With Tang in their system, Bulldogs all juiced up

ROB KEYS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

This is the third in a series previewing SEC basketball teams.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The first thing Mississippi State Coach Rick Stansbury said when he took the podium at SEC Basketball Media Days on Tuesday morning was, "Who's in charge of the donuts and orange juice?"
That seems like a strange question coming from a man who enjoys Tang every day.
Tang Hamilton is Mississippi State's 6-7, 215-pound junior forward and the cornerstone of a team Stansbury hopes will end the Bulldogs' three-year NCAA Tournament drought.
"I think this team, even though we're young, brings a lot of energy, spirit and enthusiasm," Stansbury said. "I think it's a team that, as the year goes on, is going to get better and better and better every day."
Stansbury also believes Hamilton continues to improve on a daily basis and hopes he will develop into a go-to player who can carry the Bulldogs a long way this season.
Hamilton wasn't bad last season, leading Mississippi State in scoring (11.3) and rebounding (5.7). Hamilton continued to hone his skills this summer, competing on an SEC All-Star team that toured Japan.
He scored 25 points off the bench to lead the SEC squad to victory in its first game, then started the last four games. He finished the tour leading the team in scoring (15.6) and minutes played (28.6).
Stansbury said the experience boosted Hamilton's confidence and his mental toughness, something he will need this season when he will likely log lots of minutes at power forward.
Hamilton played that position late last season when Stansbury opted to go with a smaller, quicker lineup. And that move paid off as the Bulldogs won six of their last nine regular-season games, upset SEC East champion Tennessee in the first round of the SEC Tournament and came within an eyelash of getting an NCAA Tournament bid.
"We were a totally different team with him at the [No.] 4 spot," Stansbury said. "If we were able to win that war at the defensive end, then we had the advantage every time on the offensive end because of his quickness and ability to shoot the basketball."
There is no doubt, though, that if the Bulldogs are to return to the Big Dance, Hamilton must get help inside.
The most likely candidates are Robert Jackson, Lincoln Smith and Quentin Smith, but big questions surround all three.
Jackson, a 6-8, 245-pound sophomore is a polished offensive player but still rough around the edges defensively.
Stansbury likes the size (6-9, 250, 88-inch wingspan) of Quentin Smith. But Smith hasn't played since early in the 1997-98 season, when he played in the Bulldogs' first eight games, transferred to Southern Miss, then transferred back to Mississippi State and sat out last year.
Lincoln Smith is a 6-9, 255-pound true freshman.
"If we can defend and stop anybody and rebound the basketball, I think we'll be pretty good going down to the [offensive] end, because I think we can be very good in transition," Stansbury said. "The problem is I don't know if we can defend or rebound the basketball right now."
Those unknowns are exactly why Stansbury will likely play one of his three big men, Hamilton and three guards -- most likely the Bulldogs' lone senior, Todd Myles, junior transfer Antonio Jackson and freshman Derrick Zimmerman.
"I think those two guys are going to help us tremendously," Myles said. "You know, they're going to take a couple of lumps and bumps, but everybody does early on. I think by SEC time, those guys are going to be in shape and ready to go."
All the Bulldogs will actually have to be ready to go sooner than that. Stansbury beefed up the nonconference schedule after last year's soft one was cited as one of the reasons Mississippi State ended its season in the NIT rather than the NCAA Tournament.
This year, Mississippi State's nonconference schedule features a tournament in St. Louis in which seven of the eight teams earned postseason bids last season, and a game against Stanford in Oakland.
Whether the Bulldogs are ready to take that step up in competition remains to be seen, but Myles guaranteed one thing.
"We won't lose because of lack of effort," he said.
Or a lack of Tang.
Tomorrow: Kentucky
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT A GLANCE
COACH Rick Stansbury (20-13 in one season at Mississippi State, 20-13 overall in one season)
LAST SEASON 20-13 (NIT first round)
KEY RETURNEES F Tang Hamilton, G Todd Myles
KEY LOSSES C Tyrone Washington, G Detrick White
KEY NEWCOMERS G Derrick Zimmerman, G Antonio Jackson
PROJECTED FINISH THIS SEASON Fourth SEC West

WHERE Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (50,577), Oxford, Miss.
WHEN 5:05 p.m. today
RECORDS Arkansas 5-2, 2-2 SEC; Ole Miss 6-2, 2-2
SERIES The record is in dispute. Ole Miss claims its 23-21-1 in Arkansas' favor, and the Razorbacks record it as 24-20-1. The discrepancy comes from the 1914 game that the Rebels won 13-7, but, according to Arkansas, with an ineligible player. The Razorbacks have played only three times in Oxford -- losing each -- because the games mostly have been played in Memphis, Jackson and Little Rock.
LINE Arkansas by 11/2
TV ESPN2
RADIO Arkansas Razorback Sports Network on 73 stations, including KARN AM-920 and FM-101.7 and KKRN FM-102.5 in Little Rock; KXOW AM-1420 and KLAZ FM-105.9 in Hot Springs; and in Fayetteville-Springdale on KEZA FM-107.9 and KREB AM-1390, FM-96.7 and FM-99.5.

This article was published on Saturday, November 6, 1999

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