It won’t be a long, cold winter for Bulldog fans after all. Still stinging from a 3-9 season on the gridiron, fans have something to cheer about in the winter and spring months, with both MSU basketball teams winning games and getting respect in national polls.
When we left in December, both our men’s and women’s teams were ranked. The men, after beating Louisiana Tech by 40, were rated 22nd, but the biggest news came days later when Mario Austin was finally cleared to play by the NCAA.
On Dec. 14, the men quickly disposed of 11th-ranked Xavier touching off a string of big wins against Georgia State, Oklahoma, South Alabama and UAB that skyrocketed the Dawgs into the seventh slot in The Associated Press rankings. Their No. 7 rating was the team’s highest in 40 years.
Also on Dec.14, the Lady Bulldogs took care of Illinois before beating Bethune-Cookman and Central Florida to push their record to 8-1 and raise their ranking to 14. After a tough loss to Utah, the Lady Dawgs came back with wins against Texas Pan-American, Xavier and UAB, to enter SEC play with a solid 11-2 record and a rating of No. 15.
Mississippi State joins Duke and Connecticut as the only teams to have both men’s and women’s teams ranked in the top 15 at the same time.
MSU also features two players who were nominated for national player of the year honors.
Junior Mario Austin is a candidate for the John Wooden Award given to the country’s best player, and Lady Bulldog senior LaToya Thomas is looking for her fourth straight Kodak All-American Team honor as well as the Naismith Award for national player of the year she was nominated for. Thomas has already eclipsed not only MSU’s all-time scoring record for women, but has also surpassed men’s standout Jeff Malone as the school’s supreme scorer.
The Bulldogs will return home Jan. 22 to take on South Carolina, while the Lady Bulldogs will be at home this Sunday to take on the 14th-ranked Vanderbilt Lady Commodores at The Hump.