Coming off the best crowd to ever attend the Hump for a Women s Basketball game the Hail State Hoops will be traveling to North Little Rock having finished 3rd overall in the SEC behind top 10 Tennessee and South Carolina. As much as you may want to give props to Mullen for making MSU #1 give props to Vic for having MSU go from 5-11 to 11-5 in the conference. I mean that is huge. When this team got invited to the WNIT and reached th quarterfinals last year we all assumed this could be a NCAA Tournament team the next. But if you had told me they would be this good I would have told you you were crazy. With that being said lets look at MSU's most likely opponents and how they will match up:

Mississippi State will begin Friday having a two day bye against someone who will have either played 1 or 2 games already. Most likely unless there is an upset MSU will face Kentucky. Kentucky is coming off a thrilling win over #2 South Carolina which is the Gamecocks only SEC loss of the season. They did previously lose by 20 at UConn. In the last meeting between the WIldcats and the Bulldogs, MSU went to Double OT in Lexington to only lose 92-90 on a last second jumpshot by Epps who had over 40 points while Vivians for MSU had 39 points. With an extra day to rest and with MSU ready for revenge and another signature win to possibly get a #4 seed to host I think the Bulldogs will squeak by the WIldcats. Be sure to watch this game at around 8 or 8:30 on the SEC Network Friday.

If the Bulldogs beat the Wildcats they will play Tennessee in the semifinals(yeah they wont get upset). MSU has never defeated the Vols and last lost to them in Knoxville on Super Bowl Sunday. This would be the biggest win in MSU history if they were to somehow squeak by the vols. unfortunately I feel UT is too much for the Bulldogs and eliminates them but just in case they do not let us look at MSUs possible championship opponent. This game will be on ESPNU at around 4 or 4:30

Mississippi State recently lost to South Carolina by 19. The Gamecocks just looked too powerful for MSU to consistently stop and score on. Unfortunately I feel their most recent loss and the fact that they have never won an SEC Tournament will be too much for MSU in this championship game. But again if MSU did somehow win this game their 2 biggest wins in program history would be in back to back games(impressive). This game will be on ESPN at 2:30

SO lets talk about the NCAA. I personally think if MSU is able to win Friday that they will be able to get the #4 seed. This is crucial so MSU can host the round of 64 and the round of 32 in the Hump. Winning both of those games would send them to the Sweet Sixteen which would tie their best finish in school History. Now as long as we are not in the Same bracket as Connecticut I think we have a decent chance for the Final Four. Playing Tennessee and South Carolina on neutral courts I feel would be different. And I really dont know how good Baylor and Notre Dame are this year but they always seem to be good so if MSU ends up in their region I dont think that would be the end of the world. While winning the National Championship is a longshot, this is the best team MSU has ever had in this sport to accomplish this feat and they could certainly do it. But even if they do not this year they will have plenty of chances in the upcoming years to get to the level of a Baylor or South Carolina to where they can dominate almost everyone. And that is where we are heading.

Finally I want to discuss Sundays game. The officials were awful and I mean awful. Matt Insell should have been ejected from the game. Notice how his eyes are always big and always yells? When he does that he reminds me so much of Marshall Henderson. And their were 8000 people at Sundays game. With the free High school and under student day some people did not have tickets and just walked in. This allowed a miscount and if you looked the entire lower section was full with the top 3/4 full. I mean their were 8000 there.

I recently went to the Alabama game in Tuscaloosa. There were so many more State fans that we set an attendance record and screamed Maroon and White. It was embarrassing for Alabama! I was so happy!