Tyson Carter grows as a player and a man in Starkville

It has been nice to see the steps that Tyson Carter has taken over the years to mature as a basketball player and a man.

Carter grew up in Starkville as the son of Greg Carter, who was a very successful Mississippi State bas- ketball player and boys coach at Starkville High School.

Tyson eventually got to play for his father with the Yellow Jackets, developed into a pretty good player himself and won a state championship. He became the Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year and Starkville Daily News Boys Player of the Year.

After his high school career, Tyson decided to follow in his father's footsteps and sign with Mississippi State.

It has been a good four years for Tyson Carter with the Bulldogs. He improved his points, rebounds, assists and steal averages each year he has played and helped MSU to the NCAA Tournament last year.

“It's been a fun ride these last four years,” Carter said on Tuesday. “I couldn't ask for much better.”

The Bulldogs are in a position to reach the NCAA Tournament again this season if they can make a good run at the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee, this week.

If MSU does make it into the NCAA Tournament, the contributions of Carter off the bench will be a major reason why.

Carter was rewarded for that as he was chosen the first SEC Sixth-man of the Year in school history.

It speaks well of Carter to be able to embrace his role with the Bulldogs and the SEC coaches apparently respected that by honoring him as Sixth-man of the Year.

Carter has scored in double figures in 12 of his 15 appearances as a sixth man since the Missouri game on January 14. He has gotten 220 of MSU'S 294 bench points for 74.8% during that span.

Tyson's 1,352 career points ranks 19th in the Mississippi State record book. He and Greg are the only fatherson duo in the SEC to score over 1,000 points each.

it's been a pleasure of mine to watch Tyson take the court for many games at MSU and SHS.

Thanks for taking me and the city of Starkville on the ride with you Tyson.

Danny P. Smith is the sports editor and columnist for The Starkville Daily News. The opinions in this column are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SDN or its staff.