STARKVILLE — The next step has arrived for the Mississippi State women’s basketball team.
Nearly four years ago, Vic Schaefer took the sideline for the first time as MSU women’s basketball coach and surveyed the scene inside Humphrey Coliseum. Instead of seeing a crowd of 1,234 for his team’s victory against Houston to open the 2012-13 season, Schaefer saw the potential. He imagined the days when the Bulldogs would pack the Hump and add year after year after year to the NCAA tournament banners that hung from the rafters of the venue.
It was fitting Monday that the latest of those banners already had the year 2016 embroidered on it and was featured in a spotlight for all of the fans at the NCAA tournament Selection Show party to see. More than 35 minutes after the start of that show, MSU officially took the next step when it learned it had secured a chance to play host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
For the record, No. 5 seed MSU (26-7) will play host to No. 12 seed Chattanooga (24-7) at 1:30 p.m. Friday (ESPN2) in the Bridgeport Regional. No. 4 seed Michigan State (24-8) will take on No. 13 seed Belmont (24-8) at 11 a.m. The winners of those games will play Sunday at a time to be determined for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
“It is (the next step) whether we like it or not,” Schaefer said. “We’re excited to be playing at home and playing in the NCAA tournament. We have to keep putting ourselves in position to play in this thing and have some success in this event.”
MSU earned the opportunity to play host to the annual event because Michigan State’s facility is playing host to the girls basketball state tournament. Schaefer didn’t care Monday how the Bulldogs earned the opportunity to play host to the first and second rounds. He was more focused on what the chance means to his players and to the fans who have come to build a strong following for his program.
MSU finished 16th in the nation in averaged attendance (5,044), and shattered its attendance mark for a season (80,705). That total included a state of Mississippi record crowd of 10,626 to see the game against South Carolina on Jan. 24.
“Sleeping in your bed certainly can have its advantages,” Schaefer said. “It can have its distractions, too. I am really happy for our players and our fans. We have been challenged now. One-thirty in the afternoon (with MSU students on Spring Break) is no ideal. I am hoping we are going to answer the bell and get a bunch of people in here on Friday afternoon.”
Schaefer encouraged the fans in attendance at the Selection Show party to bring a few friends to Starkville on Friday. He also asked MSU fans to cut their Spring Breaks short a day or two to come out and watch his team in its second-straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Last season, MSU advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2009-10 season. It defeated Tulane in the first round for a school-record 27th victory. It then lost to Duke in the second round in Durham, North Carolina.
This season, MSU is one win away from matching the program record for victories. Maybe it is fitting that MSU could have an opportunity to break that mark in front of its home fans. To do that, it will have to beat a veteran coach (Jim Foster) and a team that won its fourth-straight Southern Conference tournament crown, and 17th overall, to advance to its 14th NCAA tournament.
Foster is a Hall of Fame coach who has had success at Saint Joseph’s, Vanderbilt, and Ohio State, and should be familiar with Schaefer and MSU. Foster was the coach at Ohio State in 2010 when MSU upset Ohio State 87-67 in the second round of the NCAA tournament in Pittsburgh to secure its first and only trip to the Sweet 16.
Chattanooga tied with Mercer for the Southern Conference regular-season crown, making it 20 titles for the Mocs since 1984. Foster is tied with Montana’s Robin Selvig for eighth on the all-time wins list, passing former Georgia coach Andy Landers (862).
Schaefer feels his team is playing well and getting healthy at the right time of the season. MSU is coming off victories against Vanderbilt and Tennessee that helped it advance to the championship game of the Southeastern Conference for the second time in program history. The run ended with a 66-52 loss to regular-season champion South Carolina, which secured the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
MSU and South Carolina joined Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas A&M as part of a record-tying nine teams from one league to make the Big Dance.
“Our young kids are not young anymore,” Schaefer said. “I really like where we are right now, and I look forward to the next ballgame.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.