Renardo Sidney is actually finishing conditioning drills now

Usually, media day quotes are worthless.

Its coaches and players giving typical coach-speak and player-speak. They are quotes that feed the starving masses of hoops fans looking for filler to read about their team. Its nothing but the kind of cliches you expect to hear at the start of every season -- "I really like this team" or "I think we're better than all the so-called experts do" or "we determine our own future". You've all seen them, you know what I'm referring to.

But every once in a while you get something juicy. Cue Rick Stansbury. Clearly, the hot-topic heading into Mississippi State's media day was Renardo Sidney, and Stansbury had a couple of enlightening quotes about Sidney's conditioning and teamwork. Like, for example, the fact that Sidney is finishing conditioning drills for the first time in his career.


"That doesn't mean he was winning every race," said Stansbury, "but he made it through it. For him, that's a step in the right direction. We've just got to keep stepping the right way and not step back."

Stansbury also lauded the fact that Sidney is finally being a "good teammate" by saying "We haven't had any blow ups."

"Call it maturity, call it whatever you want to call it," Stansbury said. "That's what we want. I don't care what you call it. Thats what we expect and need from him."

Think about that for a second. Stansbury is calling it a step in the right direction that Sidney is finally able to finish conditioning drills and that, in mid-October, he hasn't gotten into it with a teammate or a head coach. What does that say about Sidney, the kind of teammate he was and the kind of effort he gave last season? Its not exactly high praise.

But, as Stansbury said, it is a step in the right direction. It is a good sign that Sidney is apparently starting to accept the fact that he has to work on his game and work on his body if he wants to make a career out of basketball. That he is starting to get along with his teammates may be even better news.

If you've forgotten, Sidney spent the summer working out with John Lucas down in Houston. He was supposed to return to Mississippi to travel with the Bulldogs on their trip to Europe, but Stansbury made the decision to send Sidney back to Houston for more face time with Lucas. This summer was Stansbury's last chance at getting through to him. After all of the embarrassment that Sidney has put the Mississippi State program through over the past two years, he no longer has a margin of error. He no longer has room to make a mistake. By sending Sidney back to Houston and banning him from the trip to Europe, Stansbury was trying to send the message that anything less than full and complete dedication to the team and to bettering himself as a person and a player would not be tolerated.

It looks like Stansbury may finally be starting to get through to Sidney. There is a long, long way to go this season and there is no guarantee that Sidney doesn't regress.

But at least the season is starting on a positive note. You can't ask for anything other than that.
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So it was Rick Stansbury's choice to send Renardo Sidney back to Houston?

It appears that, as we speculated back in July, Renardo Sidney's decision not to travel with his Mississippi State on their European tour was not actually his decision.

It was Rick Stansbury's. Check out the quotes Brandon Marcello of the Clarion-Ledger got from Rick Stansbury:

"Let's make sure to get this clear: it was not his decision to go to Houston," Stansbury said. "Everybody understand that. I made that decision, nobody else made that decision. I made the decision, OK? That’s where that is and, again, would I have liked for him to have been on the trip? I would have and it would have been good, but there are some things he had to handle that he hadn’t handled. Since then, he has."

"He fulfilled some obligations he had to have for the team," Stansbury said. "And he did that. So, we'll see if he keeps progressing. We all want to hope and believe he can."

If you've forgotten, Sidney returned to Houston to train -- both mentally and physically -- with John Lucas instead of hopping the pond with his teammates. Lucas, who has a history of substance abuse, has a reputation for being able to straighten out athletes that are trending in the wrong direction. The fact that Sidney made the effort -- whether forced or not -- to train with Lucas is a good sign; that he was in a place where that decision had to be made is not.

Honestly, there isn't much to say about the situation that I didn't write here or here other than this -- Stansbury now has some insurance in the form of Arnett Moultrie.

Moultrie, a transfer from UTEP that sat out last season, dominated during Mississippi State's trip through Europe, averaging almost 17 points and 12 boards. Granted, the competition wasn't exactly up to the level of the SEC, but the performance -- and the numbers (9.8 ppg and 6.7 rpg) he averaged as a sophomore at UTEP -- are enough that Stansbury can feel more comfortable if the worst-case scenario were to arise with Sidney.

Stansbury has a lot riding on Sidney's success -- his reputation, the reputation of his program and his university, his team's success, possibly his job. That's why he risked team chemistry by sending Sidney to better himself as an individual.

Stansbury will still be in trouble if the bottom falls out, but with Moultrie, the ground doesn't look quite as far away.
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Rick Stansbury is hoping John Lucas gets through to Renardo Sidney

By now, you've probably heard the latest twist in the saga that is the career of Renardo Sidney.

The talented-but-mercurial Mississippi State junior will not be traveling with the Bulldogs on their trip to Europe in August. There are conflicting reports out there, but whether or not you believe that Rick Stansbury is keeping Sidney stateside or Sidney made the decision on is own is moot. The bottom line is that instead of taking a chemistry-building trip to Europe with his teammates Sidney is going to remain in Houston, working out with John Lucas.

Before I go any further, the statements.


"Renardo Sidney has returned to Houston, Texas, to continue working out with John Lucas,” Stansbury said in a statement. “He will not accompany the team to Europe next month, but he is expected back on campus for the start of the fall semester in mid-August."

"Everybody has their own opinion but I'm doing what I have to do," Sidney told The Clarion-Ledger. "There's nothing else going on. They can say what they want to say but, like I said, I know what I have to do basketball-wise. I wasn't ready to go and I felt like I really wasn't in shape. I wanted to come back down here and get some more work."

From an individual's perspective, its difficult to criticize Sidney for returning to Houston to workout with Lucas.

Lucas has a reputation for being a guy that helps get troubled talents back on the path to greatness. At this point in his career, Sidney is the epitome of a troubled talent. Between the season and a half he missed due to his acceptance of illegal benefits while in high school to the suspensions he received for fighting last season, from his continuing battle with weight issues and his lack of conditioning, Sidney has a long way to go to learn how to be a functioning member of a basketball team.

The program that Lucas runs is not easy, and the fact that Sidney wants to return should be a good sign for him as a person. He wants to be better. He wants to be able to capitalize on the gifts that he was blessed with.

Sidney, who worked out with Lucas in May and June before attending summer classes in July, is expected to return to the Starkville campus on August 14th. Stansbury "expects" him to be a member of the Bulldog team in the fall. If Sidney feels that it is in his personal best interest to avoid a trip overseas and to continue to learn from Lucas, than he shouldn't be criticized for it. He's trying to get better, and he's already shown some improvement. He lost 23 pounds in May and June.

The question I want answered is how long Stansbury is going to put up with Sidney.

While its commendable that Sidney is putting in the effort to get in shape and better his work habits, missing this trip makes it abundantly clear just how little he cares about the MSU basketball team. The Bulldog's success next season doesn't matter to him. He's not working out because he wants to win an SEC title, he's working out because he wants to be able to play in the NBA and make NBA money.

You see, for all his issues and off-the-court problems, Sidney is an untapped gold-mine of potential. If it ever clicked for him, Sidney would be a dominating force in the SEC. He has enough talent to be worthy of a lottery pick. That kid of player doesn't come along too often, especially when you coach at Mississippi State.

Maybe, for Stansbury, this trip back to Houston is a last ditch effort to turn Sidney around. Stansbury has invested so much time and so much energy into creating the perception that bringing Sidney into his program was a good idea that he can't turn-around. He's pot-committed. He needs this to work out well.

He needs Renardo Sidney to dominate.

He needs to be able to say to the fans and the boosters and the athletic department that it worked out; that he took a risk on a kid that no one else wanted and helped change that kid's life while landing himself a star player.

Stansbury needs this saga to have a storybook ending, and he's hoping that John Lucas will be the answer.
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Rick Stansbury won the offseason

I doubt you will find any coach that earned his salary more than Rick Stansbury did this summer.

He managed to help convince Renardo Sidney to get back into shape. He threw a Roy Halladay curveball to the NCAA, convincing them to reinstate his star point guard Dee Bost. And now, he's managed to rig Mississippi State's schedule so that he will play every single SEC game at full strength.

Rick Stansbury won the offseason.
(photo credit: The State)

Renardo Sidney is going to miss the first nine games of the season regardless of when they are played. Dee Bost is academically ineligible for the first semester, but if he gets his act together in the classroom, he will become eligible Dec. 11th. Well, that's not exactly true, as Bost will be begin to serve his nine-game suspension on that date.

So what did Stansbury do?

He moved a game against Alabama State from Dec. 4th to Dec. 14th so that it will count against Bost's suspension. Then, he landed a date with St. Mary's in Las Vegas on Dec. 29th, which will be Mississippi State's last game before SEC play begins, doubling as the ninth game of Bost's suspension. The end result: Mississippi State will play the bulk of their schedule with Sidney on the roster (their first nine games are against a bunch of low-majors schools at home) and will be at full strength for the duration of SEC play.

Stansbury also added a scrimmage for Dec. 15th so that Sidney will play some game minutes before kicking off his collegiate career against a top 25 team in Virginia Tech.

The schedule changes did make things difficult, however. By moving the Alabama State game to Dec. 14th, Stansbury's club will be playing four games in four games. The scrimmage, then, will essentially create a fifth game in five days. Their game with St. Mary's comes on the back end of a trip that takes them to a Dec. 18th date with Virginia Tech in the Bahamas, to Honolulu for the Diamond Head Classic, which takes place from Dec. 22nd-25th, and finally to Vegas for their Dec. 29th date.

It won't be easy, but Stansbury certainly put his team in great position to make a run at the SEC West title.

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