STARKVILLE — Maroon and white. Maroon and gray. Maroon and black.
There are so many color combinations that Jazmine Spears can wear a different piece of Mississippi State women’s basketball apparel almost every day.
After waiting two years to get to Starkville, Spears plans to make the most of her next two years and mix and match tops and bottoms to create a lasting impression.
“It means everything to me,” Spears said of realizing her dream to play basketball at MSU. “It took me forever to get here, so just to be here is a great feeling.”
Spears made her comments last month as part of her first news conference with MSU women’s basketball newcomers Zion Campbell, Jazzmun “Jazz” Holmes, Roshunda Johnson, and Teaira McCowan. For Spears, a former standout at New Albany High School, the gathering was two years in the making. The 6-foot forward signed with MSU in April 2013 but didn’t qualify academically and wound up at Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College.
Two years of seasoning helped Spears mature on and off the court. As Spears and her MSU teammates kick off the second session of summer school today, the anticipation continues to build for the Bulldogs, who are coming off a program-best 27 victories, including a school-high 11 in the Southeastern Conference, and a return to the NCAA tournament.
Spears figures to give MSU an additional shooting and scoring threat who can complement rising sophomore Victoria Vivians. She also will be expected to provide depth on a roster that could be the deepest and most talented in coach Vic Schaefer’s fourth season in Starkville.
“You’re talking about a WBCA first-team All-American but, at the same time, I think she has walked into the gym and realized we have a gym full of great players,” Schaefer said. “There is going to be great competition. Whatever it says under your bio, I think our returners understand we’re going to play the best players.
“For her, (the power forward position) is probably our is fullest position. We have four kids there who can really play.”
Schaefer said the Bulldogs are experimenting with moving rising junior Breanna Richardson out to the three (small forward) position to free some time for the other forwards.
Last season, Spears was named MVP in Region XIV. She averaged 14.6 points and 9.4 rebounds and shot 48.9 percent from the field in leading TVCC (32-4) to a third-place finish at the NJCAA Division I Championship in Salina, Kansas.
As a freshman, Spears played for current MSU assistant coach Elena Lovato and helped TVCC win the 2014 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national title, the school’s third straight. She also earned WBCA All-America honorable mention accolades after averaging 11.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game and shooting 50.5 percent.
At New Albany High, Spears earned All-State honors three times and scored 3,277 points and grabbed 2,149 rebounds. A three-time Dandy Dozen selection by The Clarion-Ledger, Spears was named first-team All-State after a senior season in which she averaged 30.6 points, 15.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 3.7 blocked shots. She also played in the Mississippi/Alabama All-Star Game and in the Mississippi Association of Coaches All-Star Game. She earned defensive MVP honors in the MAC All-Star Game after helping the North to a 74-62 win.
Spears said it was “very difficult” to get past the notion that it took her so long to get to MSU. Even though it was only two years, Spears’ comments show she believes it felt like a lot longer. She said she used the time at TVCC to mature on and off the court so she would be ready when it was time to come to Starkville.
Now that Spears has arrived, she doesn’t intend to waste any time.
“I am the same player they saw (at New Albany High) but with more growth,” Spears said. “I am a better outside player and a better shooter and a better physical player.”
Spears said having Lovato on staff at MSU is a good thing and it could make things harder on her because Lovato knows what she is capable of doing. Schaefer and the rest of the coaching staff also know what Spears can do because they have spent a few years keeping up with her progress.
“I’m really proud of Jazmine. She won a national championship her freshman year at Trinity Valley, and she’s done a tremendous job in the classroom which is what she needed,” Schaefer said in November 2014 in announcing Spears’ signing. “I think she’s highly motivated as a basketball player knowing she’s coming into our program in the SEC, and I think she wants to live up to those expectations that she’s put on herself.
“I appreciate the job coach (Gerald) Ewing at Trinity Valley, coach Lovato and her high school coach John Stroud have done developing her on and off the court. They have really helped that young lady become focused and committed in the classroom, and that is what she needed.”
Spears said she was “blessed” to receive first-team NJCAA All-America honors. She said she was proud to earn that honor because she put in a lot of time to hone her skills and to take her game to the next level. At MSU, Spears said she will have to do the same thing because she will face taller and more physical players almost every day. In practice, she will go up against players like 6-foot-5 center Chinwe Okorie and McCowan, who is 6-7.
Through the first month, Spears said she has spent time playing small and power forward in workouts and in pickup games. She said the “three” is very different because she hasn’t done it before, while the “four,” a position she said she is used to, requires more ballhandling and playing on the perimeter in Schaefer’s system.
With so many options, it’s easy to see why MSU earned a No. 11 preseason ranking from ESPN.com’s Charlie Creme after the 2014-15 season. Spears’ versatility could help her carve out several niches when it comes time for Schaefer to decide who fits best at every position. Until then, Spears will keep working hard and learning so she will be ready to wear whatever color MSU has picked that day.
“We just hope everybody plays a role that is going to impact the team and give it their all no matter what,” Spears said. “My role will probably be the four and shooting. On defense, it probably will be locking down and trying to get more defensive.”
n MSU among nation’s best in attendance: Buoyed by a program-record 67,598 fans for 18 games at Humphrey Coliseum (average of 3,755 per game), MSU saw the fourth-highest increase in attendance in the nation, as announced Monday by the NCAA.
MSU’s second-straight year of record attendance included a crowd of 7,326 that was the largest to watch a women’s college basketball game in the state of Mississippi. In all, MSU’s average attendance improved by 1,435 from the 2013-14 campaign, which also was the second-best mark in the Southeastern Conference.
South Carolina led all schools in home attendance for the first time (12,293 per game). This is the first time that a school other than Tennessee or Connecticut has led the nation in attendance since 1994 (Ohio State).
MSU’s average of 3,755 fans per game was 27th nationally (fifth in the SEC). The support of the Bulldogs’ fans helped the SEC draw 1,011,451 for the year, making it just the second conference in Division I history to eclipse 1 million fans.
In total, nine SEC schools were ranked in the top 50 for average home attendance with four listed in the top 25: South Carolina (1, 12,293), Tennessee (2, 10,375), Kentucky (7, 6,379), Texas A&M (17, 5,034), Mississippi State (27, 3,755), Vanderbilt (30, 3,552), Georgia (34, 3,237), LSU (41, 2,839), and Alabama (49, 2,550).
In 2013-14, MSU finished seventh in the nation in largest home attendance increase (1,004).
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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