October 28, 2007

BASKETBALL – MISSISSIPPI STATE STYLE

It’s hard to believe that the MSU basketball season is almost upon us. The first exhibition game is Saturday afternoon when the Bulldogs will host the Patriots from University of the Cumberlands, Williamsburg, KY. Head Coach Rick Stansbury is here to give us a preview of this year’s team, which includes the return of exciting seasoned veterans and some highly promising freshmen.

STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT TO SPEAK

Next Monday (Nov. 5), our guest will be Mississippi State Student Association President Jeremy Johnson. We look forward to hearing a “state of the campus” report from the viewpoint of the student body.

The following week (Nov. 12), Marty Wiseman will return to Rotary to discuss the implications of the Nov. 6 election results.

LAST WEEK AT ROTARY

Attendance: Only 104 of our members. (73 active and 31 exempt) showed up for last week’s meeting. Missing were 60 active, 26 exempt, and all 10 Honorary members. One member is on leave. Where were all the others?

Invocation and Pledge: Frank Chiles.

Visitors and Guests: Guests of members were Richard Corey of Janette Self; Ellen Boles of Dave Boles; and Debra Hicks and Ruth Remy of Keith Remy. Club guests were Doug Feig (Starkville-MSU Symphony President) and Rotary Youth Exchange Students Negrita Caicedo and Maryna Melnik. Vice President Chip Templeton introduced the guests.

Makeups Reported: Governor Jack has visited nine more clubs as he continues making the rounds of clubs in District 6820. Gary Jackson made up in Louisville and Gary Chism made up in West Point.

Supporting the Symphony: President Ned Browning presented a Rotary check for $1,000 to Doug Feig in support of the Starkville-MSU Symphony. Feig thanked Rotary for the support and said the money would go a long way in helping the Symphony meet its annual budget.

Meeting Notes: President Ned issued congratulations to Ron Brown , who has been inducted into the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service Hall of Fame. This is the highest national honor conferred by CSREES.

VP Chip Templeton, who is chairing the newly formed Long-Range Planning Committee, told committee chairs to watch for and respond to a survey that will soon be emailed.

Rotary Minute: Once again, Ned handled our Rotary Minute. “Although local involvement is the key force in Rotary Clubs, there are a number of other ways for members to become involved on an even larger scale,” Ned reminded us. Rotarians with like interests form Rotary Fellowships (Fellowship of Scouting Rotarians, Fellowship of Flying Rotarians, etc, etc). These are pretty much loosely formed self-governed groups. Action Groups of Rotarians focus on specific service projects and are eligible for grant funding. An example is the Action Group for Water. “To learn more about these opportunities for involvement, visit the Rotary International Website,” he said.

Roy Ruby produced another of his “Absolutely Nothing To Do About Rotary Minutes” that had everyone laughing and no doubt aided digestion!

A PREVIEW OF LADY BULLDOGS BASKETBALL

Sharon Fanning is excited and enthusiastic about her Lady Bulldogs basketball team as it heads into the 2007-2008 season. As Dave Boles said in introducing her “the fact that she’s in her 13 th season as head coach is proof of the success of her program.”

He reminded Rotarians that the coach has a career record of 517 wins and 387 losses (194-161 at MSU), has taken the Lady Dawgs to four NCAA and four NIT tournaments, has had five Kodak All-America players, and was named the 2000 SEC Coach of the Year. “But I’m most proud of the fact that 58 of her ladies have been named to the All-SEC Academic teams.”

Before talking about the upcoming season, Coach Sharon reminded Rotarians of the successes of last year’s team. “We started three freshmen and no seniors and finished in the top half of the SEC. Our record of 5 wins and 2 losses on the road was best in the SEC. We had five or more players score in double figures in five games – that’s great balanced scoring. The team had the best season record for blocked shots in spite of lacking the height of most other teams.”

Alexis Rack was named to the All-SEC Freshman team and was a G-Ball.com All-America selection. The quick 3-point shooter has worked hard and the coach expects a lot from her this year.

Sharon said junior Marneshia Richard will be a key player at point guard. “She’s a 4-point engineering student and a very special young lady who provides leadership and plays with unmatched energy at both ends of the floor.” Richard is a pre-season All-SEC player.

Other returning veterans include seniors Imesia Jackson (forward), Miayorka “Yok” Johnson (guard), and Amy Reeder (guard/forward); juniors Robin Porter (guard/forward) and Lauren Roberts (forward); and sophomores Tysheka Grimes and Bethany Washington (forwards).

On the down side, one of her seasoned scholarship players, Heather Hollis, had to withdraw from the program. Heather suffered 5 or 6 concussions last season, and was advised by doctors that further injury could result in lifetime damage.

Coach Fanning left little doubt that she’s excited about several newcomers.

Freshman Mary Kathryn Govero from Clinton is Mississippi’s all-time leading scorer with more than 5,000 career points. She hit 65 points in one game and has a shooting percentage of 74%! She was named to the Clarion Ledger’s Dandy Dozen and was Jackson’s all-Metro Player of the Year. “Nobody works harder than Mary Kathryn. There’s no question she can score – you’ll love her jump shots from 3-point range. She needs to learn to set and work off screens,” Sharon said.

Another freshman Coach Fanning is expecting a lot from is Shai Wilkins from Sparkman High School in Harvest, AL. The 6-2 forward helped lead her team to the state championship and was an Alabama first-team all-stater. “Both these girls have great work ethics.”

The coach said her “most pleasant surprise” has been 6-2 junior Donnisha Tate’s return from spring knee surgery. “She’s been working hard and I expect her to push (Imeshia) Jackson at power forward.”

Coach Fanning has added two new members to her staff. Joey Burton is new coordinator of basketball operations. Greg Franklin came to the Bulldog staff as assistant coach from Southern Illinois Community College, where his team was ranked number 1 community college in the nation.

There’s no question that Coach Fanning has good reason to be excited and “cautiously optimistic” about this year’s team as it heads into next week’s exhibition games. “We need to improve our assist:turnover ratio. We have to develop better ball handling. We need to put forth the effort it takes to move to a higher level of play,” she said.

“We are truly blessed (?!) with a great schedule this season. We get to play both LSU and Kentucky twice,” she said. “That doubles our opportunity to beat them!”

Coach Fanning invited everyone to come to Meet the Players Night (both women’s and men’s basketball teams) tonight at Palmeiro Center.

She urged Rotarians to attend the exhibition game Sunday, Nov. 4, the season opener against Southeast Louisiana Friday, Nov. 9, and the Centenary game Nov. 11. There will be two more home games before the Bulldogs head for the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun where they’ll run up against the Iowa Hawkeyes and Oklahoma Sooners.

Sharon awarded media guides and T-shirts to several Rotarians who answered questions in a pop quiz.

In conclusion, she said she was disappointed to learn that our local United Way support ranked lowest in the SEC and urged all of us to step up and help United Way achieve its goal.