DALLAS — Wipe away the tears.
There’s no reason to be disappointed.
Every team that loses a national championship game would love to switch places with winner. But it’s hard to deny that few programs are better positioned to make another run at another title than the Mississippi State women’s basketball team.
MSU arrived back in Mississippi on Monday afternoon following a 67-55 loss to South Carolina on Sunday night at American Airlines Center. The loss wrapped up a historic season that saw the Bulldogs (34-5) set program records for overall wins and Southeastern Conference victories (13) in their first trip to the national title game.
MSU relied heavily on a senior class of Ketara Chapel, Dominique Dillingham, Chinwe Okorie, and Breanna Richardson that ended its career as the winningest class in school history (111-34).
A junior class of Blair Schaefer, Victoria Vivians, and Morgan William, which has played an equally vital role in pushing MSU to 27, 28, and 34 wins the last three seasons, should have a chance to eclipse that mark if everyone returns and stays healthy.
That’s why it’s time to raise the bar a little higher.
In just five seasons, Vic Schaefer has orchestrated one of the most significant transformations in the sport. It’s one thing to come in and say you’re going to compete for championships. It’s another to change a culture in a sport and affect a change that is the envy of nearly every program in the nation. The Bulldogs finished this season seventh in the country in attendance. They have worked tirelessly on and off the court to raise the profile of the program. That grass roots work helped make American Airlines Center feel like Humphrey Coliseum West on Sunday night.
Unfortunately, aside from a fast start and a flurry in the fourth quarter, MSU couldn’t sustain momentum en route to losing its third game of the season to South Carolina. The Gamecocks, too, figure to be around for a while. Coach Dawn Staley likely won’t be going anywhere soon, and she figures to return a talented cast that includes Final Four Most Outstanding Player A’ja Wilson and talented players like Kaela Davis and Allisha Gray.
MSU, which finished No. 2 in the final USA Today/WBCA Coaches Top 25 poll released Monday, has to use those players as motivation to take the next step.
Wilson provided too difficult to stop for MSU centers Teaira McCowan and Chinwe Okorie in part because has a deft handle and a soft shooting touch. Her footwork and touch around the basket also rank among the best in the nation. Davis, a transfer from Georgia Tech, and Gray, a transfer from North Carolina, give the Gamecocks two “tweeners,” as Gray called herself, who are athletic, who can shoot, and who can create their own shot. The last part is what MSU lacked the most this season in trying to finish the deal against elite opponents.
While there was plenty of improvement — McCowan raised her field goal shooting percentage from 49.5 percent to 56.9 — there were areas where the Bulldogs didn’t improve enough. Vic Schaefer is right that Vivians attracts the most attention from opponents, which usually means she faces a team’s toughest defender. Vivians needs to raise her level to meet that challenge because her shooting percentage slipped from 38.2 percent to 37.1 percent. Her ballhandling needs to improve. She needs to embrace taking the basketball to the basket in a larger way. She has to be more willing to take contact when attacking the rim.
Schaefer also has to be more willing to rely on other options. He showed that mind-set at the start of the NCAA tournament when he shuffled his starting lineup and went with four new starters. William was the only holdover in a group that featured Chapel, Blair Schaefer, Roshunda Johnson, and McCowan. That group, as well as point guard Jazzmun Holmes, helped MSU score 110 and 92 points in victories against Troy and DePaul. Those players also played key roles in victories against Washington and Baylor.
Let’s not forget William, who elevated her game with a career-high 41 points against Baylor in the Elite Eight and the game-winning shot in overtime to end four-time reigning national champion Connecticut’s 111-game winning streak.
All of the returning players need to become more versatile because the bull’s eyes on their backs is only going to get bigger. The behind-the-back move Dillingham perfected this season? Opponents had that scouted and knew how to stop it. Vivians tendency to lean away from the basket when she drove to the hoop? Defenses knew to expect that, too, and would pressure her to throw her even more off balance.
This offseason will be critical for MSU to develop counters, and counters to the counters. It will have to put that work in because the usual suspects — UConn, South Carolina, Texas, Maryland, Notre Dame, Stanford, UCLA — are going to be there for the foreseeable future. Let’s not forget the battles MSU will see in the 16-game marathon that is the Southeastern Conference regular season. MSU is now expected to be right there with South Carolina at the top of the league. That’s a credit to the work Schaefer and his coaching staff have done to raise the level of talent and to raise the level of interest in the program.
The next step involves raising the bar a little higher, or turning the volume up to 11, if you’ll allow a well-known pop culture reference. All of the returning Bulldogs are talented enough to make it happen. Vivians can be as good as she wants. She can be a dominating force who terrorizes defenders in their dreams, or she can be happy with what she has accomplished and remain one of the greatest players to play at MSU. William can be satisfied with having one of the most memorable individual performances in NCAA tournament history, or she can continue to emerge as a vocal leader who leads her team on good days and on off days. McCowan can get stronger, develop better balance, and refine her post moves because her progress will be measured how she fares against the A’ja Wilsons of the world, not the 6-foot post players she will face in non-conference action.
Schaefer has said many times that staying at the top is harder than getting there. He knows what it takes to keep a program relevant. Neither he nor his coaches will shy away from the added work that will need to go in to push the Bulldogs to the next step. The question remains is whether the players will do their part to become better.
If they do, there is no reason why the confetti won’t rain on Schaefer again.
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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