Top seeds Mississippi State, Louisville meet in Final Four (Mar 28, 2018)
Last season, the Mississippi State women's basketball team shocked the world by upsetting Connecticut in the Final Four, 64-62, in an overtime thriller.
Back in the Final Four one year later, the Bulldogs are tasked with taking down another beast, the Atlantic Coast Conference champion Louisville Cardinals, on Friday night at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Only this time, the world can see Mississippi State coming from a mile away. The Bulldogs are 36-1 and earned a No. 1 seed.
"I believed this could happen. I believed that we had the blueprint," Bulldogs head coach Vic Schaefer said. "There's so many things that go into developing a program. I didn't believe I was brought here to have a top-25 team. As I told Scott Stricklin, my athletic director then, I wanted to come here and build a top-10 program. There's a difference between top-25 teams and top-10 programs. Programs are there every year -- year-in, year-out. You pick up a preseason poll, you're looking for a certain team in the top 10. You don't know where they are going to be but they are in the top 10. Those teams 17 to 25 are fluid. One week they are in the poll, the next week they are out, the next week they are not receiving votes, the next week they are receiving.
"That's not what my vision was. I envisioned us building a top-10 program here."
Like Louisville coach Jeff Walz, Schaefer has made Mississippi State relevant in a hurry. Just five years ago, the Bulldogs went 13-17 in Schaefer's first year. Three years ago, the Bulldogs advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and two years ago, the Sweet 16. Then came last year's rise to the finals before losing to South Carolina, and this season's dominance.
Walz, meanwhile, has his team back in the Final Four for the first time since 2013 and the third time in his 11 seasons. The Cardinals (36-2) are also a No. 1 seed.
Walz too won in a hurry, taking Louisville to the championship game in his second season back in 2009.
He has his eyes on the grand prize this season, however, with an experienced, savvy team that is led by senior Myisha Hines-Allen and juniors Sam Fuehring and ACC player of the year Asia Durr. The trio combined for 48 points in the team's 76-43 Elite Eight win over No. 6-seeded Oregon State.
"I really like how we're playing right now," Walz said. "I like what we're doing at the offensive end. I like how we're sharing the basketball, we're making the extra pass. We're really getting downhill toward the basket, trying to get tempo, and that's what we have to continue to do. I don't want bad shots, but I do want the ball moving, I do want us playing quick."
Mississippi State will counter Louisville's big three with an excellent guard-driven lineup led by All-American Victoria Vivians and Morgan William and complemented by a dominant big in All-American center Teaira McCowan, who had 23 points and 21 rebounds in the Bulldogs' 89-73 win over third-seed UCLA in the Elite Eight.
"McCowan inside is a double-double machine," Schaefer said. "She has had an incredible year. She's had 26 double-doubles this year; she's had had 30-20 games, numerous 20-20 games and her and (Vivians) are both very deserving of their All-American status that they have earned."
