06/11/01 - Here's the last update on the MSU team camp held from Thursday to Sunday.
I watched three game at the Hump. Starkville HS played Vicksburg HS, Poplar Bluff (MO.) HS and Northeast Jones HS. The game against Northeast Jones was for the camp championship.
Starkville, after getting behind by 17 points, came back to defeat Vicksburg 47 to 42. Vicksburg, which was a very well-coached team, also had a couple of players, both seniors, that showed good talent, possibly D-I talent. One of them is 5-11 guard Chris Hume. Chris, who scored 15 points, is very good at creating his own shots, drives to the hoop well and is very quick. He didn't shoot from the outside so I can't give an opinion on that aspect of his game. Former Bulldog basketball player Marcus Grant was high on Chris. Their other player is Willie Powell, a 6-4 inside player. Willie was slightly injured Saturday and during the Sunday game so I can't really give an opinion on him. I was told by a source that his talent is close to being Dandy Dozen type talent, not quite, but close.
Next up for Starkville was Poplar Buff. Poplar Bluff gave Starkville a good solid game but Starkville, due to their talent level, eventually pulled away and won the game 60 to 49.
The championship game was between Starkville and Northeast Jones. Both teams were leg weary from playing games throughout the previous three days and it showed. Starkville easily won the game 69-48. NE had a senior player, Josh Johnson, who showed definite talent. He looked to be about 6-2 to 6-3, had good leaping ability, ran well, and had a nice outside and inside shooting touch. I was also told that he is a very good baseball player who can hit with power.
06/10/01
Men's Basketball - Mississippi State University head men's basketball coach Rick Stansbury has announced the hiring of Stan Jones as assistant basketball coach on his Bulldog coaching staff. The hiring is pending the approval of the Board of Trustees, Institutions of Higher Learning.
Jones most recently spent the 2000-2001 campaign serving as an assistant coach on Leonard Hamilton's staff of the NBA's Washington Wizards, where his duties included practice planning, the scouting of opponents and development of game plans, and maintaining the organization of offensive and defensive schemes and progressions.
Prior to joining the Wizards last July, Jones spent the previous five seasons helping Hamilton revive the basketball program at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. Involved in all aspects of the UM hoops program, Jones helped direct the Hurricanes to four consecutive postseason tournament appearances, culminating with a regular-season BIG EAST Conference championship and school-first NCAA Sweet 16 showing two years ago. In 1998-99, Miami posted its first of two straight 23-win seasons en route to ranking 10th nationally in the season-ending Associated Press poll.
During his five-year stint on Hamilton's Hurricane coaching staff, Jones helped UM to a composite 95-54 record and .638 winning percentage. Having assisted in the tutelage of six all-BIG EAST Conference selections during his stay in Miami, Jones was largely responsible for UM's annual improvement in team free-throw percentage as well as for Miami's consistent national ranking in team field-goal percentage defense. The 1997-98 Hurricanes completed the season ranked first nationally in opponents' field-goal percentage.
Prior to moving into the collegiate coaching circles in 1995, Jones compiled an impressive composite record of 353-91 (.795) and directed four state championship teams during a successful 14-year head coaching stint in the high school ranks. During a five-year stint (1990-95) at Jackson (Miss.) Academy, Jones led the Raiders to a composite mark of 141-28 (.834) capped by back-to-back state championships during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons. For his coaching efforts, he was awarded state and district coach of the year honors during both campaigns.
Having earned both his bachelor's (1984) and master's (1990) degrees from then-Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), Jones' 20-year coaching career began in his hometown of Memphis as the head coach at First Christian Academy. In nine seasons there, the three-time district coach of the year registered a composite record of 212-63 (.771) in guiding his teams to five district titles and state crowns during the 1983-84 and 1984-85 seasons.
With seven published writings on basketball coaching techniques to his credit, Jones, 41, is married to the former Olga Campos. They are the parents of one daughter - Shannon, 18, and one son - Adam, 16.
Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department
06/09/01 - Do you have the summertime blues? No football, basketball, or baseball going on you say. What's a person to do while the summer slowly goes by as you wait for the Mississippi State sports season to start? I'll tell you what to do, visit Gene's Page each and every day!
First, MSU football had their first camp. Top recruits like Darren Williams, Jerious Norwood, Chris Herring, Scott Shurden, Markell McKinley and Chris Smith attended. That camp was just the tip of the iceberg of the beehive of activity that is going on at MSU this summer.
Presently, MSU basketball is having their team camp, and a camp they are having. Teams such as Starkville HS, Durant HS, Meridian HS, Grenada HS, South Panola HS, Vicksburg HS, Tupelo HS, East Central HS, Harrison Central HS, Itawamba HS, South Lamar (AL) HS, Sulligent (AL) HS, Vidalia (LA) HS, among many others, are at the camp. All together, Mississippi State has 40 teams and over 400 kids from seven different states at the four-day camp.
Among the players in attendance are Starkville HS's tremendously talented 6-8 junior-to-be Travis Outlaw and his D-I talented teammate 6-3 senior guard B. J. Spencer (remember his name), Harrison Central HS's senior big man 6-9 Byron Sanders, Tupelo HS's super senior combo of Ricky Hood and Braxton Robbins, as well as East Central HS's talented 6-6 junior-to-be Kenny Hooks and South Panola HS's talented football/basketball athlete Chris Herring. There were many, many more talented youngsters but these are a few names to whet your appetite.
This was the first MSU basketball camp that I have ever watched. It has been very well organized and operated. Teams knew exactly where they were supposed to be playing and what time they were playing. MSU basketball used seven different courts for the camp, including the Hump, Newell-Grissom, Sanderson Rec Center and Starkville HS.