Mississippi State Basketball Coach Chris Jans Talks SEC Competition, Josh Hubbard

At SEC Media Days, Mississippi State coach Chris Jans talks about the strength of SEC basketball, Josh Hubbard’s development, and NCAA tournament ambitions

Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Chris Jans talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. / Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – SEC Basketball Media Days wrapped up Thursday and both Mississippi State men and women teams had their turns in the spotlight.

Mississippi State men’s coach Chris Jans spoke to the media in attendance. Here are some of the things he had to say:

On how good basketball is in the SEC…

I love it. I love being in the SEC. I love being in a league that has such great competition. At the end of the day you know our goal is, obviously, one of them is to get into , March Madness and to play in the NCAA tournament amongst others, but having those kind of opportunities each and every night you know makes that goal a little bit more attainable for most of us.

On Mississippi State not being ranked in the AP preseason poll…

I love the fact, you know, that that there's nine of them in the AP Top 25 to get people thinking about college basketball and, in particular, be thinking about the SEC. Obviously, we're not one of them. So it's great motivation for our players here in the last two-three weeks of practice before we get on the floor.

On sophomore Josh Hubbard…

Josh is a special human being. He's a better person than he is a player and that's no slight to his game. Everybody that follows college basketball or our league knows what kind of year he had as a freshman. He kind of took it by storm. A lot of people asked me in the postseason if I expected him to have that kind of year and my answer is always no. I never dreamt in any world where he would have quite that impact and I don't think anyone else did other than Josh and his family.

On Hubbard’s growth and expectations for the season…

For me, in a selfish way, he's such a great teammate; he's taken a leadership role on this team and as a sophomore he's found his voice. I've encouraged him behind the scenes to find his voice and people ask how can he get better and that was one way I thought he could get better. He's in a better shape than he's ever been. He's more athletic that than he's ever been. He worked hard all year long with our strength coach who did an excellent job with him. I don't want to put any pressure on him, even though I don't think he'll shy away from any of that, we expect an even better year from him on both ends of the floor.

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