Ryan Fagan catches up with Keith Carter, the former All-SEC guard at Ole Miss and current radio analyst for the Rebels.
Q: How impressive was Terrico White last year, stepping in when Chris Warren went down with the ACL injury?
A: Terrico, we've been hearing about how explosive he was and what type of player he was going to be, and he was just kind of waiting to break out of that shell. Everybody around the program was pretty worried because Chris controlled the ball so much, and without somebody stepping up, we were going to be in trouble. And Terrico was just unbelievable. He had some games where he just took over. At 6-5, 220, he's such a mismatch for whoever's guarding him. You could just see his confidence grow, and his playmaking ability, too. He'd never played point guard, and that's what was really interesting, how he just took over that and embraced it and really just controlled the team the rest of the season.
Q: And what should we expect out of Warren this year? Is he ready to go?
A: Chris, to me, looks like he has not lost a step. He is extremely quick. He's doing all the things that he's always done. The assistant coaches, and coach (Andy) Kennedy, say he's physically doing fine. Obviously with a knee injury of that magnitude—and I actually had an ACL injury as well—the mental side is tougher than the physical side, as far as when you can finally trust yourself to do those things you've always done. Looking at him, he looks great. He's going to facilitate the offense. With Chris and Terrico out top, you're going to have guys like Trevor Gaskins and Eniel Polynice and our bigs down low who are going to be getting wide-open shots all game long.
Q: What has to happen for Ole Miss to be a factor in the SEC?
A: You look at our roster, and obviously our backcourt is where our strength is going to be. If you have one question mark, it's going to be our bulk inside. But, basically Andy has the style of players that he wants now, he's got the style of big men that he likes, who can step out and who can defend well, get up and down the court. I think they can really surprise some people this year. Last year there were a lot of expectations with Chris and David Huertas in the backcourt, but this year a lot of the younger guys have really stepped up, and you have Polynice coming back. That's going to be huge. Before last season, all of our coaches were saying he was the team's best overall player. He looks very good, like he hasn't slowed down. Obviously, you've got to stay injury-free. You've got to catch some breaks, but this team could win the (SEC) West. I don't think there's any doubt about that.
Ryan Fagan is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at rfagan@sportingnews.com.
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