On Thursday, Mississippi State head basketball coach Rick Stansbury, junior point guard Dee Bost and sophomore forward Renardo Sidney met with the media to discuss issues surrounding the team. Bost is academically ineligible for the fall semester and is suspended an additional nine games for failing to withdraw his name from the NBA Draft in time. Sidney was suspended all of last year and the first nine games this year for violating NCAA rules. The following are notable quotes from the day.
 
Rick Stansbury:
On the May 8 deadline for Dee Bost to withdraw his name from the draft: “May the 8th had nothing to do with May the 8th now. Does everybody understand that? May the 8th was the deadline. His decision had nothing to do with may the 8th. He understood may the 8th, totally.”
“He wasn’t clear on the past, how it was. There’s where the confusion came in. I ain’t going to speak for Dee, but it was about, in the past, you could stay in the draft. You could go undrafted and you could go back to school. We didn’t talk about that. We talked about May the 8th. That was the only issue.”
“Why did he tweet he was going through the draft? It’s very simple. After going through this, and he finds out, he tweeted he’s staying in the draft, he wasn’t telling us everything. Stay in the draft, go undrafted, have some workouts and still come back to school. But he wasn’t telling us all that, until that Sunday whenever he finds out he can’t do it any longer. That’s when it all changed.”
“Without these two guys, these cornerstones, some other people are going to have to step up. They’re not going to cancel no games, those games keep coming, and everybody wants a piece of us until we get these guys eligible.”
Renardo Sidney:
On the months of waiting: “It took a very emotional toll. It was hard sitting on the bench, knowing I was supposed to be out there playing with my team and helping them win. I’m just glad to get this opportunity back to play one more year with coach Stansbury and with Dee Bost. [It] should be an exciting year.”
“We’re a great team, and if even if [Bost and I] don’t’ play, we still have other guys that come in and take the role that we play.”
“I’m glad I got another opportunity to play this year.”
“We have the best strength and conditioning coach in the country with coach Akin, and I thought if I came back one more year, do his thing, it would put me where I need to be at.”
“I made the decision to come back, I don’t know if I’m gonna make the decision to come back next year. It depends on how our season goes.”
On playing his first game: “I’m going to be very nervous. Like I said, I haven’t played in a year and a half. It’s going to be new to me, college. Hopefully I get out there and do what I got to do.”
On Jarvis Varnado: “He used to block my shots everyday. I never had that in high school. Playing against him everyday got me better, and it got him better, also, because we were competing every day. He taught me the meaning of blocking shots. That wasn’t a part of my game, but that’s what I’m trying to add.”
Dee Bost:
On when he found out he could play: “I was thankful and happy that I got another chance to play. I was excited. It was some stressful months. But once I found out, I was ready to go.”
On the process of the NBA Draft: “I just thought I could go through the draft and work and still come back. I listened to the wrong people.”
“Nobody told me I could come back. I thought I could come back.”
On if he will come back after this season: “I ain’t worried about next year.”
“I’m going to take this experience, and, since I got a second chance, I’m going to make the most of it.”
On how the team views Sidney: “He’s still part of our team, no matter if he didn’t play last year. We anticipate him coming out there and playing a major role. We think he’s going to come out there and be the first option on offense, just because he’s so big and nobody can stop him.”
On how good Sidney can be: “If he puts his mind to it and keeps working, can I say this? … if he can get in shape and do what he’s supposed to do, he could easily be a top five in the draft.”
“We want to take it one game at a time. We got to take baby steps.”