Picture this: You take two dribbles to the right and hit a wall. You try two back to the left. The wall moved faster than you did. Would a crossover dribble work? How about a behind-the-back move? Still nothing. Shot fake and shoot? You are going to taste leather.
Now you know what it’s like to try and score on Branden Vincent, a 6-foot-8-inch, 240-pound heap of humanity that embodies the term “power forward.” Every time he steps on a court he has his mind set on stopping you.
Time after time the past two seasons head coach Rick Stansbury called on Vincent when the team needed a stop, and time after time Vincent delivered.
“Branden Vincent is motivated by being the team’s best defender,” Stansbury said. “We wouldn’t have won the SEC championship without him on this team.”
The Bulldogs discovered Vincent at Okaloosa-Walton (Fla.) Community College and beat Mississippi and Auburn in the recruiting war.
“I saw people around MSU and liked the atmosphere,” Vincent said. “(Assistant) coach (Robert) Kirby was someone I could relate to. He’s a cool guy, and he broke things down pretty easy.”
Kirby said he was looking at other players, then Vincent’s work ethic caught his attention.
“He was the first one in the gym and the last one to leave,” Kirby said. “He does all the things the average fan doesn’t notice that makes a team win. You have to really watch what he does to understand the poetry of the game.”
In Vincent’s two years as a Dawg, State went 47-14, won two division titles, a conference championship and went a combined 9-0 against Mississippi and Auburn.
“Ole Miss and Auburn were recruiting me, but the atmosphere wasn’t for me. It seems like I made the right decision,” Vincent said with a slight laugh.
Defense is a dirty job, but someone has to do it. And no Bulldog loved doing the dirty work as much as Vincent. He led the team with 39 blocks and often matched up against the other team’s best scorer-whether it was a guard, forward or center.
“He gives tremendous effort every time he is on the court and you have to give him props for that,” guard Timmy Bowers said.
In practice, Vincent kept his lateral movement crisp by matching up against State’s guards.
“Dietric (Slater) is actually the hardest person to guard in practice. He comes up with all kinds of sneaky, snaky moves.”
What qualifies as a job well done?
“It depends on what the opponent’s scoring average is,” Vincent said. “I want to hold them to eight points under their average because that’s probably going to be a difference in the game.”
Vincent said his favorite match-up was Vanderbilt’s Matt Freije, who averaged 18.5 points per game this year and finished second in SEC Player of the Year voting behind State’s Lawrence Roberts.
“Matt Freije challenged me the most,” Vincent recalled. “He made shots people don’t normally make on me.”
In two contests with State, Freije averaged 15.5 points, but only shot 35.1 percent from the field and 21.4 percent from three-point range.
“Branden’s a big guy. He’s so strong and a heck of an athlete,” Freije said. “He makes you work 40 minutes.”
Freije said the quality of Vincent’s attitude matched his athleticism.
“On the court he’s a real great guy. He went about his business and never talked trash,” Freije said.
Vincent assumed other roles as well. He ranked second on the team in offensive and defensive rebounding behind Roberts. He helped handle the ball when opposing teams full court pressed. He manned the top of the key in State’s 1-3-1 trapping scheme and he occasionally drove to the basket on offense.
Although Vincent shoots the ball with his left hand, he eats and writes with his right and can handle the ball with both hands.
“Most people don’t notice I’m left-handed because I play to the right,” Vincent explained. “Mom wanted me to use my left, but teachers had me using my right.”
“His quickness really surprised me especially when I was trying to guard him on defense,” Freije recalled. “Coach (Kevin Stallings) had been on me about stopping Branden from going to his left. I did that, and he started going to the right.”
Stansbury said Vincent’s versatility improved State’s offense, though it might not have always shown up in the box score.
“Branden can create things off the dribble for his teammates. He doesn’t need the ball to be productive. He takes pride in the role of making everyone else better,” Stansbury said. “Timmy Bowers and Lawrence Roberts are our best players, but Branden Vincent may be our most valuable player.”