STARKVILLE — There’s little doubt about what league Malik Newman will be playing in next season.
The Mississippi State freshman guard is expected to be a one-and-done player and should enter the National Basketball Association Draft next June when this season ends for the Bulldogs. Barring injury or unforeseen circumstances, that’s going to happen.
But Newman has yet to play a game for the Bulldogs who get practice underway Monday and the season underway with a Nov. 13 home game against Eastern Washington. Being a highly sought after recruit coming out of Callaway High School – a 5-star guard – there are a lot of expectations on his shoulders this season to turn around a Bulldog program that hasn’t seen success in awhile, but it doesn’t seem to bother him.
“I don’t look at it as pressure,” Newman said. “I look at it as something special’s about to happen. Last year wasn’t a good year, the year before that wasn’t a good year, but it’s a new book, it’s a new title, and it’s a new story.
“I think there’s no pressure. People are building up hype and it’s just up to me and my team and go out there and just respond to it.”
The last winning season for the Bulldgos came during 2011-12 season when they finished 21-12 overall and an 8-8 mark in the Southeastern Conference.
Sitting down and talking with Newman, you wouldn’t expect him to be a dominate force on the basketball court. He’s laid back, yet honest, but it doesn’t seem like anything bothers him.
Ready to go
On the court, that’s a different discussion. Newman, a McDonald’s All-American, finished his heralded Charger career with 3,108 points, 651 rebounds, 301 assists and 195 steals. The Chargers were 114-16 with Newman on the team and won three Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A State championships. As a senior, he averaged 29.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists as his team finished ranked third nationally in the USA Today poll with a 31-3 record.
Newman’s father, Haratio Webster, says his son has always been laid back.
“Sometimes I think he carries his off the court personality on the court,” Webster said. “I think he’s a little bit too nice sometimes. He’s a kid that loves the game of basketball and when he’s out there, he’s at home.”
Webster played for MSU for two seasons from 1996-98. As a forward, he scored 977 points during his Bulldog career.
Even though Newman tries not to think about the future, his coach is. When asked about playing at the next level, first-year coach Ben Howland has said numerous times, “He is a one-and-done player.”
Howland has coached some good players during his tenures at Northern Arizona, Pittsburgh, and UCLA. During his 19 years as a coach he has seen 17 players go in the NBA Draft, including four freshmen. Four more of his players went undrafted but found their way on to teams.
So Howland knows what it takes for a player to play at the next level, and he also has an intuition about who is ready to play in the NBA when they first step on campus.
“The thing that makes Malik so good is his skill level and his intelligence,” Howland said. “He’s really, really bright. He’s a very smart player, very smart kid; he really is beyond his years in terms of his feel for the game, and his intelligence.”
But Newman is not worried about the next level at this point in time. He really wants to help change the perception of MSU basketball. He says the thought of being a one-and-done player still crosses his mind and it will as the season gets into full swing, but it’s not at the front of his mind.
“That’s something I can’t just really be focused on right now,” Newman said. “Right now what I’m focused on is making sure I’m getting better, making sure my team is getting better so we won’t have the same outcome we had last year.”
Lots of ability
Newman’s ability to compartmentalize is astonishing, considering all the hype that is surrounding him and the fact that his future is already mapped out.
But in the end, he has to have a big season.
“He knows he has to go and perform,” Webster said. “Regardless of what the papers say, the scout services say, he’s got to perform.”
Of the 360 picks in the last six NBA Drafts, 55 have been freshmen – just over 15 percent.
Newman has had conversations with both Howland and his father about what his future holds for him. Newman said Howland has been honest with him from the beginning and said his coach and his father can help him make the right decisions, but ultimately it’s his decision.
Newman is a pretty good shooter, but he doesn’t want to be complacent this season. He knows he has somethings to work on.
“I think I just need to work on my overall game,” Newman said. “I don’t think there’s no one in the NBA that can shoot too good. I don’t think there’s no one in the NBA that’s too fast, too strong, and too athletic. I think I need to work on everything in order to be a better player for the NBA.”
The 6-foot-3, 178-pound Newman mainly played shooting guard in high school, but he will more than likely have to play point guard at the next level – something he is totally fine with. He will play point guard for the Bulldogs this season, but MSU has a veteran at the position – senior Craig Sword. They will split time at the point guard position, but many times, they will be on the court at the same time.
Howland said Newman’s transition to point guard in the early going has been seamless. He says Newman has a great feel for the position and is very unselfish.
Newman has been working with Sword to make that transition as easy as possible.
“It’s working out well,” Sword said. “We have to get on the same page for a lot of stuff. Malik is a good point guard. Once we get our communication and chemistry together, then we should be good.”
Although many on the outside expect Newman to leave Starkville once the season is over, if it’s not in the cards for Newman, he’ll be fine with that.
Even if he has to stay four years with the Bulldog program, he doesn’t care.
“That would be fine, as long as, I have players that come in with the same attitude that I have and the same work ethic that I have,” Newman said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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