Anytime a new coach takes over a program, questions begin to swirl around as to whether or not they’ll be able to bring in highly-rated recruits, ones that can make an immediate impact and win games. Such was the question at Mississippi State.
Ben Howland has never been a head coach in the SEC. In fact, almost all of his coaching has been done out West, besides a four-year stretch as the head man at Pitt. We’ve always known that Howland could coach, but whether or not he’d be able to making a splash in the recruiting world, in a conference with the likes of John Calipari and Billy Donovan, was very much up in the air.
That all changed on Friday afternoon, when Jackson native and five-star shooting guard Malik Newman committed to the Bulldogs.
Malik Newman will have the ball in his hands and be the go-to-guy from day one at Mississippi State. He’ll put up big numbers.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) April 24, 2015
#MalikNewman, Five-star prospect Malik Newman chooses Mississippi State – http://t.co/DHY1meGASc pic.twitter.com/0R8jbPEBJs
— Headline News (@bnewsheadlines) April 24, 2015
Newman’s commitment does wonders for Howland’s staff on many different levels.
First, they lock down the state’s best player and possibly the best scorer in the high school ranks nation-wide. It’s the kind of commitment that gives MSU momentum on the recruiting trail, and shows the nation that Howland and company can beat out programs like Kentucky and Kansas, long thought of as Newman’s leaders.
Newman is also the type of talent who can come in right away and give Hail State a dynamic scorer from the perimeter, which as we all know, can make up for a lot of other shortcomings on a team’s roster.
