Mississippi State University’s women’s basketball team is going dancing for the first time since 2010. The Bulldogs heard their name called during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Selection Show Monday night as the No. 5 seed in the Spokane Region. 
MSU will take on No. 12 seed Tulane University for its first round matchup in Durham, North Carolina The Bulldogs’ seed comes as a bit of a disappointment for many around the program and especially Head Coach Vic Schaefer, as they themselves fell just short of turning Humphrey Coliseum into a host venue for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Monday at the watch party for the selection show, Head Coach Vic Schaefer expressed his disappointment with the NCAA committee’s decision to make MSU a five seed rather than a four seed, but also said the seeding does not need to affect his team going forward.
“I am disappointed that the country will not see the Hump with 10,000 Bulldog fans in there,” Schaefer said in a news release. “I think we had earned the right. I think our team is good enough. We finished third in the SEC, all by ourselves. I am disappointed, no question, but you have to turn around and get ready to play. You have to be like that duck on the water and let that water rub off your back and feathers and go on.” 
The Bulldogs’ attention shifts to Friday’s first round contest against a Tulane squad that has a number of impressive victories on its resume this season. In particular, it was able to defeat a very scrappy LSU team on the road as well as another road victory at Miami (FL) earlier on in the season.
The Green Wave finished with a 22-10 overall record for its campaign and went 11-7 in the American Conference. It completed its season by receiving the sixth seed in the American Conference Tournament and proceeded to play it way into the semi-finals before falling to the University of South Florida in what turned out to be a very tightly contested game.
While Tulane may have the No. 12 penciled next to their name on the bracket sheet, in reality it is much more formidable than most people realize. It has a nice combination of youth and experience, similar to that of the Mississippi State, as well as a head coach in Lisa Stockton with plenty of experience with coaching teams in the NCAA Tournament, going all the way back to 1995.
On offense, the Green Wave is led by freshman guard Kolby Morgan and her senior backcourt partner Danielle Blagg. Morgan averages 12 points and 4.5 rebounds a game while Blagg has put up a 9.4 points per game and 3.4 assists stat-line for the year. The team as a whole averages only around 65 points a game, which is about nine fewer than MSU’s season average of 74 points per game.
One area that Tulane has excelled in for much of its season is on the defensive end of floor, where it has held its opponents to 60 points per game and forced on average almost 19 turnovers a game. Stockton is known for constantly preaching sound defensive principles with her players, and it has certainly shown in its performance during large stretches of the season.
With this match-up on Friday, the nation will get to see two teams that, in a lot of ways, resemble each other. Even though their core group of players feature a splash of youth, they still are solidified by the presence of four seniors that help provide leadership and guidance to the youngsters on the team. Both teams also approach the game with a mindset geared toward having their defense be the main catalyst in generating offense, which can become stagnant at times. 
One concern for the Bulldogs is the hand injury their star freshman Victoria Vivians suffered during their SEC Tournament loss to Kentucky on March 6. When asked about the status of her right thumb on her shooting hand, Vivians shrugged off the concerns and stated quite clearly that would not be an issue going forward.
“It’s great,” Vivians said. “I’m back shooting again. It’s good.”
The news should come as a breath of fresh air for Bulldog fans, as Mississippi State has seen its offense on too many occasions this season go cold for long periods of games. Not having Vivians, the SEC’s leading scorer this season, wouldn’t help matters at all.
Vivians, as well as Schaefer, were both honored by the Associated Press on Tuesday. Vivians was named second team All-SEC while Schaefer earned SEC Coach of the Year honors.
Even with a healthy Vivians back and ready to go for Friday, the player on Mississippi State’s team who may have the best chance of shining in the first round of the NCAA Tournament is senior center Martha Alwal. She has the necessary skills to exploit the low post defense of Tulane, and on the glass Alwal should have a nice height advantage over the Green Wave players.
Alwal said she believes hard work in practice has allowed her team to be successful all season long.
“We have worked so hard,” Alwal said. “Practices are so tough, but we do it. I think that is what has prepared us, and Coach Schaefer does a great job with us, so I am so excited.” 
Friday’s contest against Tulane will tip off at 1:30 p.m. at the historic Cameron Indoor Stadium and can be seen on ESPN2.