Finally! Mississippi State’s women’s basketball team won the Southeastern Conference championship Sunday with a 101-70 tournament finale win over Arkansas on Sunday.
Bulldog Head Coach Vic Schaefer can now boast of having a title after being denied the title for three consecutive seasons. He had the Bullies in position to win the championship right up until the final game of the tournament for the last three seasons but couldn’t get past South Carolina, who whipped his MSU girls each year the last three seasons.
This year, Arkansas upset South Carolina in the semi-finals of this year’s tourney and made easy work of the Razorbacks. Schaefer has been working relentlessly for this milestone and he didn’t let the opportunity get away once it presented itself!
When he was named head women’s basketball coach at MSU six years ago today (March 13, 2012), the team was not capable of winning the SEC tournament. His first team finished 13-17 and didn’t threaten to sell out The Hump for games. Now, the Lady Bulldogs sell out The Hump just like their male counterparts do.
Schaefer has convinced young women that they can win in Starkville. Players like Victoria Vivians, Morgan William, Roshunda Johnson and the coach’s daughter, Blair Schaefer, turned the program around and set the stage for this year’s team led by senior center Teaira McCowan, the SEC Player of the Year, who played in all three SEC tournament losses leading up to Sunday’s big win.
McCowan was simply magnificent during this year’s SEC tournament, scoring 24 points and grabbing 14 rebounds for her 27th double-double of the season and third of the tournament in three games. She was rightfully named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Schaefer has taken his Lady Bulldogs to two final four appearances in his six seasons at MSU. It will be interesting to see if he can manage to win that title this season. The Bullies are capable, but UConn might have something to say about that, although Schaefer won’t be backing down, nor will McCowan and her teammates.
As Schaefer says, “It’s what we do at Mississippi State. We’re there to play for championships.”
It’s been frustrating for Schaefer, finishing as the bridesmaid to South Carolina the last three seasons in the SEC and to Connecticut in the NCAA, but Vic is now fulfilling his destiny this season. And Teaira won the Gillom Trophy as the state’s best female basketball player.
Victoria Vivians won the trophy four years in a row prior to this season, highlighting Schaefer’s recruiting ability. That’s a pretty solid performance as a six-year veteran coach, five Gillom trophies, two final four teams and a Southeastern Conference championship!
I am looking for the Lady Bulldogs to challenge for the NCAA title this year as Vic will have them ready, no doubt. He is that kind of coach, one that doesn’t overlook any opportunity to succeed. He motivates his players every day, not just every game. He gets their adrenalin going just by walking in the door!
His name is now recognized by everybody in college sports as a leader, a winner! There is no more “Vic Who?” around the league. He is known by all and revered by most.
I wish we were closer to Starkville as I would like to get to know this man better as he has the ability to take raw talent, recognize it and groom it into a winner, quietly and without fanfare, and mold that talent into a team with one goal in mind: winning championships.
