STARKVILLE — Mississippi State junior I.J. Ready has grown and matured a lot in his two seasons with the Bulldogs.
With new head coach Ben Howland and one of the nation’s top incoming freshman Malik Newman on board, the Bulldogs are ready to return to the upper echelon of the Southeastern Conference.
The MSU two-year letter winner at point guard gave us a look ahead to the upcoming season.
Q: What has been going on this summer with the Mississippi State basketball team?
A: The summer has been about finding out what kind of talent we have. It has been all about putting the pieces together. We want to see where our talent level is, so we can know how far we can get in the year.
Right now, we are just working out every day. We have been practicing and pushing ourselves hard so that we can get to (the NCAA tournament). We would like to play for a national championship.
Q: What stands out the most about new head coach Ben Howland and the rest of his staff?
A: The knowledge of the game. They are really teaching us so much about the game. They have already taught us so much from the time they got here to now. They are really helping us. You can tell we are growing as basketball players and growing as a team.
They are giving us professional advice. We are all soaking it in.
Q: When there is a coaching change, there is always some concern about newness. Was the excitement level pretty high once you got around this staff and got to know them better?
A: The excitement was crazy. It was crazy when we got the new coach. Then it was crazy when we got (incoming freshman) Malik (Newman). When we (Ready and Newman) first met up, we bonded immediately. It is something to have two great point guards on one basketball team.
Pretty much when we play pickup, we murder everybody. The energy and enthusiasm has been high. We have new talent and they have already proven they can play at this level.
Q: Speaking of new talent. Three newcomers (Malik Newman, Aric Holman and Quinndary Weatherspoon) have already enrolled here for the summer and are going through workouts. Break each player down for us. What have you seen so far?
A: Malik’s confidence is through the roof. You can’t get that from too many players. He can shoot. He can dribble. He can pretty much do everything. His ranking tells us everything. He is the No. 1 point guard in the nation. I don’t there is any other freshman better than him in the country.
Quinndary is an athlete. He is a freakish athlete. I didn’t know he was that much of an athlete. Every day in practice, he catches a lob off the rim over everybody. All of the centers and everybody. And he can shoot, too.
Aric is just so long. He is like 6-9 or 6-10 without shoes on. He can shoot it too. That will be a problem for a lot of people. He can put it on the floor. He is also a great passer. You just see the size and wouldn’t think he has that complete game until you see it.
All of the freshman are athletic and talented. They are also mature. They understand the game. They don’t make too many young mistakes. I know it’s a big difference coming from the high school, because of energy level. But besides energy level, their IQ and the way they play is fantastic.
Q: With so many veteran players on this team, are you guys helping nurture the freshmen a little bit?
A: Every day, we just tried to lead by example. We show them how you have to work out and grind to be able to compete on this level. Even outside of basketball, it may be school. We try to make sure they are in class on time and in study hall on time. I was a freshman once, so I know what they are going through.
We try to keep them level-headed. We tried to keep them focused. We just want everybody to stay on the same page. Everything we do every day is going to help us win games. It all leads to winning games. That is what we want to do this year. We know we have the talent, we just have to put in the work to get there.
Q: In the last two seasons, the team lost games early and that made it hard to battle back and qualify for postseason. How has this team grown from that adversity?
A: Every year is a new year. You always start off 0-0. We have a lot of talent and scoring coming back. We don’t think about last year. We have a new coaching staff and some new freshmen.
Sometimes, you think about making sure the bad times don’t happen again. But you have to stay positive. You have to be excited about the new year. You have to ready to take advantage of the opportunity that is given to you. What you were able to accomplish one year can’t carry over to the next. We know what we can do. The guys on this team that are back have had to grow up a lot. It hasn’t been easy either.
Q: From a personal standpoint, what have you learned about yourself in your two seasons in Starkville?
A: I learned when I am healthy and I am playing to my potential, I am one of the best guards in the (Southeastern Conference). My shooting has gotten better and I have gotten a lot better with my physicality.
You could see the game really slowed down a lot to me as I got toward the end of last season. I am used to it now. Playing in the SEC has made me open my eyes. Everybody is good, so you have to put in extra work to separate yourself. I am 5-10 – maybe even 5-11 – so I am a little guy in a league with a lot of big fellows. That just means you have to put in more hard work.
I am not the type of person to give up during adversity. I had been winning for 18 years. Then there was a two-year drought. My winning years has overtaken my losing years, so I have never had a quitter’s mentality. It is certainly not going to happen now with two more years to go.
Q: And as a person, what have you have learned about yourself as you move into adulthood?
A: It’s rough. It’s a good stage and it’s an important stage, but it’s not easy. In college, you are on your own. Every decision is yours. You have to make the right ones. Everybody makes mistakes. The question is how do you bounce back from them.
How do you carry yourself after you make a mistake. That is a valuable lesson to learn in life.
Q: What is it like to play alongside Chicken (senior Craig Sword), when he finds his groove?
A: He is great. When you see Chicken is scoring, it means I am going to start scoring, because I usually feed off him. When Chicken is scoring and playing defense, it’s fun to watch. He can give you 10, 12 or 15 points in a row and you won’t ever notice. My job is to keep feeding him until he gets tired. We are going to go to him until he misses a couple of shots.
That is when I have to put my foot on the pedal. When Chicken is scoring, it can be hard to beat us. In his zone, he can score on every possession.
Q: There seems to be high level of confidence for this upcoming season, despite the fact that the team has had a couple of down years. What are some of the reasons for that?
A: It’s not excitement as much it is urgency. No one wants to lose, especially as much as we have. It starts with the weights. It carries over to the practice floor. We work harder every day. The urgency of the last two years makes us want to win regardless.
We are preparing ourselves for the next year. We know we have the talent level. We know we have the bodies. There are no excuses. We have to go out there and earn our respect. Mississippi State basketball is not high on everybody’s list right now. So we have to go out there and take (the respect) back.
Q: Some early preseason predictions have the team as high as the top five in the conference. Is that a realistic jump?
A: Our expectation is first (in the conference). We can certainly be top three. Our mind-set is nothing less than that. Nobody on our team is going to accept anything less without a fight. We continued to preach to each other what we are trying to do.
If you can compete with yourself on a high level that means you can compete with the opponent at an even higher level, because they aren’t your brothers. They aren’t the guy you go to battle with every day in practice. We know we have a lot of people not ready to believe in us yet. It’s our job to go out there and change that around. It starts in November.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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