Moultrie has easily become the most talked-about member of the three. MSU coach Rick Stansbury recruited him out of Memphis (Tenn.) Raleigh Egypt High School, but Moultrie landed at UTEP to play for Tony Barbee. When Barbee bolted for Auburn following the Miners’ 26-7, NCAA Tournament campaign following the 2009-10 season, Moultrie packed his bags for Starkville.

By the end of his sophomore year, Moultrie was a starter and averaged close to 10 points and seven rebounds and two blocks a game, but showed more on occasion: a 15-point, 13-rebound, two-block game vs. Houston in January of 2010 gave a glimpse as to his upside. He sat out last year as mandated by NCAA transfer rules, but when State traveled to Europe for a five-game exhibition tour, Moultrie averaged 16.8 points, 9.8 boards, and 2.1 blocks per game. That was just the start. As of this writing, Moultrie is averaging almost 17 points and over 11 rebounds a game in the 2011-12 season, while logging over 34 minutes a game.

The 6-foot-11, 230-pound Moultrie has a reputation as a high-flying, above-the-rim player, and there are times when he shows glimpses of that. This season, though, the best word to describe Moultrie is “steady.” He had a stretch of five consecutive Southeastern Conference games in which he got double-doubles in points and rebounds in the first half of the season. While obviously his height helps him get a head start on rebounding, he is a smart player who so often seems to be in the right place to grab a board, and has the coordination and quick-twitch muscles to get a put-back before opponents can react enough to stop it. Moultrie can run the floor and on occasion handle the ball on the break, create an opportunity, and finish. His size and skill means he gets fouled a lot, and he’s hitting almost 80 percent of his free throws this season, which is about 15 points over his career average of previous years. He’s got a nice drop-step in the post, and the ability to hit longer-range jump shots; he shot 25 percent on 79 3-point attempts coming into this season, but is now more selective in his opportunities.

Stansbury said before this year that Moultrie’s “engine that runs all the time.” Moultrie, however, is sometimes criticized for his lack of hustle. How do you resolve the conflict of opinion? First, Moultrie is so smooth and coordinated that he makes things look easy; he can easily drop 20 points and 12 rebounds on an opponent without appearing to break a sweat. Second, MSU doesn’t have much of a bench, and Stansbury will play just seven people on some evenings. That’s required Moultrie to play upwards of 35 minutes in most games, and therefore he needs to conserve energy for when it most matters, as well as stay out of foul trouble. As a result, his shot-blocking numbers are not what they could potentially be, but you have to wonder what might happen under a more ideal situation.

When Sidney is in the game with Moultrie, MSU may have the most talented duo of post players on the college level. By now, most college basketball fans know his story: he was a McDonald’s All-American and a Mississippi native who moved to Los Angeles for his last two years of high school. During that time, the Sidneys allegedly received extra benefits as his family lived in a pair of expensive homes. The NCAA made him ineligible his entire freshman season, then suspended him for the first nine games of last year and forced him to pay $11,800 of those benefits back. After finally playing his first game, Sidney was disciplined for an incident in practice, and then lost two more games after getting into a fight on-camera with teammate Elgin Bailey.

Soon, he showed why he was worth the gamble. He scored 12 points in his first game, 19 in his second, and then 24 on 12 shots while grabbing five rebounds against Ole Miss in his fourth game. In the rematch against Ole Miss, he went for 22 and 12, and finished his season with 22 points and seven rebounds vs. Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament despite playing just 18 minutes.

You almost have to watch Sidney play to believe him. He’s listed at 6-foot-9 and 285 pounds, but as of January he was almost certainly north of 300. In spite of his size, he is as nimble on his feet as an elite NFL left tackle. Sidney has the ability to score off the dribble, and in last year’s finale, Vanderbilt’s Festus Ezeli – an NBA prospect in his own right, and one with a two-inch size advantage – had fits guarding him when Sidney took the ball to the rack. He’s got a smooth jump shot that extends beyond the 3-point arc, where he hits about 35 percent for his career. He’s strong, and can rebound well. Simply put, Sidney can be as good as he wants to be… and that’s really the only question that matters.

In Sidney’s defense, some insiders say that he’s not as bad as his reputation. They claim he wasn’t the perpetrator in the fight with Bailey, and only got involved in order to defend himself; Bailey’s subsequent dismissal from the team seems to lend some credence. They say he’s not so much a bad person as he is a spoiled kid who’s not used to hearing “no.” But instead of touring Europe with his teammates, Sydney went to Houston to work with John Lucas over the summer. And, a late January report by The Sporting News says that Sidney will either transfer or turn pro after this, his junior season. At a minimum, those things don’t help Sidney shed his self-centered reputation.

But one thing nobody’s debating is that the work ethic and conditioning simply isn’t there at this point. Watch Sidney on television, and you will often see nine men on the floor with Sidney on the other side of the mid-court line for several seconds. On a team that desperately needs players to log time, Sidney has yet to play 30 minutes in a game this season. His production has also gone down a bit, though that could be a result of Moultrie’s involvement.

Whatever the case, a team that takes Sidney is taking an enormous gamble with a draft pick. If Sidney ever sticks in the NBA, it will probably be with a second or third team that lets other teams spend money on him as he learns to grow up.

Bost is probably the longest shot of the three players to make it at the next level, but that shouldn’t diminish what’s been a great career in Starkville. He’s already the program’s all-time leader in assists, and has an outside shot to top MSU’s career chart in steals as well. Barring injury, he’ll easily top 1,500 points for his career. He was voted to the SEC’s first team in the preaseason, and was also elected the team’s captain.

Bost, at 6-foot-2, has decent size to run the point. He’s got quickness and speed and coordination with the dribble, and because of that, has the ability to get into the lane and get the shot he wants. Bost gets to the free throw line often, and has hit over 70 percent from there in every season of his career. He gives MSU a point guard with a scorer’s mentality, and because of that, Stansbury had entertained the idea of playing him at the 2 from time to time. A four-year starter who’s fearless, you can give him the ball to and let him take clutch shots. He’s also been an iron man for Stansbury, averaging 35 minutes a game and playing at least 39 per game in a four-game stretch in January.

The problem with Bost is this: while there are lots of things to like about him, there’s nothing that would make him special on the NBA level. His steal numbers are good, but not elite, and he’s yet to post a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in any of his four college seasons. He’s hit just 40 percent from the field once in his career (his sophomore season, and just barely) but unfortunately, that’s been no deterrent to jacking up shots, as he’s averaged over 12.5 attempts a game the last two seasons. Scouts will continue to watch Bost because of his motor and his well-rounded game, but barring an exceptional post-season, he probably won’t get drafted and will have to develop more discipline in his game in Europe in hopes of convincing the NBA that he belongs.