STARKVILLE — Maybe this is the best situation for the Mississippi State University women’s basketball team.
Last season, the Lady Bulldogs regrouped from three months of ups and downs to play their best basketball. Even though MSU only went 5-5 in the final two months, it showed positive building blocks en route to a 13-17 finish.
Coach Sharon Fanning-Otis and her players have talked many times this season about using the momentum and confidence gained at the end of the 2010-11 season and building on it to make the NCAA tournament.
As much as that goal is still a reality, MSU likely won’t sweep its final four regular-season games and then run through the Southeastern Conference tournament to earn the league’s automatic bid to the “Big Dance.”
That’s not to say this season is lost.
Instead, this next stretch will put the Lady Bulldogs to the test, and it’s a step that is crucial for the future of the program. MSU needs to win one of its four remaining regular-season games to assure itself a winning record entering the SEC tournament March 1-4 in Nashville, Tenn. A winning record entering that event would assure the Lady Bulldogs a .500 record if they lost their first-round game.
There are no guarantees, but a .500 record or a mark one game over .500 should be enough to earn MSU an invitation to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. Ordinarily, a second-tier tournament would be a disappointment, but MSU should continue to strive to make the NCAA and realize the WNIT is just as good an outcome if for no other reason that it could give freshmen Kendra Grant, Martha Alwal, Jerica James, and Shamia Robinson more room to grow.
According to The Collegiate Basketball News, MSU has a Ratings Percentage Index of 117 through games played Sunday. A 53-50 overtime victory against the University of Mississippi undoubtedly helped keep that number from sinking any lower. MSU’s rating will receive a boost from remaining games against the University of Tennessee (No. 4 in RPI), the University of Arkansas (No. 28), the University of Florida (No. 37), and the University of Kentucky (No. 9). Victories in any of those games could help MSU crack the top 100.
But MSU needs to look beyond the numbers. This final stretch is about setting aside all of the excuses and coming together as a basketball team. Too often this season MSU has looked like a squad that fights itself as hard as the opponent and then battles through lulls in concentration and effort. As a result, MSU has had difficulty overcoming self-inflicted wounds, whether they are turnovers, poor shot selection, or a lack of rebounding.
MSU very easily could have won three more SEC games this season. If it had, it would be very much in contention for an at-large NCAA tournament bid. You also could argue MSU very easily could have lost all four of its SEC wins. It’s a very fine line, but MSU has shown it can maneuver on that ledge.
To MSU’s credit, it didn’t give up Sunday on a day in which it was the favorite and it shot 29.7 percent from the field, its top two scorers — Diamber Johnson and Porsha Porter — shot a combined 10 of 37 from the field, and it was outrebounded by 14. Ole Miss had plenty of chances to put MSU away, but it, too, was its worst enemy, shooting 25.4 percent and committing 18 turnovers.
Young teams will do that. But by this time freshmen should be sophomores and seniors should be playing with the urgency and composure that reflects their college careers are coming to an end. That’s why the little things — boxing out, setting proper screens, taking good shots, reading time-and-score situations, and giving maximum effort — will be more crucial in the final weeks of the 2011-12 season.
MSU didn’t play its best basketball game of the season Sunday. But it showed it still has the fight of a team that has unfinished business. Now is the time for the Lady Bulldogs to put the pieces together like they imagined they would fit in November.
Wondering what could have been won’t do MSU any good. It has to play with resolve and attack on both ends of the floor like it is its final possession of the season. Only then will MSU truly realize a goal that might not be the one it set at the beginning of the season, but it is the best option available, and one that will help push the program into what could be a bright future.
If MSU fails to seize the opportunity, it only will have itself to blame for not making the most of its potential.
Adam Minichino is sports editor at The Dispatch. He can be reached at: [email protected].
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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