Fifth-year East Mississippi Community College men’s basketball coach Mark White says there is nothing mystical about his program’s rise to the top of the food chain in the state of Mississippi.
“It’s real simple,” White said. “Hard work. Nothing is going to ever going to replace hard work.”
That hard work, both from the coaching staff and the players, has led to the Lions — fresh off back-to-back Region XXIII Championships and trips to the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas — being ranked No. 7 in the NJCAA preseason poll.
After 11-14 and 17-11 records in his first two years at the school, White has led the Lions to a 52-12 record in the past two seasons, and a 2-1 start this season.
EMCC, which dropped an 88-67 decision to homestanding and No. 11 Northwest Florida State Community College on Saturday, will return to the floor Thursday at Keyes Currie Coliseum when they play host to Meridian Community College. After a week off, EMCC will play host to East Central on Nov. 17.
White and assistant coach Billy Begley — a former Mississippi State player — have put together another strong squad this season thanks to another solid recruiting year.
“Winning is your best recruiter,” White said. “It helps so much and we just continue to find the right kids for the program who want to do things the way we want to do them.”
White came to EMCC to revive a slumping program after four years as an assistant coach at Mississippi State University. He has also worked at four different junior colleges, mostly west of the Mississippi River.
“I was familiar with what it takes to win on this level,” he said. “To begin with, the administration has been supportive. Then we put in a lot of hard work and it has begun to pay off.”
Thanks to successive trips to the National Tournament, the Lions closed out the last two seasons ranked No 12 in the nation. The preseason No. 7 ranking this year even caught White a little by surprise.
“It’s really nice and gives everybody a little pride in the program,” White said. “I don’t know if it’s because we (were in Nationals) back to back, but whatever the reason, we are pleased with it.”
While community college basketball teams turn over players at a rapid pace, the Lions have just continued to reload.
“I really like our team a lot,” White said. “On paper, this is definitely our best team, our most talented team.”
White particularly pointed to the depth on the inside. In fact, overall depth will cause the coach to work a little harder to make sure all of his players get adequate time on the floor.
“The key to the team is going to be to balance the minutes,” he said. “We will just have to work to find the chemistry and find the right balance from the inside, out.”
Among the key returnees White will be counting on will be sophomore point guard D.J. Evans of Brandon and 6-foot-6 inside player Millaun Brown from West Bolivar High School.
“We will be counting on those two guys to lead us and keep us focused,” White said.
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