On May 1st the NBA’s Board of Governors voted to postpone the Draft Lottery and Draft Combine in Chicago due to an abundance of caution regarding the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to all of the seniors who have wrapped up their college careers, the early-entry deadline for underclassmen was August 3rd and the NBA deadline is today. The lottery has been postponed until August 20th and the draft itself is scheduled to take place virtually on October 16th. We will spend the upcoming months interviewing as many members of the 2020 draft class as possible. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage by chatting with Sayeed Pridgett about being a leader and what it would mean to him to get drafted.
You were born/raised in Oakland: what made you choose Montana? Coach Travis DeCuire was an assistant coach at Cal so when he got the head coaching job at Montana it seemed like an obvious choice for me to go there. His staff was at many of my high school/AAU games.
In high school you worked out with a local coach who happened to be the father of Hall of Famer Gary Payton: what was the most important thing that you ever learned from the man who is nicknamed “Mr. Mean”? To be focused and take everything seriously and go as hard as possible so that nobody else around the country is outworking you.
Coach DeCuire started recruiting you when you were in the 8th grade: what makes him such a good coach, and how intense is he? He is very intense but he knows how to reach each player differently. He knew that if I was not having a good day then yelling at me would fire me up. He knows how to get us to the right spot and then call plays for us.
He has also stated that you are “different than any leader I have had”: what is the secret to being a good leader? The best thing that I did was getting to know everyone on a personal level. I made sure to work out with each of my teammates at least once/twice so that we knew what to expect from each other.
You did not start a single game as a sophomore but as a junior you were named 1st-team All-Big Sky and were 19th in the NCAA with 60.5 FG%: how were you able to step in and lead the team in scoring after Jamar Akoh suffered a career-ending injury midway through the season? I have always been a guy who tried to give the team whatever it needed via my energy. The 2 years prior to that I did a lot of scoring but we had so many other scorers on the team that not many people noticed.
Last January you scored a career-high 33 PTS in 45 minutes in a 2-PT OT loss at Weber State: was it just 1 of those situations where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? I just had the hot hand that night and also had a good game there the previous year so I just had the green light.
You entered the 2020 Big Sky tourney as the #3 seed as you tried to make 3 straight NCAA tourneys for the 1st time in program history, but then you learned that the Big Sky/NCAA tourneys were canceled due to the coronavirus: what was your reaction when you 1st heard the news, and do you think that it was the right decision? When I 1st heard the news I thought that it was just a joke so it did not hit me that hard. I do not think that it was the right decision but I guess they just had to be on the safe side.
You finished your career in the top-6 in school history in PTS/STL: how were you able to balance your offense with your defense? My 1st couple of years my role was to play defense at multiple positions as I just tried to do whatever it took to get onto the court. My final 2 years I definitely scored a lot more but still had to guard some of the best players on the opposing team.
What is it like to be an African-American man/basketball player in 2020? It means a lot. There is a lot on your shoulders with so many things happening and I try to let people know what is going on. I have a stage on which I can speak and get my point across.
What would it mean to you to get drafted, and what is the plan if you do not get drafted? It would definitely be a dream come true but if not then I will just work hard to eventually get to that place. I know that if I keep working hard then my time will come.