STARKVILLE — “Made in March” will get a chance to show what it is made of in Starkville.
The Mississippi State women’s basketball team received the news it hoped for Monday night, when it learned it will play host to No. 12 seed Chattanooga at 1:30 p.m. Friday (ESPN2) at Humphrey Coliseum in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
“It’s exactly the way I planned,” said MSU coach Vic Schaefer, whose team has worn white, long-sleeved “Made in March” T-shirts during warmups before recent games. “To play here at home, it is so rewarding for them. I am just tickled to death for them. You’re going to play somebody good. It doesn’t matter because it is the NCAA tournament.
“We have our work cut out for us. UT-Chattanooga is well coached. (Former Saint Joseph’s, Vanderbilt and Ohio State) Jim Foster is a Hall of Fame coach. It is a great sub-regional because there are four great teams with four great coaches. We’re excited. I know Starkville will roll out the red carpet and do a great job hosting these teams.”
No. 4 seed Michigan State will face No. 13 seed Belmont at 11 a.m. Friday. The winners will play Sunday at a time to be determined for a chance to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
MSU (26-7) received a No. 5 seed in the Bridgeport Region, but it earned the opportunity to play host to the first and second round of the annual event for the first time in program history because Michigan State (24-8) couldn’t play host to the tournament due to the high school girls basketball tournament at its arena.
This is the second-straight NCAA tournament appearance for MSU, and eighth in program history. It is the first time since the 2009 and 2010 seasons MSU has advanced to the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons. Last season, MSU (27-7) defeated Tulane and then lost to Duke in the second round in Durham, North Carolina. It also was a No. 5 seed last season.
This season, MSU hoped it had done enough to secure a chance to play at home. It tied with Texas A&M for second in the Southeastern Conference regular-season standings at 11-5, the best conference finish in program history. It beat Vanderbilt and Tennessee to reach the championship game of the SEC tournament for the second time in program history. Its run to the title ended with a 66-52 loss to regular-season champion South Carolina.
MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin said Monday, before that start of the NCAA tournament Selection Show, that he felt “optimistic” about the team’s chances to play in Starkville. He said it is a credit to Schaefer, his coaching staff, and his players that they tied for second in the league that is ranked second in conference Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), which is a statistic the tournament selection committee uses as a guide to help it compare teams.
“You look at the job our team has done and I think we are deserving,” said Stricklin, who hired Schaefer, then an associate head coach at Texas A&M, to come to MSU nearly four years ago. “It is not unlike what we have done with baseball through the years and using big crowds in NCAA tournament regionals to show the nation we’re a community that supports this university and supports our sports teams, especially ones that have been successful like our women’s basketball team has been this season.”
Even though MSU earned a No. 5 seed for the second-straight season, it will get the rare chance as a seed outside of the top 16 to play at home, where it averaged 5,044 fans for 16 dates. MSU finished the season 16th in the nation in average attendance.
MSU has traveled a long road from the 2012-13 season, Schaefer’s first at the school, when it averaged 1,317 fans in 17 home dates. This season, MSU shattered the attendance record it set last season with a total mark of 80,705, which included a state of Mississippi record crowd of 10,626 for the game against South Carolina on Jan. 24.
Sherise Williams is the only senior on the team. She remembers what it was like at MSU home games when she was a freshman. She said she and her teammates are excited to show the rest of the country what they have helped build in Starkville.
“It is going to be amazing,” Williams said. “We dreamed about this moment. We put in a lot of hard work and a lot of time in the summer and on the track for this moment.”
MSU is one of a record-tying nine teams from the SEC to make the NCAA tournament. This is the most SEC teams to receive bids to the NCAA tournament in conference history, and the second time in NCAA history one conference has sent nine teams to the tournament. The Big East Conference accomplished the feat in 2011. Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas A&M joined MSU in the field of 64 teams.
Tickets for the tournament are on sale online at hailstate.com/tickets or by phone at 1-888-GO-DAWGS.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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