STARKVILLE
If you have walked the concourse at Humphrey Coliseum, you most likely have noticed the pictures that take you through the history of Mississippi State basketball.
The highlights of the men’s basketball team’s biggest moments are all there, from the all-time greats like Bailey Howell, to the “Game of Change” in 1963 between MSU and Loyola University Chicago, to coach Richard Williams leading MSU to the Final Four in 1996, to Rick Stansbury’s long run of success as head coach.
The women’s basketball team has its share of highlights, too. From all-time greats like LaToya Thomas and Tan White — two of the greatest to play in the Southeastern Conference — to coach Sharon Fanning-Otis’ 2010 team that became the program’s first squad to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, the decision to spruce up the Hump with great moments in basketball history added a personal touch to the historical venue.
At 4 p.m. today when No. 3 MSU (27-2, 13-2 Southeastern Conference) plays host to Tennessee (18-10, 9-6), MSU fans will have one of their final opportunities to see four players who will be in the walls of the Hump in the very near future. Seniors Ketara Chapel, Dominique Dillingham, Chinwe Okorie, and Breanna Richardson have made such an impact in their time in Starkville that they might need two sections of wall in the Hump to illustrate how much they have meant to the program.
The success that Chapel, Dillingham, Okorie, and Richardson have had under fifth-year head coach Vic Schaefer shows what can happen when people believe. The seniors didn’t have any reason to trust Schaefer or any member of his staff when they told them things were going to change in Starkville. MSU had had its runs of success in the SEC, but it wasn’t able to achieve sustained success at the level of Tennessee or any of the other league leaders throughout the years. But Schaefer’s was adamant. He and his wife, Holly, believed a winner could be built a MSU when he was hired in 2013. The basketball programs recently had received a boost with the completion of the Mize Pavilion practice facility, so the Bulldogs could recruit with the proof that their facilities compared or were even better than everybody in the SEC.
Schaefer convinced the members of his first recruiting class to come to Starkville with a system that was designed to play in-your-face defense and to outhustle and outwork opponents. All of the players in that initial class fit perfectly into that mold.
Today, the Bulldogs are reaping the benefits. At program-best No. 3 in The Associated Press poll and No. 2 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, MSU has secured at least a top-two seed in the SEC tournament next week in Greenville, South Carolina. MSU would need a victory today and Kentucky to beat South Carolina for MSU to clinch the title outright. No. 7 South Carolina would earn the tiebreaker if both teams win or lose today thanks to its 64-61 victory against MSU on Jan. 23 in Columbia, South Carolina.
It would be fitting for MSU to make a little more history today so it could send the seniors out in style. It also would be appropriate for the Bulldogs to break the Humphrey Coliseum attendance record of 10,745 today against the league’s most storied program.
MSU likely will receive a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament, so at least one more game at Hump will be coming for the seniors. But these seniors have accomplished so much that it would be fun to pack the Hump for three more games to recognize their contributions.
If you’re building a program based on toughness, there can be no better representative that Dillingham. The senior from Spring, Texas, has been the heart and soul of the program since she arrived as a freshman. She didn’t know any better and quickly earned a spot in the starting lineup and hasn’t moved. Her sacrifice and heart have become trademarks for the program. She, like many others, has accepted the responsibility of taking charges as another thing that comes with being a Bulldog. Dillingham has earned her share of floor burns and bumps and bruises, but there is no way MSU could have gone 104-31 since 2013-14 without Dillingham.
Chapel and Richardson have been the “ham and egg” combination that has delivered at forward. Roommates and best friends, Chapel and Richardson have formed a unique relationship that hasn’t allowed individual accomplishments to get in the way of the team’s goals. When one player has been on, the other has been there for support and encouragement. When something needs “to be fixed,” as Schaefer has said throughout the years, Chapel or Richardson has come off the bench to get the job done. Each player has done their job with a smile that can light up a room. Neither player has been the most vocal on the team, but that doesn’t mean they’re not intense. Dare them to make a shot — like Texas A&M did last week in College Station, Texas — and Chapel will respond. Give them a driving lane and Richardson will respond by taking the ball hard to the rim.
Okorie has made the biggest improvement. The 6-foot-5 center from Lagos, Nigeria, didn’t play her first season at MSU due to NCAA eligibility issues. MSU hopes to be able to get Okorie another year of eligibility, but Schaefer said work remains to be done to accomplish that goal. There is no doubt, though, Okorie has worked hard on and off the court to become a complete student-athlete. She has matured on the court into a scoring option who can move well around the basket and has a softer tough to finish. Earlier in her career, she acknowledged she rushed her shots and didn’t have the proper tough. Today, she is shooting 59.8 percent, which is tied with Teaira McCowan for the best on the team.
In addition to their accomplishments on the court, the seniors have been great ambassadors for the program. They have been in the stands talking to fans after every game — home and away — to foster the kind of grass roots support needed to attract crowds that have averaged 6,422 this season. Prior to the arrival of the seniors, crowds like that would have been unthinkable. But the seniors believed. In the process, they have earned the respect of the fans, the SEC, and the rest of the nation.
Those things will be worth more than any picture(s) that will be put on the walls of Humphrey Coliseum. But those images will serve as reminders for everything Chapel, Dillingham, Okorie, and Richardson accomplished and how their hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and attitudes helped elevate a program to uncharted heights.
Adam Minichino is sports editor of The Dispatch. You can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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