You have at least chances left.
The last opportunity to see Jazzmun Holmes, Teaira McCowan, Jordan Danberry, Zion Campbell, and Anriel Howard in a regular-season game at Humphrey Coliseum will be at 7 p.m. Thursday when the No. 5 MSU women’s basketball team plays host to LSU in a Southeastern Conference matchup.
After that, MSU is all but certain to earn at least a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament, which would guarantee the Bulldogs another date in the venue where “7,000 sounds like 70,000.”
That quote by Michigan State women’s basketball coach Suzy Merchant will go down as one of the all-time best sound bites associated with MSU women’s basketball. It also will go down as one of the crowning achievements for coach Vic Schaefer, who has transformed a program that averaged 1,317 fans in his first season in 2012-13 to 8,217 this season.
Buried in those attendance figures is a telling caveat: MSU is the only team in each of the last three years to be in the top 20 — really top 12 — for largest attendance gains. That speaks volumes about the connection MSU has made with its fans and its ability to maintain it, to strengthen it, and to connect with more fans.
If the season ended today, MSU would have an increase of 778 from its average home attendance of 7,439 in 2017-18. Even though it’s not as big of an increase as Schaefer’s first four seasons, when the Bulldogs grew their attendance by more than 1,000 each year, it is important for another reason. This season, MSU is poised to pass Tennessee and move into second place (behind South Carolina) for the highest average attendance by a SEC team. That might sounds like a trivial statistic, but it further cements MSU’s emergence as one of the nation’s elite programs.
That’s why it would be fitting to send Holmes, McCowan, Danberry, Campbell, and Howard out in style. After the game against LSU, MSU will honor all five players in a ceremony. It will be an opportunity to thank Howard, a graduate transfer from Texas A&M for picking MSU and blending in so well with new teammates. The festivities also will provide fans an opportunity to show their support for Campbell, a redshirt junior, who was selected Wednesday to the SEC Community Service Team. Campbell led the Bulldogs in service hours this year, and has recorded more than any other player on the roster for her career.
Let’s not forget Danberry, a transfer from Arkansas, who is having a season worthy of first-team All-SEC honors. Her maturation into a scoring threat and her ability to provide support at point guard have enabled MSU to enter the final two games of the regular season with a 25-2 record and a 13-1 mark in the SEC.
As much as the other players have contributed, Holmes and McCowan have played key roles each of the last four seasons in MSU’s growth into a national title contender. Holmes and McCowan have won 124 career games, which is the fourth most in the nation since 2015-16, and two shy of the MSU record. Their 96 wins since 2016-17 are second only to Connecticut (97) in that span.
As of Wednesday afternoon, MSU sports information contact Brian Ogden said there were plenty of tickets available for the game against LSU. It would be a shame if Holmes and McCowan didn’t play before a sold-out crowd in their final regular-season game at the Hump. After all, classes like the one that features Victoria Vivians, Morgan William, Blair Schaefer, and Roshunda Johnson usually come around once in the lifetime of a coach. Holmes and McCowan were fortunate to be a part of that great run, but they deserve just as much credit for finding a way to continue that success and even enhance it. The Bulldogs haven’t been a 3-point shooting dynamo this season. They have overcome a season-ending injury to sophomore forward Chloe Bibby and have found ways to win, some night with their offense and others with the defense.
On Thursday, Holmes and McCowan deserve to hear what the Hump sounds like when 10,000 plus pack it. It’s not every day fans get the chance to watch one class of players set a program record for wins. MSU fans have the unique opportunity to help Holmes and McCowan take one step closer to accomplishing that goal with a rousing sendoff. A win against LSU would put Holmes and McCowan in position to tie the record against South Carolina at 1 p.m. Sunday (ESPN2). A chance to break the record likely would come in the SEC tournament in Greenville, South Carolina.
From there, MSU figures to come back to Starkville to play host to the NCAA tournament. Two sellouts would go a long way to sending the Bulldogs back to the Sweet 16.
The first step, though, will come on Senior Night. Let’s celebrate everything Holmes and McCowan — and the rest of the players who will be honored — have meant to the MSU program. Remember, All-Americans and Naismith Defensive Players of the Year or homegrown success stories aren’t always guaranteed. They should be cherished by crowds that sound like 70,000 — or even more.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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