We are still a couple of months away from the tip-off of a new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Mississippi State assistant coach Scott Padgett, who talked about winning the 1998 NCAA title and his expectations for this season.
You played for Rick Pitino/Tubby Smith at Kentucky: what was the most important thing that you ever learned from either of them? Rick brought a children’s book to our 1st official practice which taught us how to focus on the task at hand. He stressed the importance of outworking the guy against you every day. The #1 thing about Tubby was how he treated everyone with respect: he would walk by the scorer’s table and get to know everyone’s name. My future wife played volleyball at Kentucky and after 1 practice he introduced himself to all of volleyball players: when he saw the 2 of us together a few days later he asked her what she was doing with “this knucklehead”!
In the 1997 NCAA tourney title game you scored 17 PTS in a 5-PT OT loss to Arizona: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? I have a 1-A and 1-B: that 1 is 1-A. I sat out the 1996 season when Kentucky won the title, and I know that it is very rare for a school to make 3 title games in a row. I was worried that I had missed out on my only chance: we missed a bunch of FTs so it was tough. 1-B is our loss to Michigan State in the 1999 Elite 8 because it ended my career.
In the 1998 NCAA tourney title game you scored 17 PTS in a 9-PT win over Utah: what did it mean to you to win a title, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? It was everything because it was always my dream: it is weird for your lifelong dream to arrive at age 21 because then you need to go get a new dream! I am still in touch with those guys: we called ourselves the “Leftovers” because none of us were good enough to leave early like some of our former teammates. When we landed at the airport there were thousands of fans screaming at the fence, and then a parade of cars back to the arena where 25,000 people were waiting there just to see us hold up the trophy.
You were named Academic All-SEC in both 1998/1999: how did you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? I was always a good student but flunked out of school as a freshman. It was the 1st time that I was never “the guy”: I barely got onto the court. I let my academics suffer and had to work 3 jobs to make enough money to get back to school the following year. After working 7 days/week at those jobs I decided to dedicate myself to school by staying organized and getting ahead of things so that I would not need to play catch-up during road trips.
In January of 2005 as a player for Houston you made a 1-handed, off-balance last-second shot to beat the Knicks (www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUXELjuxnDs): did you think that the shot was going in, and where does that rank among the highlights of your career? It is probably my best NBA moment: I grew up knowing that the Garden was a special place even for non-basketball players like Muhammad Ali. They put me in at the end of the game just to space the defense out, but when the Knicks double-teamed Tracy McGrady the ball came to me. I happened to dribble with my head up and could see that it was going in: I was just shocked that I had the ball in my hands.
You later spent 6 years as head coach at Samford: what is the biggest difference between being head coach vs. being an assistant coach? The head coaching job is all-encompassing and you need to ensure that everything is running smoothly. As an assistant you only have 1 main area to focus on like recruiting or player development or something else.
Last March as an assistant to Chris Jans at Mississippi State you made the SEC tourney semifinals before a 7-PT loss to Auburn, then lost to Michigan State in the NCAA tourney: what did your team learn from that postseason run that you think will help them this season? You hope that they realize every moment matters: the farther you got in a tourney the better the team you will face. 1 particular play can be the difference in advancing vs. going home so every detail matters.
You lost 5 of your top-7 scorers from last year (Jimmy Bell/Dashawn Davis/DJ Jeffries/Shakeel Moore/Tolu Smith): how will you try to replace all that offense/leadership? We added a lot of weapons on offense like Claudell Harris Jr./Riley Kugel/RJ Melendez/etc.: guys who can not only make plays for others but also shoot the ball. We played a lot through Tolu in the post the past couple of years but will probably shoot/make more threes this year then we have ever done before. From a leadership standpoint I think you will see Cam Matthews step up as THE leader, and Josh Hubbard will take more ownership as well.
The SEC got 2 new members this year in Oklahoma/Texas: any thoughts on conference realignment? It makes the league even better/tougher since they are both very good programs in multiple sports. We can all be a Monday morning QB and give our 2 cents…but what is nice is that I think the SEC is still at the top of the food chain.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? We have had good years the past 2 years by making the NCAA tourney. We went 11-2 without Tolu last year so it was a great job by our guys to hold down the fort while he was injured. Now we want to go deeper in the tourney and try to win a couple of games: when you get hot in the tourney anything can happen. The 1st thing is to win a game to get that snowball rolling and then go from there.