FanHouse Mississippi State Basketball

Two weeks ago, Pat Summitt surveyed the national scene and said this:

"A lot of people don't have Mississippi State on their radar screen and they should."

Never argue with Pat.

Mississippi State is climbing the rankings -- moving from No. 25 to No. 19 in this week's poll -- and the ladder of national recognition, particularly after Sunday's 84-55 win over No. 20 Maryland.

Granted, Maryland is remodeling after the graduation of Kristi Tolliver and Marisa Coleman and the transfer of Marah Strickland, and Brenda Frese's program will likely struggle with change most of the year, but the Bulldogs took it to the Terrapins on their home floor.

Sure, Renardo Sidney was academically certified to attend Mississippi State. That's meaningless if the NCAA will not certify his amateur status to play basketball for the single season before he goes pro. At the moment he is not cleared and the NCAA does not even have to make an actual decision as to his eligibility since Sidney and his family will not turn over requested financial records.

The NCAA wants tax and bank records from the Sidney family to help explain how the family could move from Mississippi to Los Angeles and afford to rent multi-million dollar homes to reside. Especially considering that Sonny Vaccaro has stated that he gave the Sidney's $25,000 to make the move and Renardo Sidney's father became a consultant to a sneaker company for no real reason other than because he is Renardo Sidney's father.

Jarvis Varnado has been the best shot-blocker in college basketball for the past two years. He also really loves his Mississippi State Bulldogs. To the tune of giving up his scholarship and taking out a student loan to pay for his senior year in Starkville. At least he is probably doing that.

The Bulldogs found themselves facing a possibility of having 14 players on scholarship. One over the thirteen player limit, assuming John Riek and Renardo Sidney are fully cleared by the NCAA to play this year. Varnado, came back to Mississippi State after an exploration of the NBA Draft.

If the NCAA was hoping that Renardo Sidney would simplify the investigation by somehow failing to get academically qualified, they are out of luck. Sidney was cleared for meeting minimum academic standards by the NCAA Eligibility Center. That has allowed him to enroll at Mississippi State for classes in the fall semester and begin participating in conditioning and individual workouts.

That does not clear Sidney to practice with the team and play for Mississippi State. The NCAA is still investigating his eligibility as an amateur in light of reports of how his family managed to live in multi-million dollar homes and afforded a move from Mississippi to Los Angeles in the first place. All without any clear idea how they earned the money for it.

Former USC Coach Tim Floyd will not do interviews with the national media or the Los Angeles press, but he likes to talk to his hometown paper in Mississippi quite a bit. It was the Clarion-Ledger that broke the news of his resignation before USC even knew.

With the former Southern Cal verbal now a Mississippi State commit, Renardo Sidney, there's more than a little bit of interest in what he has to say on what happened to Sidney and his USC commitment. Especially with the NCAA still trying to get more information from the Sidney family regarding their finances, before clearing him to play. Floyd offered some thoughts on Sidney and USC.

On paper, it looks like the Bulldogs may be loaded up front in 2009. Forward Jarvis Varnado, the nation's leading shot-blocker for the past two seasons, has decided to return for his senior season.

Last week, the program added a commitment from Renardo Sidney, one of the top power forwards in the 2009 recruiting class. Plus, John Riek, a 7-foot-1 center, has signed a letter of intent with Mississippi State instead of Cincinnati. Mississippi State has size and talent up front that compares favorably with Kentucky and anyone in the nation.

That is, if they all make it on to the court.

Well, maybe not so much switched as compelled to look elsewhere. Renardo Sidney may be one of the top-ten recruits nationally, but he has not been quite as hotly pursued as you would expect for a 6-10 McDonald's All-American power forward. Sidney and his family made an event out of picking USC over UCLA, despite UCLA dropping interest several days prior.

Apparently by mutual agreement, Sidney and USC have opted not to join. Instead Sidney will head to Mississippi State. If Jarvis Varnardo comes back to Mississippi State rather than staying in the draft, the Bulldogs will have one of the most dominant frontcourts in the SEC in 2009.

March started days ago. The Madness started Wednesday night.

On an evening where bubble teams could've punched their ticket to the NCAA tournament and boosters could've started humming bars of "One Shining Moment," teams turned down invitations like they were to a wedding without an open bar or the People's Choice Awards.

A memo, fellows. This isn't an invitation to a candlelight dinner with Randy Johnson. "Big Dance" doesn't mean you're cutting a rug with Mark Madsen or waltzing cheek-to-cheek with Mike Tyson.

You actually want to go to this thing.

Kentucky has not handled success very well. Less than a month after Jodie Meeks entered the discussion for Player of the Year and the Wildcats worked their way into the top-25, it's all disappeared in the wake of a three-game losing streak that includes two straight in Rupp Arena. This time it happened when Mississippi State put the hurting on Kentucky, 66-57.

Do not let the mere nine-point differential fool you. It was not that close. Only a 9-2 run in the final minute-and-a-half by Kentucky brought the loss to under double digits. Mississippi State led the entire game. The Bulldogs shut down the Wildcats' ability to score inside with Jarvis Varnardo swatting everything in the paint. Varnardo had 7 blocks and 12 rebounds. That presence in the paint turned Kentucky into a jump-shooting team, which they are not.

The presumption was that Arkansas was a lock to be in the top-25 this week, after upsets of Oklahoma and Texas in the past couple weeks. That took a hit as the Razorbacks got stunned in the second half by Mississippi State in a 70-56 loss. Arkansas only trailed by two at the half, but let the Bulldogs shoot over 50% in the second half. The loss snapped a seventeen game home winning streak dating back to last year.

Most will see that the Razorbacks shot 3-for-22 on threes, and 23-for-64 overall as the main reason for the loss. Not so much. Arkansas was 1-for-11 in the first half on threes, and only trailed by two points. There's no question that Arkansas shot poorly. Their star freshman guard Courtney Fortson went only 2-for-13 and point guard Stefan Walsh was 4-for-16. Two of the top scorers for the Hogs were lousy. In the second half, Arkansas had two stretches of four and five minutes of going without a score.