically complete. Baseball season is still a month away, and it’s not going to look or feel the same this season, not with limited attendance due to the pandemic fears. Who knows if there will be a typical spring practice period? And if there is, it almost certainly will be limited to coverage on Zoom.
You know when subscribers are bitching about too much coverage, things aren’t in the happiest place.
Malaise is never good for a program. Based on what I’m seeing, Ole Miss basketball isn’t far from there. There’s time and opportunity to fix it, but the recipe for outright disaster is there as well.
Mississippi State Tuesday night will be tough sledding. Ole Miss travels to Arkansas on Jan. 27, to Georgia on Jan. 30. Tennessee (Feb. 2) is a borderline elite team. At Auburn (Feb. 6) will be very challenging, as will games against Missouri (Feb. 10 and Feb. 23). Mississippi State comes to Oxford on Feb. 20. Kentucky comes about 10 days later. You get the picture. It’s a tough league, and things can spiral fast.
5. All of that said, let’s slow the roll a little. There is no hot seat. That talk couldn’t be more premature. Davis is only in Year 3, and he deserves time to fix the issues that are ailing his program.
Even if there was a desire for change — and there isn’t — it wouldn’t be prudent right now. Football just lost millions in potential revenues due to the pandemic. Basketball will lose money this season for the same reason. Baseball usually turns a small profit at Ole Miss. This season will feature limited capacity at Swayze Field, possibly very limited seating. The program will lose a small fortune.
Throw in the very real possibility of limited attendance this fall for football, and now’s not the time to make knee-jerk decisions that would cost millions.
Davis deserves time, and he’ll get it. But the next several months are crucial. Ole Miss has to stabilize the current roster. It has to hit some home runs in recruiting and it can’t make mistakes in the transfer market — not with the wrong guys leaving or with ineffective players coming in.
The clock ticks for all of us, and it’s ticking on Ole Miss basketball. A win Saturday could’ve slowed that clock a bit, so it stands to reason a loss sped it up.
6. It’s time for my weekly ranking of SEC.
1. Alabama — The Tide is rolling.
2. LSU — Insert joke here about getting what you pay for.
3. Tennessee —The Volunteers are balanced and strong. They’ll be a tough out.
4. Mississippi State — The Bulldogs held on to beat Florida Saturday.
5. Missouri — COVID has slowed them down, but the Tigers look like a top-15 team.
6. Florida — Fans in Gainesville are getting restless, but Mike White has done a great job with a team that was built around Keyontae Johnson.
7. Auburn — This is likely too low but the record keeps the Tigers here for now. Sharife Cooper is a difference-maker.
8. Kentucky — The Wildcats are now 4-8. Lexington might burn.
9. Arkansas — The Hogs have really fallen as the schedule has toughened.
10. South Carolina — COVID has really disrupted the Gamecocks.
11. Texas A&M — The Aggies lost by 16 to Missouri. It’s all a crapshoot this low in the rankings.
12. Georgia — The Bulldogs finally broke through, getting a win in Oxford.
13. Ole Miss — The Rebels are likely better than this, but the record is what the record is.
14. Vanderbilt — Same as it ever was.
7. Football resumes — well, sort of — Tuesday when the spring semester begins. Ole Miss’ strength and conditioning program begins Tuesday in earnest after a two-week break following the Outback Bowl win over Indiana.
It is anticipated Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin will fill out his staff this week as well. As reported earlier this month, Texas assistant Coleman Hutzler is the favorite to land one of two available defensive spots on the Ole Miss staff. There is buzz that staffer Marquise Watson, who filled in as defensive line coach for the Outback Bowl, is a strong candidate to land the permanent gig.
Ole Miss will be a compelling story this offseason, due to Kiffin, a likely spot in the top 25 rankings in the preseason, Matt Corral’s Heisman candidacy and the Rebels’ strong finish to the 2020 campaign.
The pandemic could very well alter spring plans pertaining practices and scrimmages and whatnot, but the momentum towards a very anticipated 2021 season has begun and likely can’t be slowed.
8. The biggest non-NFL story in sports this past week was the four-team trade in the NBA that sent James Harden to Brooklyn.
The very early returns have to please Nets fans. Harden had 32 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds in the Nets’ 122-115 win over Orlando Saturday. Harden played a good bit of point guard for Brooklyn, who is still without Kyrie Irving. He fit seamlessly into a lineup that featured Kevin Durant, Joe Harris, Jeff Green and DeAndre Jordan.
“I’m a hooper,” Harden said. “Like I said, I’m very unselfish. I’m going to do whatever it takes to win. Obviously, KD is like an elite, different kind of basketball players as far as the way he is able to score the basketball. It’s so easy for him, and I know that. I just want to make it a little bit easier if I can. For the rest of the team, our shooters and our bigs — make it easier for them. So yeah, it was easy out there.”
Irving is expected to return soon, something Nets coach Steve Nash called “a good problem to have, trying to figure out where they can coexist.”
On Saturday, the Nets served notice that while they’ll have to figure out how to play together, they’re going to be incredibly dangerous.
9. These are stressful times, and I’m told sometimes comfort food can make things better temporarily. When I was a kid, one of my favorite things was chicken pot pie WITHOUT THE ENGLISH PEAS. Accordingly, here’s our resident Parisian chef, Burton Webb, with Taste of the Place, Lesson 70 — Chicken Pot Pie.
Well this dish really needs no introduction, it is comfort food at its finest. You don’t have to break your New Year’s resolutions either. This is healthy… just make sure to make it every now and again not every time and again. I believe you get the point.
Tidbit #1: Puff pastry or pie crust? They are both great and of course you can mix them. We are going to do a homemade pie crust for your top and bottom levels. If you did puff pastry, it is solely for the top layer. If you mixed them, regular pie crust on the bottom.
Tidbit #2: For the dough for the pie crust, the day before and let it sit in the fridge for a day. Normally you need 2 to 3 hours of it being in the fridge. It is very simple to make and form it into a disk before wrapping it in plastic wrap, then the fridge.
Tidbit #3: The baking time for these is always long, about an hour and 1/2 at times. So just understand you will have some free time to do other things.
Tidbit #4: Sauté the vegetables in one pan and make the roux in another. This is the easiest way to measure correctly, and cook correctly the roux to a golden brown color!
Tidbit #5 (Last one): This is what I call a “kitchen sink” pie. You can literally put a range of vegetables in it. So feel free to experiment. The key to a great pie is the sauce…
Things you will need:
4 People
A Glass of Chardonnay, oaky
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Resting for the dough: 2 hours
Cooking time: 1.5 hours
Equipment needed:
1 Chef’s knife and a working surface
1 Large sauté pan
1 Medium sauce pot
1 Wooden spoon
1 Small metal whisk
1 Pair of tongs
Measuring cups of 1 cup, 1 tbsp, and 1 tsp
1 9-inch Pie shell
Pan Spray
Oven and stove top
Digital scale
1 Rolling pin
Pastry brush
1 Small mixing bowl and fork
Ingredients needed:
3-2-1 Pie crust:
200 g Flour
100 g Butter
50 g Water
1 Egg yolk
3 g Salt
20 g Cornstarch
1 g Oregano
Inside of Pie:
2 Chicken breast filets
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Bouillon chicken cubes
1.5 Cups of milk
1.5 Cups of water
4 Tbsp butter + 4 tbsp
4 Tbsp flour
1 Onion, diced medium
1 Carrot, diced small
10 Baby potatoes, sliced into medallions
1/2 Cup frozen peas
1 Tsp pepper
1 Tsp garlic powder
1 Tsp dried rosemary
2 Tsp dried sage
1 Whole egg
Directions:
Step 1: Make the pie crust by mixing all of the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl with the butter until it resembles sand. Then add your water and egg yolk and mix till combined. Don’t worry about “over-mixing it”. Wrap it in plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
Step 2 (Following day): Roll out your pie crust for the bottom and top, place back in the fridge.
Step 2.1: Turn your oven to 360°F. Place your sauté pan on the stove over medium heat with the olive oil. Season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper, and cook on both sides till done, about 4-6 minutes per side. Place on your work surface after, to rest.
Step 3: In the same sauté pan, add one of the butters, let melt. Add your onion and carrot. Cook for 4 minutes. After, add the sliced potatoes with the rosemary and garlic. Cook for 3 more minutes. Pull pan from the heat.
Step 3.1: Put the saucepot on the stove, add the other butter and let melt. Then put your flour in. Using your whisk, stir occasionally till the colour is brown. About 3 minutes.
Step 3.2: Drizzle your water into the saucepot while whisking. After, pour the milk with a pinch of salt and the 2 chicken cubes. Bring to a boil and pull from the heat.
Step 4: In your large saucepan, add the liquid from the saucepot along with the peas, sage, and pepper. Chop the cooked chicken up and add it as your final ingredients. Mix. Adjust for more salt and pepper here.
Step 5: Pour your ingredients from the saucepan into the pie pan. Cover with your other dough and use your fork to seal the edges.
Step 5.1: In the small mixing bowl, crack your egg and whisk with that fork. Add a small splash of water and continue to whisk until combined. Then brush the mixture onto the top of the pie crust and its edges. After, place in the oven for 1.5 hours or until dark brown. Pull from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Accompany with a side salad and you have yourself a meal. From the Mississippian in Paris, Bon Appétit!
10. We’ll have coverage of Ole Miss basketball, football recruiting and whatever else pops up this week. Until then, here are some links of interest to me — and hopefully, to you — for your reading pleasure:
Eli Manning hopes to be more involved with New York Giants in 2021
Bears' brass will take another swing at quarterback – The Athletic
DeVonta Smith Leads Alabama to a 52-24 Win Over Ohio State in National Championship Game
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian must get these 4 things right – The Athletic
Oklahoma City Thunder's George Hill says NBA's stricter protocol 'makes no sense'
Detroit Reporter Tries To Expose Lions Coaching Candidate, Gets Exposed Himself – OutKick
A Tim Tebow-Urban Meyer reunion? Why not? | KEN WILLIS
Theo Epstein is taking a consulting job with MLB – The Athletic
MLB's pine tar problem isn't as easy as it looks. Here's why – The Athletic
Man with gun, fake inauguration pass arrested at DC checkpoint
The GOP Must Choose Between Conspiracy and Reality - The Atlantic
Everything Is Broken - Tablet Magazine
FBI warns of potential armed protests across country
AOC says Congress may form commission to ‘rein in’ media after Capitol riot
Children's mental health referrals hit record high as lockdowns and school closures bite
What Is Herd Immunity? How To Achieve It And Why It Can Be Controversial Amid COVID-19
Covid infection shown to provide as much immunity as vaccines | Financial Times
For Me to Win You Must Lose Everything The Ethical Skeptic
He Just Wanted to Play Catch. They Got Relief From Troubled Times. - The New York Times
