Bulldogs wait for either Tide, or the Wildcats

Coach Vic Schaefer doesn’t know which team his Mississippi State Bulldogs play in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Friday.

What he does know is that it’s going to be a very good team that’s going to already have a win under its belt in what is considered the best women’s conference tournament in the nation.

That’s why the Bulldogs are taking what’s being presented to them in Nashville,

Tennessee, this week very seriously.

Alabama and Kentucky play at noon today in the second round for the right to take on top-seeded MSU at the same time on Friday.

Senior guard and former Starkville High School player Blair Schaefer said the Bulldogs remain locked in on the task at hand and it doesn’t matter about the opponent.

“Our attention is constantly renewed every day on what need to focus on and how we don’t need to lose sight of our vision,” Blair Schaefer said.

Coach Schaefer won’t have to look very far back in the past to get information on Kentucky. MSU just beat the Wildcats in Lexington 85-63 last Sunday and also won a 74-55 decision in Starkville on February 11.

Alabama gave the Bulldogs one of their closest results of the season, but State still beat the Crimson Tide 75-61 on January 14.

“Obviously, the Kentucky scout is fresh on our minds if in fact that’s who we play,” coach Schaefer said. “The Alabama scout would be something newer, so we’ll mix in some Alabama stuff to be ready for that.”

The main thing MSU has worked on this week has been fundamentals, which has always been important to Schaefer.

After the grind of a 30-game regular season, Schaefer said fundamentals is always something a team can hang its hat on in the postseason.

“When you are not able to get through somebody’s sets or what they might do to you, that’s when fundamentals take over and carry you through that,” Schaefer said. “I feel very confident with what we’ve done to this point.”

It doesn’t matter to Schaefer what the records are for the Bulldogs even though they are 30-0 overall and 16-0 in the SEC.

The question he has for his MSU players every day is are they getting better?

“In practice, are we working to get better?” Schaefer said. “You are either getting better, or you are getting worse. For me and this team, I want to keep getting better. If we are going to achieve our goals, we’ve got to keep getting better.”

The Bulldogs are thankful for being able to get a little practice time in and watch some of the other teams battle it out on the court in the first two rounds of the SEC Tournament.

MSU senior guard Victoria Vivians looks at the four-day layoff between games to be a positive.

“We get to sit back and watch other teams play,” Vivians said. “We’re just going to take every day one at a time and try to come out on top in the championship game.”