Don’t let Bre’Amber Scott smile deceive you.
While some coaches have watched the facial countenance of the 5-foot-11 guard from Little Rock Central (Ark.) High School and questioned whether she is serious about playing basketball, Ed Durham knows Mississippi State women’s
basketball coach Vic Schaefer wasn’t fooled. In fact, Durham said Schaefer knew right away Scott could fill an important role in his program.
“He knew she was serious,” Durham said Wednesday. “He said, ‘Ed, I love her. The kid plays the same way as Dominique Dillingham and Bre’Amber shoots it better.’ ”
That’s high praise coming from Schaefer, who wondered several times at media gatherings how the Bulldogs were going to find someone to take the place of Dillingham, a rising senior who does everything she can on defense to help the team win. In Scott, MSU appears to have found someone who can be a defensive stopper, provide energy, dive on the floor for loose balls, and mix it up with taller players for rebounds. The bonus could be that Scott’s offensive game is a little more polished than Dillingham’s
Either way, MSU learned Monday it had filled a valuable slot in its Class of 2017 when Scott gave a verbal commitment to play for the Bulldogs.
“Outside of basketball and inside of basketball I feel like Mississippi State will give me a better chance to get to where I need to be when I am done with basketball, or to get to the next level of basketball after college,” said Scott, who picked MSU over Arkansas State and Southern Mississippi. “I feel their program is doing a good job sending women to the WNBA and that it is a good place for me to get better and to get prepared to go to the next level.”
Scott said she has talked with Schaefer about the role Dillingham has played in the program for the last three years. She feels confident she can bring the same kind of intensity because she loves the challenge of guarding the other team’s best players. She said Schaefer’s belief that she can help take the place of Dillingham gives her confidence, but she won’t come to Starkville overconfident knowing she already has a spot.
That’s not how Scott operates.
“I can’t go in relaxed about it because I know he’s expecting me to do and that I am OK,” Scott said. “They’re going to make me work even harder. I am happy to go to get the opportunity to help right away. I know that won’t be an easy spot to fill, so I can’t go in relaxed. I have got to keep working.”
Durham said that shouldn’t be a problem. The longtime Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) coach on the boys and girls side has worked with Scott since she was in the seventh grade. He said Scott has drawn a lot of interest from college coaches who have seen her play with his team, the Arkansas Mavericks Elite. But he said many college coaches have wondered about Scott’s attitude toward basketball because she has a tendency to smile, or smirk, when she is on the court.
Durham said she has talked to Scott about the conclusions coaches draw from seeing her smile on the court. He said she is “cleaning that up” and that there is no doubt she is serious about being the best basketball player she can be. In fact, Durham uses words like “gritty,” “throwback,” and “lunch pail” to describe the skills and intangibles Scott brings to a team.
“In the seventh grade I discovered this kid was tough enough and had every attribute you look for in an athlete,” Durham said. “She passed that test in terms of toughness, physicality, and work ethic. We just kept her in our organization and polished her skills.”
Durham said Scott has a nice jump shot, is a tenacious defender who will give up her body for the sake of the team, has a desire to win, a work ethic to grow to the elite level, and loves competition. In a nutshell, she has all of the traits Dillingham brought to Starkville and has helped make staples of Schaefer’s program.
Durham has heard Schaefer talk about Dillingham’s importance to MSU. He believes Scott has the potential to step right in and do a little more because she is comfortable shooting from 19-20 feet and she loves to attack the basket. Like Dillingham, though, her defensive grit makes her special.
“She bought into that (defensive mind-set),” Durham said. “When she figured out she could pressure people on the defensive side, we tried to raise the bar for her. She wanted to face the better one and twos. When we asked her to go inside and defend the fours, she did it. She is just a gritty kid. She has that. You can’t mold that into someone. That is an attribute you need to play at an elite level.”
Scott’s recovery from a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) last summer epitomizes her determination. Scott said she had surgery in July and heard people say she wouldn’t be able to come back from the injury. She said that drove her to come back even better.
“I had a good support system and everybody kept telling me to keep doing what I needed to do,” Scott said. “It got to the point I knew I could do this.”
Scott said scoring 10-12 points in her first game back gave her the confidence to know she could come back even stronger. She said she feels blessed to have been able to recover from the injury, and is looking forward to having a great senior season and then being a Bulldog. She said her plan is to sign a National Letter of Intent in the early signing period, which begins Nov. 9.
“I am always up for a challenge,” Scott said. “I am going to give it my all and work hard. I don’t want to get embarrassed, so I am going to do what I have to do to step up to the plate.”
Scott is the third commitment MSU has received for the Class of 2017. She is expected to join Myah Taylor, a 5-7 guard from Olive Branch High, and Nyah Tate, a 6-foot forward from Terry High. Verbal commitments are non-binding. College coaches can’t comment on verbal commitments.
Bret McCormick, of All-Star Girls Report, a national recruiting service, has Scott ranked No. 164 in the Class of 2017. She is listed as the No. 3 player in the state of Arkansas, according to Arkansas Basketball Rankings.
Dan Olson, of Collegiate Girls Basketball Report and a recruiting analyst for espnW’s HoopGurlz, hasn’t re-evaluated all of the players he has seen this summer, but he figures Scott will be ranked No. 275 in his Class of 2017.
Durham said the numbers don’t matter because they are “going to fall off when you get to college.” He said Scott has matured and understands her job is to go out there and compete. He doesn’t know if Scott will wind up being a top-50 or top-75 kids, but he knows she has the attitude that she wants to defend opponents who are ranked in the top 25 and that she will do her best to shut them down. He said he feels that makes her a perfect fit with Schaefer and the Bulldogs.
“This is a kid he wants,” said Durham, who called Scott the “best in 2017 in the state of Arkansas.” “She is going to lay it on the line and she is going to play the game how he wants it to be played. I think it is a great get for Mississippi State. I know she can play at that level.”
Even though she said she is working on disguising her emotions, don’t be surprised if you see Scott smile when she does arrive in Starkville. After all, it appears to be the perfect place for her to break out her lunch pail and shine.
“I am very serious,” Scott said. “This year, I have gotten better and I am trying not to smile as much as I used to. I am serious. I am trying to make my body language look like I am serious. I am trying to make my facial expressions look serious.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.