Quantum Leap

If you had asked Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury at the end of last season if he thought his school could finish, in 2003-04, with the best record in the SEC for the first time in 41 years, he would have said yes. "I really thought I was going to have the most talented, most experienced team I've had since I've been here," says Stansbury, who is in his 14th year in Starkville and his sixth as head coach. "I just didn't think this was the team I was going to have." � Certainly the Bulldogs squad that at week's end sported a 21-2 record, a No. 7 ranking and a three-game lead over second-place LSU in the SEC West bears scant resemblance to the roster Stansbury had envisioned. Mississippi State does not have Mario Austin, last season's All-SEC center who, despite promising Stansbury otherwise, chose early entry to last June's NBA draft. (He was taken No. 36 by the Chicago Bulls.) The Bulldogs do not have 6'9" hometown hero Travis Outlaw, cultivated for four years and signed by Stansbury; he, too, entered the draft and now plays for the Portland Trail Blazers. Stansbury's team does not have 6'10" Polish phenom Wojciech Barycz, who made hay on a stellar European junior championship performance by signing a pro contract with Italy's Benetton Treviso in July instead of joining the Bulldogs, or 6'5" Ontario Harper, the team's leading returning rebounder, who blew out his right anterior cruciate ligament during a workout in September.

What Mississippi State has, however, is a player whose sudden appearance last August has more than made up for all those no-shows. Lawrence Roberts, a 6'9" 235-pound refugee from last summer's tragedy at Baylor, has nimbly stepped into the frontcourt void and led the Bulldogs to the school's best start since 1961-62 while establishing himself as a leading candidate for the SEC Player of the Year Award. " Lawrence is good at everything," says Mississippi State assistant Phil Cunningham of his forward-center. "He doesn't have many weak areas. The thing that he gives this team that separates us from others is his ability to defensively rebound." Cunningham's right. At week's end Roberts was averaging 6.8 defensive boards, second most in the conference.

Stansbury prefers to cite another Roberts strong point. "He is a great offensive rebounder," the coach says. Stansbury is correct, too. Through Sunday, Roberts was third in the SEC on the offensive glass, with a 3.2 average. Overall, he was the main reason the Bulldogs topped the SEC in rebounding margin (+7.0 per game).

Roberts can also score a bit. Despite having to contend with heavy traffic in the lane, he was averaging a team-leading 17.4 points at week's end. (He had 13 double doubles, ranking him fourth nationally in the category.) On the court Roberts goes about his business with a quiet, Tim Duncanesque cool. He shows emotion so rarely that his outbursts—if they can be called that—seem as startling as a swished half-court heave. In the Bulldogs' 77-73 loss to hot-shooting Alabama last Saturday, there were two such displays. The first, after an emphatic dunk, was a leisurely swing on the rim accompanied by a slight snarl. The second came at the end of the first half when, after Roberts made a three-point shot to put Mississippi State up by a point, he celebrated by ever so briefly lifting an index finger in the air toward the crowd as he trotted off the court.

Says Cunningham, "We could tell from Lawrence's numbers at Baylor [2002-03 averages of 15.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game] that he was obviously talented and capable of doing things. We didn't know how hard he played, how unselfish he was, how humble he was."

Of course, says Stansbury, "when the season began, there were a lot of unknowns." The Bulldogs' one healthy returning starter, 6'2" senior Timmy Bowers, had been a third-team All-SEC shooting guard in 2002-03, but now he would be taking over the point, a position he had played only in relief. Senior center-forward Branden Vincent had averaged 4-4 points and 4.3 rebounds in a reserve role. Could he turn up his production? Junior guard-forward Shane Power, a transfer, had been Iowa State's outstanding defensive player in 2001-02, but he hadn't played in 20 months because of an injury to his left patella that had required surgery in December 2002. And how would the veterans get along with a heralded new guy?

The answers to all those questions were better than Stansbury had dared hope. Bowers has thrived at the point, and at week's end was averaging 4.5 assists (third in the SEC). He is one of 16 finalists for the inaugural Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award. The 6'8", 240-pound Vincent has turned into a versatile defender and the team's second-leading rebounder (7.1 average). "He's our glue guy," says Stansbury. Since replacing 7-footer Marcus Campbell in the lineup after a last-second loss to Kentucky on Jan. 13, the 6'5" Power has shown—if not all the explosive-ness he had before his surgery—a knack for picking up the scoring or rebounding slack. As a bonus, 6'4" junior guard Winsome Frazier, a wiry and occasionally frenetic shooter who can't remember the last bad shot he took, was pumping in 12.8 points a game and leading the conference in steals (2.73 per game).

Most striking, though, is the Bulldogs' chemistry. The players get along like old high school pals, frequently huddling off the court to explore the recreational offerings of greater Starkville, such as they are: watching movies, playing video games, bowling. "This team really likes each other, and that goes a long way toward being successful," says Power. Adds Cunningham, "This is a very laid-back, down-to-earth group. If Lawrence had been even a little bit arrogant, we could have had trouble."

Growing up in Houston, Roberts had plenty he could have been arrogant about. In middle school he played first chair alto saxophone in the All-City band. Until a growth spurt during the summer before high school turned him toward basketball, he played tennis well enough that one coach told him he had pro potential. At Bellaire High, Roberts played on the freshman basketball team alongside future Baylor teammate John Lucas III (now vying for the Big 12 Player of the Year award at Oklahoma State) and future Connecticut star center Emeka Okafor. "We were pretty good" says Roberts, with characteristic understatement, about that district-winning squad. However, the next season Roberts transferred to rival Lamar High because it was closer to home. "I've always wanted to go where I was needed," he says. "Even in AAU, I wanted to play on a team that I could help, not just a big team that everybody knows about. I always wanted to go somewhere and make it my team. I see that as a challenge."

That's why he and Lucas went to perennial Big 12 doormat Baylor: to build the program into a winner. In the aftermath of the shooting death last summer of forward Patrick Dennehy, the arrest of former Baylor teammate Carlton Dotson on charges of murdering him, and the resignation of coach Dave Bliss after revelations of improper payments, Roberts decided to transfer. Because the circumstances were deemed extraordinary, the NCAA allowed Roberts and other Bears to transfer without having to sit out a year, as rules normally stipulate. Roberts wanted a place that could offer him immediate playing time and a title shot. He also considered Arizona and Indiana, but neither school seemed to need him as badly as Mississippi State did. "The fit was perfect," he says.