The air continues to get thinner, but the Mississippi State women’s basketball team keeps climbing.
On Monday, MSU remained at No. 3 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll. Hours later, though, MSU learned it had moved from No. 4 to No. 2 in the third and final NCAA Reveal by the NCAA tournament selection committee. The NCAA Reveal is a projection of the top 16 seeds for the NCAA tournament if the event was scheduled to start today.
The move solidifies MSU’s place among the nation’s best teams as they enter the home stretch of the regular season. At 27-1 and 13-1 in the Southeastern Conference, MSU is one win away from matching its program record for wins in a season. It also is a another win and a South Carolina loss from clinching its first SEC title in women’s basketball.
With games remaining against Kentucky and Tennessee (4 p.m. Sunday in Starkville), MSU has clinched at least a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed for the SEC tournament on March 1-5 in Greenville, South Carolina. As a top-four seed, the Bulldogs will get a double bye until Friday, March 3. The No. 1 seed would play at noon, while the No. 2 seed would play at 6 p.m.
Judging from last week, when top-10 teams Florida State and South Carolina lost twice and Texas and Washington lost once, there is plenty of time for the seeds to get shuffled again. On Monday night, No. 4 Baylor rallied for a 70-67 victory against No. 6 Texas to strengthen its cause to earn at least a top-eight seed. The top 16 seeds will earn the right to play at home in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament. From there, the teams will be sent to regionals in Bridgeport, Connecticut; Lexington, Kentucky; Oklahoma City; and Stockton, California. At 6 p.m. Thursday, MSU could get a dress rehearsal for a future NCAA date when it takes on No. 22 Kentucky (19-8, 10-4) at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.
But MSU coach Vic Schaefer is going to continue to preach about getting one play and one minute better every day. The veteran coach knows momentum can change quickly, but he and his staff deserve a lot of credit for keeping their team focused. Whether it has been traveling more than 17,000 miles in the non-conference portion of their schedule or overcoming nagging injuries, the Bulldogs have overcome every challenge. The only setback — a 64-61 loss at South Carolina — was a game that went down to wire and saw MSU have numerous open looks that could have forced a tie or put it ahead. Through it all, MSU has done kept winning, which only one other team — reigning national champion Connecticut — has managed to do. While others have slipped up on the road, MSU has won 12 games on the road and a program-record 13 in the SEC. The latest — a 72-67 victory against then-No. 23 Texas A&M on Sunday in College Station, Texas — enabled MSU to complete its first season sweep of Texas A&M. It also was the program’s first win in College Station. That win and a come-from-behind victory against Georgia on Thursday extended MSU’s streak to 52 consecutive weeks in The AP poll, which is the seventh-longest active streak in the nation.
Talk like that would have made heads spin in 2012. But Schaefer and his staff had a plan. They have built a foundation thanks to a senior class of Ketara Chapel, Dominique Dillingham, Chinwe Okorie, and Breanna Richardson. Those players believed in the blueprint in Schaefer’s head. They have forged a unique bond with the fans at Humphrey Coliseum by playing a gritty, in-your-face brand of basketball that suits Schaefer’s defensive mind-set.
MSU also has grown on the offensive end. Schaefer, whose nickname is “Secretary of Defense,” has pushed the Bulldogs to evolve and to share the basketball. Their experience and depth have been keys to what could be the best season in program history.
MSU’s run already is one of the best in the history of the SEC. Dating back to the league’s first year of women’s basketball in 1982-83, teams have lost three or fewer games in the SEC 57 times, and only seven times since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 2009-10. Tennessee holds the record with 24. Auburn is next with eight. Ole Miss is third with six. MSU has never achieved the feat.
Let that soak in. Winning a regular-season conference title is hard enough. Imagine doing it what Schaefer likes to call “the biggest, baddest league in the nation” by losing less than three games. MSU is in position to do that in Schaefer’s fifth year in Starkville.
You don’t need a third NCAA Reveal to validate MSU’s rise to national prominence. The proof has been on the court in comebacks against Iowa State, Georgia, and Texas A&M — to name a few — as well as in big wins against LSU, Auburn, and Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs haven’t delivered works of art in every game, but no team has. Judging from the progress MSU has made in the last four seasons, it shouldn’t be surprising it is where it is today, poised to make more history with an even bigger goal in sight.
The air might be thinner up there, but you can believe the Bulldogs will be ready to handle whatever comes next.
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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