WBCA honors Schaefer, Vivians
Vic Schaefer and Victoria Vivians have earned regional honors from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
Schaefer was selected a United States Marine Corps Regional Coach of the Year, while Vivians was picked a regional finalist for the WBCA All-American.
Schaefer, who was also chosen a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year, earned the honor after guiding Mississippi State to a school-best 31-4 overall record and a second-straight trip to the NCAA Sweet 16.
The Bulldogs notched their fourth-straight 20-win season, matching the total number of 20-win campaigns in program history prior to his arrival in Starkville. Schaefer’s squad started the year with a school-best 20-straight wins, ending that run as one of the final two undefeated teams in women’s Division I basketball.
This year’s MSU team also posted a program-best 13 Southeastern Conference wins en route to claiming the school’s best league finish with a second-place showing. It also set a new standard with 12 road victories.
His fifth Bulldog squad then went to the SEC Tournament and advanced to the championship game for the second year in a row before earning a program-best No. 2 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
This year’s team has also spent the entire season in the Top 10 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Top 25 polls, rising to a program-record No. 2 in the Coaches poll.
Schaefer also helped build MSU into one of the nation’s top programs from an attendance standpoint. This year’s squad averaged a program-best 6,641 fans per game, a total that ranks seventh nationally.
Vivians earned regional finalist honors for the second-straight year after leading the Bulldogs with a 16.1 scoring average.
Despite drawing opponent’s best perimeter defender, the Carthage native posted her best scoring season in SEC play, tallying 18.1 points per game.
Vivians has scored double digits in 31 of MSU’s 35 games, including a personal-best 10 games with 20-plus points.
Third among active league players, the top junior, with 1,686-career points, Vivians averaged 12.5 points per game in the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament and amassed 17.3 points per game against ranked foes this year, 16.8 points per game for her career.
This season Vivians was selected a finalist for the prestigious Wooden Award and a semifinalist for the Naismith Player of the Year. She was also selected to the watch lists for the Wade and Ann Meyers Drysdale awards.