Warren brings out punishing hand for season opener

On Friday night, the Ole Miss basketball team will tip off the 2010-2011 season against Arkansas State. There aren’t many story lines coming into the game – on the surface it seems like just another season opener. 

But not for Chris Warren. 

Friday’s game marks the senior point guard’s final season opener as a Rebel, and with that comes much hope and anticipation that Warren can carry his teammates to an NCAA berth. 

Warren has garnered various preseason accolades from the assembled media for multiple seasons, but little is known about the sharp-shooting guard. 

Aside from his almost trademark beard, there’s one noticeable physical characteristic about Warren: a tattoo depicting the “Punisher” skull on Warren’s right hand.

“This is my hand where I punish people,” Warren said. “Every time I step on the court, I’m right handed, so I feel like if there’s going to be a fight this is my strong hand.  This is my knockout hand and I’m going to punish somebody.”

For Warren, the journey to Oxford began before his senior year of high school at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips High School, where Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy visited with other plans than signing Warren. 

“I was actually playing against a player that they (Ole Miss) were recruiting and that they had offered a scholarship too,” Warren said.

Overall, Warren’s recruitment went largely unnoticed on the national recruiting scene. 

“I had offers from a few high-majors,” Warren said. “Moreso mid-majors such as Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion. Clemson offered me and I took visits to North Carolina State, Florida State and USC.”

By the time Warren was set to make a decision, he had narrowed his list to Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth and Ole Miss. After taking a visit to the Oxford campus, the choice was easy.

“I was always told ultimately that when you make your decision to go to college, when you get to campus, it’s going to be the school that when you step on campus it feels right,” Warren said. 

“And when I stepped on campus I was thinking about the SEC and that I could see myself here.”

Since that day, both Warren and the Ole Miss program have seen substantial growth and improvement in various areas.

“From a facilities standpoint it’s changed tremendously,” Warren said. “From a player’s standpoint, people bring their own thing each year. Players change and people change.”

Entering his final season in Oxford, Warren ranks 15th on the school’s all-time scoring list after playing in just 81 games. 

With a season like last year, Warren could reasonably end up as the school’s third all-time leading scorer behind John Stroud and Joe Harvell. But that’s not something that Warren typically thinks about.

“Scoring is fine,” Warren said. “But if I, as a player, don’t get to experience the NCAA Tournament then I’ll feel like I’ve done something, but I didn’t do anything big.”

The 5-foot-10, 168 pound Warren is typically a soft-spoken person, something that is unusual for today’s athletics superstars. But his quiet demeanor isn’t reflective of his ability. Warren holds an Ole Miss record of 45 consecutive games with a made three-pointer and he has a chance to break a half-dozen other records this season.

That’s not to mention that Warren has a chance to be the first player in Ole Miss history to score 2,000 points while handing out 450 assists for his career. 

In a September interview, assistant coach Torrey Ward cited Warren’s hard work in the offseason as the catalyst for the point guard’s development.

“During workouts he’s shown that he’s taken his game to another level and his commitment to being a better player to another level,” Ward said.

If the Rebels hope to earn an NCAA Tournament bid, it will be Warren who takes them there.

 “It’s time for me. I accept my role as a leader,” Warren said. “As a leader I’ve got to try and take our team to places that we’ve never been as far as the NCAA Tournament and try to be the most successful team that has ever come through Ole Miss.”

Even through Warren’s calm, stoic demeanor, Kennedy sees a player that has matured over four years and feels a sense of urgency.

“When I look at him, I see a totally different player,” Kennedy said. “I obviously get frustrated when things don’t go as well as I’d hope they would, but I see it in him now, where he can see things maybe not going as smoothly as they should and he takes control of that.”

The rest of the SEC should take note.