STARKVILLE — In his first teleconference as a Division 1 men’s basketball head coach, Rick Ray used the opportunity to be very candid about his upcoming team.
The Mississippi State University coach didn’t back away from the immediate problems that face the inherited MSU program he was given when he took after Rick Stansbury retired in March.
“Well, we’ll have a brand new team,” Ray said after laughing nervously.
Ray laid out the bottom line problem for the MSU program during the 2012-13 season: If junior guard Jalen Steele and senior center Wendell Lewis don’t score, the Bulldogs can’t win — period.
“We got seven incoming guys and five returning players and of those returning guys only two of them made significant contributions to the team last year,” Ray said. “So we’ll be new and we’ll be inexperienced and we’ll see how it turns out.”
This dynamic means Ray is relying on two players (Steele and Lewis) with 22 combined starts last season and produced 12.5 points per game to be offensive stars next season.
“The big thing is with those guys is their on the top of the scouting report and not on the back page at the bottom of the scouting report,” Ray said. “It used to be that Jalen and Wendell could have a bad game and Mississippi State could still win. If Jalen and Wendell struggle for us offensively, it’s going to be hard for us to win that particular basketball game.”
Ray talked about the immediate positives of the new NCAA rule allowing for more workouts with coaching supervision and instruction with players during the summer giving MSU the same opportunity of any other college program at cohesion before the season.
“I think one of the huge advantages we have now with the new rule is we’re able to workout those guys,” Ray said. “If you were to ask me that question without that, I’d be a little concerned about it. This gives us the opportunity to get things going right away, rather than later.”
Ray also confirmed junior forward Colin Borchert, a transfer from East Mississippi Community College, is the only signed member of the 2012 recruiting class currently on campus right now and the other members will arrive July 5 when the second summer session begins.
Borchert, who he expects to come in and compete immediately for a starting job at the power forward spot but that won’t be the classic forward style that you’ve seen in past MSU teams. Ray envisions Borchert to be the tall, athletic forward that can make big people come out and guard him from beyond the three-point arc (think best-case scenario of Purdue star Robbie Hummel who Ray coached as an assistant with the Boilermakers).
“Colin, I expect him to go out there and challenge for a starting forward spot. We need someone who can challenge Roquez (Johnson) for that starting four spot right away,” Ray said. “I think Colin gives us that ability to make three pointers at that spot, which will be big for us.”
Starkville High School forward Gavin Ware has the spotlight of Ray due to the fact that the new MSU coach is particularly aware of the signee’s “tendency to put on some unnecessary weight.”
This season’s Dispatch All-Area Player of the Year, Ware said he’s down in the 240-245 range in terms of weight and wants to add muscle instead of the unnecessary calories to prepare himself for the rigors of playing in the post at the next level.
“The key to becoming better at anything you do is being willing to put in the work,” Ware said. “I want everybody to know and all the kids that look up to me to understand that hard work will get you far in this world, not just basketball.”
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