BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — As senior guard Jordan Danberry concluded her podium session at Thursday’s SEC women’s basketball media day in Birmingham, junior forward Chloe Bibby slid to the front of the scrum.
Mimicking the gathered reporters, Bibby pointed an invisible microphone toward her teammate.
“Why is Chloe Bibby the best?” she posited through her thick Australian drawl.
“Chloe Bibby is kind of crazy sometimes,” Danberry said with a half-cracked smile. “But I know if I get the ball to her she’s going to knock it down. It gets my assists up.”
“I think I have a future as a reporter,” Bibby quipps toward no one in particular as she concludes her faux interview.
While Thursday’s session was just a glimpse at the fun loving personalities Danberry and Bibby boast, the day was more representative of their newly-minted leadership roles on a young MSU roster.
With the departures of Teaira McCowan, Jazzmun Holmes and Anriel Howard, Danberry is the lone senior returner, while Bibby is one of just three juniors with extensive playing time under her belt.
“It’s definitely been different but I think I’ve just embraced the role and I’ve really taken it on because we need that leader,” Bibby said. “These young girls need someone to look up to and they need to know the standard and the expectation.”
After concluding last season, Danberry’s career in Starkville appeared to be over. That said, Schaefer and the MSU compliance staff petitioned the NCAA to grant her an extra year of eligibility due to her mid-year transfer from Arkansas in 2016.
Her return was officially announced Aug. 20.
“I’m a little disappointed in the media selections, y’all,” Schaefer said in reference to the media’s preseason All-SEC selections. “If (Jordan’s) not one of the 10 best players in our conference you’ve got to be kidding me.”
As for Bibby, she’s on the mend from a torn anterior cruciate ligament that she suffered in the opening minutes against South Carolina Jan. 18.
Schaefer said she’s still somewhere between 75-80 percent healthy, though Bibby told The Dispatch she’s full-go in practice.
Semantics aside, this year is markedly different for the Warracknabeal, Australia native. Now an upperclassman, Bibby said she’s tried to embrace a more vocal role in the locker room while looking to return to the court as soon as she could.
“Every moment since the injury I’ve just been working back each step to get back on the court to help my team out,” she said. “So that is what I’ve been looking forward to and that’s my one goal, just to get back out there and do everything I can to help the team.”
With Danberry and Bibby back in the fold, MSU adds a combined 25 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in that duo alone. Further Bibby had converted 45 percent of her 80 3-point attempts before succumbing to injury.
Now just over two weeks away from the season-opening exhibition against Lubbock Christian, Schaefer has begun to garner a slight understanding of what he has in his youthful contingent — a group headlined by McDonald’s All-American Rickea Jackson and five-star recruit Aliyah Matharu.
“The first couple of weeks have been a little hectic,” Danberry said through a chuckle. “But I think they have adapted and understand what is expected and they’ve adapted pretty well. As long as they compete and go hard, there’s nothing to worry about.”
And though the nation’s No. 6 recruiting class and a stable of sophomores figure to be key cogs in Starkville this season, he remains steadfast in his belief in Bibby and Danberry’s leadership ability can set the tone.
“Our returners are ready to step up and carry the torch for us,” Schaefer said.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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