STARKVILLE
The Mississippi State women’s basketball has been almost beyond reproach this season.
In the process, the Bulldogs have matured from a hunter into the hunted. At No. 4 in the nation and preparing for a stretch run of six more regular-season games, MSU is at a point only a few imagined would be attainable when Vic Schaefer arrived prior to the 2012-13 season. The Bulldogs are 23-1 and in second place in the Southeastern Conference with a 9-1 record. They have won 20-plus games four years in a row. They are on pace to improve their win total for the fourth-straight season and to secure a bid to the NCAA tournament for a third-straight season.
MSU has reached new heights according to the plan Schaefer laid out on in March 2012.
“It’s an attitude,” Schaefer said in his introductory news conference. “When people talk about your basketball team and they describe it as a tough, physical, aggressive basketball team, which is what we have been described as over the years, they’re probably not talking about how you’re running your offense or how many screens you’re setting, they’re probably talking about what you do defensively. We have taken great pride in making people miserable over the years. Our kids embrace that attitude. They embrace that and they feel that in a ballgame. It is like sharks in bloody water.”
MSU’s tenacious style has won over fans in droves. As a result, MSU is averaging a program-best 6,717 fans, which ranks in the top 10 in the nation. MSU averaged 1,442 the year prior to Schaefer’s arrival. These days, almost that many fans routinely travel with the Bulldogs for road games.
MSU’s only blemish is a 64-61 loss to then-No. 5 South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. It had multiple chances to win that game late, too. The Bulldogs’ resume would impress any coach, let alone a NCAA tournament selection committee. They traveled 17,190 miles in their non-conference schedule. Their 10 road wins are a program record. Victories at Tennessee — the first in program history — and at Iowa State, where the Bulldogs snapped the Cyclones’ 96-game non-conference home winning streak — are the highlights.
Through it all, MSU has avoided the pitfalls that typically catch all teams. You need only look at the last two days as proof. After knocking off South Carolina in Columbia, Tennessee lost to Georgia in double overtime on Sunday in Athens, Georgia. On Monday, No. 2 Baylor lost to No. 11 Texas in Waco, Texas. That loss could help MSU creep up another spot in next week’s The Associated Press Top 25. It also strengthens the Bulldogs’ case for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Also Monday, MSU was listed as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament committee’s second tournament reveal.
While the tournament projections aren’t a guarantee, it is hard to deny MSU has a strong case to be a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed for the NCAA tournament. A top-four seed would give MSU a chance to play host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament. Last season, MSU beat Chattanooga and Michigan State in Starkville to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history.
This season, MSU appears to be primed to take the next step in part because it has accepted its place as a leader. Schaefer has talked about the importance of leadership many times in the last few years. He has wondered several times if the 2016-17 has enough of that intangible to carry it through the rigors of the marathon that is a run to a national title.
In discussing leadership, Schaefer has used an example of a zebra and a lion cub. He said some teams accept the responsibility and the expectations that accompany being an elite program and become lions, seeking out prey and dispatching them with ruthless efficiency. Others, he said, are content with being zebras, which is fine as long as you are the “biggest, baddest zebra in the kingdom.” Those zebras, Schaefer said, can’t be caught by cheetahs and lions in the wilderness and find a way to survive.
This group continues to develop into a lion, even if it is one of the hunted. You need only to look at MSU’s 29-5 run to close out a 77-47 victory against Auburn on Thursday. MSU followed that victory up with a 70-53 win against Missouri on Sunday. While that decision lacked the exclamation point in the final quarter, it included a career-high 24 points from senior Dominique Dillingham and a 13-point effort from classmate Breanna Richardson, which helped her eclipse 1,000 points for her career. In the process, Dillingham, Richardson, Ketara Chapel, and Chinwe Okorie earned the program-best 100th win of their careers.
Don’t look for them to be satisfied, either.
With home games remaining against Vanderbilt (8 p.m. Thursday), Georgia, and Tennessee, MSU will continue to fine tune its offense and sharpen its defense. Road games against Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Kentucky will present three of the toughest challenges of the season. But the Bulldogs have shown all season they are capable and ready to handle anything thrown at them, so it will be revealing to see if they can — like Schaefer has been encouraging them to do — get one play and one minute better every day. If they can, there is no doubt the Bulldogs will continue to remain above reproach. In doing so, there’s no reason to think a spot in the Final Four on March 31 and April 2 in Houston is out of the question. That would be an ideal way to send out four seniors who have helped establish a burgeoning women’s basketball power in Starkville — one that no longer is content with being just another zebra.
Adam Minichino is sports editor of The Dispatch. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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