Super Bulldog Weekend was memorable for the Mississippi State women’s basketball team even though it didn’t see any action.
While MSU didn’t take the court, coach Vic Schaefer and his coaches and players were busy playing host to recruits they hoped to add to another nationally ranked recruiting class.
MSU received the news it wanted to hear Sunday, when 6-foot-7 Teaira McCowan and Oklahoma State transfer Roshunda Johnson, a 5-7 guard, signed on to join Schaefer’s program.
McCowan, who is from Brenham, Texas, is rated the 49th-best prospect in the Class of 2015 by
espnW / HoopGurlz and Dan Olson’s Collegiate Girls Basketball Report; the 21st-best prospect by All-Star Girls Report, a national recruiting service; the 26th-best prospect by Joey Simmons’ Premier Basketball Report; and the 12th-best prospect (No. 2 center) by Full Court.
Johnson, who is from Little Rock, Arkansas, averaged 11.3 points as a sophomore at Oklahoma State. In her first year, she earned Big 12 Conference All-Freshman Team honors. She will have to sit out the 2015-16 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
“Teaira is 6-7 and is going to provide what (senior center) Martha (Alwal) has provided for four years, and, hopefully, she is going to have a chance to be a real impact on our team,” Schaefer said. “She has a tremendous frame and is going to really provide that presence inside that you really need at this level.
“Roshunda fits our style of play, not only offensively but defensively. She is a quick, athletic guard who has tremendous range and can go off the bounce. She can play the 1 (point guard) and 2 (shooting guard) and has the ability to get to the rim and finish and stretch you. She is a proven winner. She has proven she can do it at a very high level.”
The addition of McCowan and Johnson give MSU three top-40 recruiting classes in a row, another first coming off a record-breaking 2014-15 season that saw the Bulldogs go 27-7 and advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament in their first appearance in that event since the 2009-10 season.
Schaefer’s first recruiting class featured junior college transfer Savannah Carter, Ketara Chapel, Dominique Dillingham, Chinwe Okorie, Ki-Ki Patterson, Breanna Richardson, and Jazmine Spears. Dan Olson’s Collegiate Girls Report rated that class No. 35 in the nation. Okorie sat out the season due to NCAA transfer eligibility issues. Spears didn’t qualify and spent the past two years at Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College, while Patterson enrolled at MSU and left school. She recently concluded her freshman season at East Mississippi C.C.
MSU’s recruiting haul for the Class of 2014 included Victoria Vivians, the state of Mississippi’s all-time leading prep scorer, and was ranked No. 17 by Dan Olson’s Collegiate Girls Basketball Report. It also featured Morgan William, Kayla Nevitt, LaKaris Salter, and Blair Schaefer.
McCowan averaged 19.3 points, 17.1 rebounds, and 4.0 blocked shots in leading her squad to a 25-8 record this past season. Her performance helped her earn a spot on the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) All-Star Game.
“I had a great visit, and I loved the team chemistry. I don’t think there is another team that has as great a chemistry as the Bulldogs,” McCowan said in a MSU statement. “The coaching staff was great. They really made me feel at home and showed me how much they wanted me to become a Bulldog.
“It means a lot to have a team that really likes me, and they really showed me that they want me to play with them on the next level. I feel like I can bring that extra little kick that will help Mississippi State get to the next level.”
McCowan also played for USA Basketball and helped her squad go 5-0 and win the gold medal at the 2014 FIBA Americas 18U Championship.
Olson doesn’t factor transfers into the rankings he does for recruiting classes, but he said McCowan was the “best unsigned low block in the country.” He said she is an imposing low block player who is “massive” and mobile” and should fit in well in Schaefer’s system. With McCowan, Olson said MSU’s Class of 2015 likely would jump into the mid-30s because it has four nationally ranked players, including Spears, who is rated the No. 8 junior college prospect after she earned first-team NJCAA All-America honors this past season.
ASGR’s Bret McCormick and Simmons, a veteran Amateur Athletic Union coach and recruiting analyst, agree with Olson that the addition of McCowan gives MSU a piece to the puzzle that should help it contend with the other elite teams in the Southeastern Conference.
“She should make a big difference. She is skilled and can play,” McCormick said. “Like anybody else, they will have to get her a little more motivated, but she still is big time, and 6-7. She was the best player left in the Class of 2015.”
Said Simmons, “She is a big girl with a lot of potential. I don’t think she has reached her potential yet. I think she has some work to do on her low game, but she rebounds well and creates a lot of havoc in the middle of the paint. She is not what you call a big-time scorer, but she can work off the pick and roll very well and scores that well. She just needs to learn how to create her own shot. Mississippi State will get her to that point. She is a big-body post. She is going to be some big help for Mississippi State.”
Olson and McCormick rated McCowan a 96 on a 100-point system. Olson said the 96 means he considers McCowan has the potential to be a first-round WNBA draft pick. McCormick said McCowan has good footwork and good skills on the offensive end.
“I don’t think there is anything raw about her now,” said McCormick, who also is a former college coach. “She is a big girl who hasn’t realized how much she can do. I think the sky is the limit for her. She can do even more than she has done. There is no reason she can’t be an All-SEC performer. I don’t know if it will be this year, but it could be in the years to come. The ability is there for her to be that.”
In Johnson, MSU adds a player who averaged 8.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.8 steals in two seasons at Oklahoma State, helping the squad to the NCAA tournament both years. This past season, she averaged 11.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists and helped the Cowgirls finish 20-12.
“I loved my visit. Everything about it was great. I’m glad I made my decision to come here,” Johnson said in a MSU statement. “The coaches were so open with me and made it feel like home.
“Just sitting back and watching how the players and coaches interacted with each other, I couldn’t ask for a better family than them. These girls have a really good chemistry, and you can tell they all really love each other. That made me really want to be part of the Bulldogs.”
Simmons, who is based in Texas, said McCowan and Johnson played AAU ball for the same club team, DFW Elite, one of the nation’s most successful programs.
Schaefer said McCowan and Johnson were two of three recruits MSU had visit the campus this past weekend for the school’s 30th-annual Super Bulldog Weekend, a spring homecoming tradition that features three days of athletic events and a pig cooking contest.
While he agreed McCowan gives MSU a “two-headed monster” of sorts at center with 6-5 Okorie, he said Johnson will fit a need in the backcourt. He said MSU tried to recruit Johnson in its first class, but he said the timing of his arrival in Starkville made it difficult.
Even though the Bulldogs didn’t land Johnson on their first chance, her decision to transfer to Starkville adds to an impressive recruiting run that has helped Schaefer and his staff transform a program that had suffered three losing seasons in a row into one that has won 22 and 27 games the past two years.
“I think (recruiting) is how you build a program and then how you sustain,” Schaefer said. “You have to continue to recruit well. Certainly we’re going to continue to develop the kids, and our conference doesn’t change. Our schedule doesn’t change, so you have to continue to recruit well. I think both of these young ladies fit our style of play and our program. We have tremendous character on our team. We have tremendous young ladies, and these young ladies will allow us to continue to add not only great players, but great young ladies as well.”
McCowan and Johnson join a class that includes Mississippi All-State standout Jazzmun Holmes, Spears, and 6-3 center Zion Campbell, who signed in November in the early signing period.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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