STARKVILLE — Vic Schaefer wasn’t being evasive Tuesday when he declined to give one reason to answer the first question he faced at the Mississippi State women’s basketball team’s annual media day at Humphrey Coliseum.
The question: Why has MSU had so much success in three seasons under his leadership?
The veteran coach took the next 3 minutes, 45 seconds to list at least four reasons why MSU has gone from 13 to 22 to 27 victories the past three seasons and is coming off a trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2014-15. It was fitting Schaefer and his players had a chance to talk to the media Tuesday because the team learned earlier in the day it was slotted No. 11 in The Associated Press’ Preseason Top 25 poll. Averaged with four other major polls — USA Today (No. 13), ESPN (No. 12), Athlon (No. 6), and Lindy’s (No. 8) — MSU is ranked No. 10 entering its exhibition game against Mississippi College at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at Humphrey Coliseum.
MSU will kick off the season three days later against Samford in a 5:15 p.m. start, also in Starkville. The season opener is part of a doubleheader with the MSU men’s team, which will play host to Eastern Washington at 8 p.m.
The No. 11 ranking in The AP poll is the school’s highest in that poll to start a season. It comes on the heels of a 27-7 campaign that saw the Bulldogs set a school record for wins in a season and in the Southeastern Conference (11) and attract a crowd of 7,326 for its regular-season finale against Ole Miss. The crowd was the biggest to see a women’s basketball game in the state of Mississippi.
A 64-56 loss to Duke in Durham, North Carolina, in the second round of the NCAA tournament only slowed the momentum to what many believe could be an even bigger and better season in Starkville. Schaefer, a longtime assistant and associate head coach at Arkansas and Texas A&M, said he believed MSU could get to his point when he interviewed with MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin for the job in 2012. He said a number of factors have contributed to the program’s ascension.
“Part of it is you have to have the right staff,” Schaefer said. “From day one (Stricklin) has supported us in that matter. We were able to go out and we continue to have, in my opinion, the best staff in the country. I had to be able to go get the right staff, number one. Number two, we had to change how we looked. When we get off the bus now, we look like an SEC team at 6-foot-7, 6-5, 6-3 at the five (position, or center). Our four (position, or power forward) players are 6-1 with tremendous frames. I have a 6-1 two-guard and a 5-11 two-guard. Our point guards are awfully quick. We just had to change our team.”
Schaefer and his coaching staff have changed the team with nationally ranked recruiting classes each of the past three seasons. Those classes include a group of juniors led by Breanna Richardson and Dominique Dillingham, a sophomore class led by Victoria Vivians, the state of Mississippi’s all-time leading scorer, and a freshman class that features Parade All-America center Teaira McCowan.
But recruiting is only part of the reason MSU is a different team. Schaefer feels he and his coaches have worked hard to help the players they have brought to Starkville realize their
potential.
“The recruiting piece has been very important. (Associate head coach) Johnnie (Harris), (assistant coach) Dionnah (Jackson), and (assistant coach) Elena (Lovato) do an unbelievable job in recruiting,” Schaefer said. “Quite frankly, this university recruits itself. We just don’t lose kids if we get them here on campus. This is a beautiful place. We’ve had so many say, ‘Coach, we had no idea this was here. It’s gorgeous.’ This university is a great place and an easy sell. There’s a feeling of family here, not just in our program, but all across campus and across our athletic teams. The recruiting piece is a tremendous piece to it. We recruit well, we retain, and we develop our kids. I think our staff does a tremendous job developing the players we have. That’s probably as big a key as any — the recruiting, the retaining, and the developing.”
Harris, who worked with Schaefer at Arkansas and at Texas A&M under Gary Blair, agrees that recruiting has been a key reason behind the program’s transformation. But she said the ability to identify the right players who are going to “buy in” to Schaefer’s defensive mind-set and to his system has made that process easier.
“They believe in us,” Harris said. “We model the behaviors or the habits that we teach, whether on defense or on offense. They see us working hard and being professional. Everything we do with them, we model that behavior, so they see it first-hand and they know it works.”
If you think you have heard thousands of college coaches use a similar refrain to Harris’ answer, you’re probably right. But the difference comes in the details. That’s why it was revealing to watch Harris as she continued to talk because she took her right hand and pounded it into the palm of her left hand to accentuate the point that helped reveal why MSU has been so successful so quickly.
“They know we are winners,” Harris said. “We are competitive in every (palm pound) thing (palm pound) we (palm pound) do. I think that runs through our staff on down to the players. We don’t let them settle.
“They know we are passionate them going to class, about what they look like, combing their hair, everything. They see that passion. They see the winners, building champions. That is what we do. That is all we know.”
Dillingham couldn’t help but smile when asked about the program’s success in her first two seasons. The 5-9 guard from Spring, Texas, epitomizes the Bulldogs’ “winning mentality” with a gritty style of play that involves throwing her body in front of others and not giving in to anyone. Her play has earned her a place as one of the team’s crowd favorites.
“(Our success) is based off the coaching staff and the people he has been recruiting,” Dillingham said. “That has to be a big deal and our hard work and dedication.
“I think (Schaefer’s style has worked so well) just because we buy into it.”
Schaefer hopes that continues to be the case this season as the Bulldogs face their biggest expectations after being picked third in the preseason SEC poll. After a history-making campaign in 2014-15, Schaefer and the players know they won’t sneak up on anyone this season.
“I think we have a chance, but right now that’s all we’ve got,” Schaefer said. “We’ll keep working hard and try to do what everybody thinks we are going to do. Right now, that’s all it is. We have to live it. That’s what we talk about with our kids every day, trying to live the expectations.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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