BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Ben Howland, Reggie Perry and Tyson Carter’s Wednesdays began with a brisk 25-minute flight from Starkville to Birmingham, Alabama.
The Mississippi State men’s basketball trio had an appointment at Southeastern Conference Media Days at the Grand Bohemian Hotel Mountain Brook.
To give you a brief overview, the basketball version of Southeastern Conference Media Days is a lot less chaotic than its football counterpart held in the summer. Less local media that cover each of the SEC’s 14 teams are in attendance, mostly because football is still in season, and that content reigns king for most markets not named Lexington, Kentucky. With a few exceptions, the media corps is made of mostly national writers, and it’s really more of a made-for-television event.
Instead of the suits football players Darryl Williams, Erroll Thompson and Farrod Green donned while representing the Bulldogs at SEC Media Days in Birmingham in July, Perry and Carter chose comfort over style, arriving to the lobby in sweatpants and MSU men’s basketball long-sleeve shirts. The fifth-year Bulldogs coach Howland followed suit, going with a business-casual approach of a MSU polo and black pants.
While the athletes’ attire was lax, their interview schedule was strictly regimented.
Starting things off
Howland, Perry and Carter started the day by arriving at the hotel’s third floor and taking part in an interview with NCAA.com’s Andy Katz. The setting can only be described as what looked to be a makeshift winery, as wine bones were plentiful on tables and racks, while various artistic paintings covered the walls. Not exactly a scene where you’d picture an interview of a Power Five basketball player taking place, but it was going to have to do.
After Katz was done with the maroon contingent, Perry and Carter continued down the hallway of the third floor before glancing to the right and noticing a full-service kitchen. Perry was asked if he ever cooks for himself.
The Thomasville, Georgia, native revealed that he loves to grill his own chicken, considering the nutritional benefits and the protein it provides. He adds he likes to include a salad with his meal.
Carter raises an eyebrow.
“Man, you lying,” the lone MSU senior says. “You don’t eat salad.”
While the sophomore forward Perry later gets busy talking to the television networks, I ask Carter if getting asked similar questions by national outlets repeatedly in one day gets tiresome. He acknowledges it can be, but it also comes with the territory.
When his interview is done, Perry makes his way to the elevator en route to his next round of questions from media members. Before he arrives at his next stop, he looks at Carter, perplexed by one question in his previous interview.
“They asked me who my favorite superhero was,” a confused Perry said. “I didn’t know what to say. I’ve never watched a Marvel movie in my life. I’ve never seen Superman either. I don’t know any of his moves or nothing.”
In the elevator, Howland overhears his player’s comment, and asks, “Not a DC Comics fan, Reggie?”
Perry retorted, “No!”
Howland, something of what you’d call a movie buff, sees this as a perfect opportunity to give everyone in the elevator his review of Joaquin Phoenix’s new movie, Joker.
“I didn’t like it at all,” the fifth-year coach said. “It was way too dark.”
The elevator suddenly opens, and Howland steps out for his next set of media duties with ESPN. Meanwhile, the players let out a laugh, as if it’s not the first time they’ve heard this opinion.
“Bro, he’s been talking about the Joker for like two weeks now,” Perry said.
Holding serve in the main room
Moments later, Perry and Howland join the set of SEC Now and engage in a 10-minute interview on live television. Meanwhile, Carter stands by with SEC Network personaility Tom Hart and is reminded he’s 79 points away from reaching 1,000 in his collegiate career but also 203 points away from surpassing his father, Greg Carter, on MSU’s all-time scoring list.
The Starkville native’s eyes light up as he tells Hart that surpassing his father’s total of 1,123 career points is the more meaningful milestone.
“That’s the more important number for me,” he said.
Away from the cameras, I asked Carter if he’s already started giving his dad, now the coach of the Starkville Yellow Jackets boys basketball team, grief that his scoring total is about to be surpassed by his son.
“I actually haven’t talked to him about that yet,” Carter said. “But I plan on bringing it up. He’ll find it funny when I tell him I’m going to pass him before SEC play.”
A day after being named a preseason All-SEC first-team selection, Perry is the highest MSU representative in demand from quote-seeking journalists. One reporter asks the 6-foot-10 forward who’s the hardest player to guard in the SEC.
A confident Perry replies: “Reggie Perry.”
A few questions after that, Perry gets polled on who the hardest player to score on in the conference is. A few moments of reflection pass by, then he answers: Kentucky’s Ashton Hagans.
“I just shook hands with that dude not too long ago, and man, he’s got some of the biggest hands I’ve seen.” Whether he realized it or not, the quote will come as ironic to the MSU media corps considering Howland often touts Perry’s hands as some of the biggest in the SEC.
Later, Howland stands at a podium in the center of the room and is pelted with a variety of questions from reporters in attendance.
One reporter’s question raises an eyebrow, as he asks Howland about MSU’s renowned women’s basketball program and if the men’s team has any ambition of matching the women’s fan support and on-court success after two national championship appearances in the last three years. For context, the women outdrew the men last season by averaging 8,446 fans per game to the men’s 7,954 fans per contest in the 2018-2019 campaign.
“Our women’s program has been phenomenal,” Howland said. “Coach (Vic) Schaefer has done a great job. They have great support and have a top-five attendance for women’s basketball for any program in the country … On the men’s game, we’re all very jealous, the women have to stay for four years. So, you’re able to build a four-year process versus one or two. Whereas guys are always trying to leave (to turn pro). With that being said, it’s a goal to be good every year like they are.”
Perry and Carter: basketball players turned journalists
Like Howland before them, reporters were allotted 20 minutes to ask Perry and Carter questions about the upcoming season. Because of the limited turnout, questions for the MSU duo ran out with time to spare, so the pair had to get creative with how to fill the remaining time.
Carter made his way over to Perry and temporarily turned into a reporter, asking his teammate a hard-hitting question: “What do you think of Tyson Carter?”
“He’s a good guy,” Perry said with a laugh. “On the court, we’ve had a lot of one-on-one battles. And I don’t think he’s beaten me at any.”
A few minutes later, Perry returned the favor by grilling Carter. The conversation went something like this:
Perry, sarcastically telling Carter to speak up: “Hey, do you mind speaking in the microphone for me?
Perry: “Where do you buy your clothes from? Do you go to the kid’s section, get small, medium or large?”
Carter, with a laugh: “I’m pretty sure we shop at the same place, Reggie.”
Perry: “How often do you wear your do-rag?”
Carter: “I don’t wear my do-rag.”
Perry: “Don’t lie to these people.”
If neither of the Bulldog standouts makes it to the NBA, the good news is they seem to have a future in journalism.
Hanging with Howland
Despite the chaos throughout the day, Howland had a 20-minute break in the middle of his schedule, so he afforded me a few moments to talk hoops one on one.
I’ll remember a few things from basketball SEC Media Days, but the weird interview settings will be No. 1 on the list. We walked onto the third floor outside balcony, filled with purple chairs around a fire pit that, frankly, looked kind of like it belonged from a tea party scene in Alice in Wonderland.
I half expected a Cheshire Cat to magically appear on my head.
While most of the interview is going to have to be held for an article that runs a few weeks from now (I know, shameless plug), there’s one crumb I can give away now.
In his last media availability session at the beginning of the month, Howland made a comment that Columbus native Robert Woodard II is the most ripped player he’s ever coached in 37 years. He echoed his sentiments later that day by saying Woodard is similar to a Greek figure and that MSU could make a lot of money by putting him on a poster.
After two weeks of reflection, I was a little skeptical that Woodard, strong as he may be, was more ripped than former Howland pupil Russell Westbrook. Howland doubled down.
“Yes, he is,” the MSU coach said. “Russell was ripped. But when you look at Robert from behind his back, and you see his back muscles, it’s just freaky.”
Later, I told Howland the team’s marketing department took his advice and made a social media post of Woodard with the veins popping from his biceps.
His eyes lit up.
“Did we? I want to see that,” Howland said.
He asked me if I saw it, then took a glimpse at the photo. “It’s like unbelievable,” Howland said.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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