Through the 2009-2010 season, Mississippi State women’s basketball head coach Sharon Fanning-Otis has talked about parity in the SEC. One glance at the league standings shows the truth in that statement, with one notable exception. There is 15-1 Tennessee, and then there is everybody else.
The Kentucky Lady Wildcats are four games behind at 11-5, but the next seven teams, including third-ranked Mississippi State, have either nine or seven wins. Either there are a lot of really mediocre teams, or the league is as competitive as it has ever been &mdash which is Fanning-Otis’s belief. With the experience of Mississippi State on both ends of the court, the hot shooters of Vanderbilt or dominating players like Allison Hightower of LSU, the safe bet is on competitiveness. Still, every team took their turn at losing to Tennessee this year.
As the saying goes, anybody can beat anybody, on any given day. Fanning-Otis and her Lady Bulldogs have to be big believers in the old cliché, especially since they have been bitten a few times this season themselves.
So with the start of the SEC Tournament last night in Duluth, Ga., every team has a chance to hit the reset button. The Lady Bulldogs, who have a first-round bye, will take the court tonight at 8 p.m. against the winner of Thursday’s contest between Alabama and Georgia. MSU went undefeated against the pair this season, so they know what to expect and how to win, although Georgia will have the benefit this time of a home crowd.
If MSU makes it to the semifinals, they have a shot at redemption, facing either the winner of Auburn and Florida, or second-round bye, Kentucky. All three teams defeated MSU this season, in The Hump, in games which MSU could have won.
In the other bracket, Ole Miss takes on South Carolina and Arkansas takes on Vandy, with the winners meeting Tennessee and LSU respectively. With Georgia as the only team to ring up the Lady Vols this year, the chances are good that Tennessee will be the bracket’s representative in the finals. Tennessee head coach Pat Summit did not become the winningest coach in NCAA history &mdash men’s or women’s &mdash by luck.
Two weeks ago, Fanning-Otis was furious with her team for playing uninspired basketball in the home closer against Auburn. The Lady Bulldogs responded by destroying Alabama on the Tide’s Senior Day, but then were trounced by the Lady Tigers of LSU last Sunday.
However, in that matchup, MSU responded in the second half with 31 points, although they could not overcome a 42-16 halftime deficit. Even with the loss, MSU wound up with the third seed by winning the tiebreaker with LSU, Vanderbilt and Georgia; which could prove to be a lucky break by placing the Lady Bulldogs in the other bracket and away from Tennessee.
The SEC Tournament will be marked by momentum, who has it, and who loses it.
If Mississippi State is going to make a run at Tennessee and the championship, they are going to have to build to it. The stage is set for just such a run &mdash a tune-up against an opponent which they have already defeated, a chance at redemption against a team that embarrassed them at home and then the prize against one of the top five teams in the country.
The old cliché was made for football, but still you have to wonder. Is it fate that the championship final game will be played on a Sunday?
Dan Murrell is a senior majoring in general studies. He can be contacted at [email protected]