“I think everyone in that room wants to win. It is easy to sit there and talk the talk. It is another to walk the walk. I think that is where the challenge is going to be, understanding that to get where I want them to get to and to get where they want to get, they’re going to have to do things they have never done before.”
— Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer, more than two weeks after he was hired in March 2012 about the expectations he had for the program
STARKVILLE — Vic Schaefer had a plan.
The longtime coach knew when he was hired in March 2012 as the new Mississippi State women’s basketball coach he could make the program relevant at the national level and build it into a contender in the Southeastern Conference.
More than three years after making the comment shown above, Schaefer’s Bulldogs have backed up his confidence. From 13 to 22 to a school-record 27 victories, MSU has made significant strides each season to embrace the standards Schaefer and the members of his coaching staff established when they arrived in Starkville.
That’s why it’s telling to go back to one of Schaefer’s first comments to see how MSU has embraced those expectations and to see how that same remark can be applied to a new set of talking points for the Bulldogs for the 2015-16 season. Those expectations include two preseason top-10 rankings — No. 6 by Athlon Sports and No. 8 by Lindy’s — a team that returns four starters and 10 letterwinners from a team that finished No. 12 in The Associated Press’ final rankings last season, and the addition of a recruiting class that features two All-Americans — freshman Teaira McCowan, a 6-foot-7 center, and forward Jazmine Spears, a transfer from Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College.
“Are we ready? I think that is yet to be seen,” Schaefer said in the offseason. “I think the one thing this team has done a great job of is they haven’t drank the Kool-Aid. They have done a good job of putting their head down and going to work. I think they have done a good job of doing that and getting ready for the next day or the next week. We don’t get caught up too much in all of the hype. I was proud of them last year because, obviously, they made some pretty big strides in a short period of time, and I thought they handled it extremely well.”
Schaefer hopes MSU will handle itself just as well this season. He had his first official opportunity to see his team in action Tuesday in a two-hour, 45-minute practice in Humphrey Coliseum. He came away from the workout ready to build on last season’s success and prepared to embrace the expectations for a new season. But he said the Bulldogs won’t be overwhelmed by the preseason accolades and that they won’t allow them to alter their focus.
“I told them today we are not going to talk about (the preseason rankings) anymore,” Schaefer said. “Our job now is to get better every day.”
Junior Breanna Richardson said the expectations surrounding the program haven’t changed. After all, Richardson was part of Schaefer’s first class — a group he said was his “faith” class because the players believed in his blueprint — that helped trigger the turnaround. Now it is about taking another step and building on a third-place finish in the SEC and a trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
“They’re higher,” Richardson said of the expectations, “but I feel we have always had those expectations. It is just that we are finally getting the recognition for them. Like coach always says, we don’t have to worry about the number (ranking) in front (of our name), we have to live it. We just have to come in day in and day out and work hard.”
Schaefer said Richardson was the team’s most improved player in the offseason. He has said several times he is “committed” to finding minutes for Richardson at the three, or small forward. The Bulldogs can do that because they have depth at every position and a versatile group of players who are hungry to earn playing time.
Schaefer said Tuesday he feels the players are aware and hungry enough to realize opponents will highlight their games against MSU because of the lofty expectations that have been attached to the Bulldogs. Even though he acknowledges the team still is fairly young, he said the players understand what is coming and that MSU isn’t going to sneak up on anybody.
That’s fine with William, the team’s captain, who is part of a group Schaefer called the “confidence class.” Richardson dubbed William’s class the “believers” for helping elevate MSU from a program that advanced to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament in 2013-14 to one that returned to the NCAA tournament last season.
“We just have to come out every day in practice,” William said. “We have to take the opportunity, just keep working hard, and live it.”
MSU will “live it” for its fans at 9 p.m. Friday when it joins the school’s men’s basketball team for Maroon Madness at Humphrey Coliseum. It will play host to Mississippi College in an exhibition game at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10. MSU will open the season against Samford at 5:15 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, at The Hump.
Until then, Schaefer and his coaching staff will stick to the plan and do their best to help the Bulldogs embrace the expectations and not allow them to consume the players.
“I am so proud that someone in the sports community thinks that highly of our program in three short years,” Schaefer said. “It gives validation to everything you believe in. It is a great compliment to my staff. We work awfully hard around here. I am awfully proud of the fact that someone thinks that highly of our kids, our university, and my staff that we warrant them putting us there. Now we have to live it. I have been on our kids ever since we broke into the top 25 a year ago. I told them, ‘Top-25 programs never leave. Top-25 teams come and go, but top-25 programs are in it every year, they are there all year, and they never leave. For us, we have to be that program, that top-10, top-15 program that every year people know, ‘Where is Mississippi State? They are in here somewhere, and I don’t have to look much past No. 15 or No. 10.’
“I think we have a chance to be really good, but right now it is just a chance.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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