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Mississippi State is headed to Dallas, Texas.
Well, I should clarify. The entire university isn’t picking up and moving from Starkville to Dallas. That’d be weird. It’d also be a logistics nightmare.
The Mississippi State women’s basketball team is headed to Dallas, Texas to partake in the Final Four, their first ever appearance. And it is thanks to the hard work and dedicated focus of Mississippi State’s head coach, Vic Schaefer.
Schaefer has instilled a winning culture in Starkville. The 56 year old, charismatic Texan has built his team in his image. There’s very few people on earth that can match Schaefer’s energy and intensity, and he’s assembled most of them to play for him.
With a focus on a stingy, gritty defense, Mississippi State excels at forcing its opponents into defeating themselves and uses depth to grind out games against even the most talented teams.
And now, Mississippi State is on the verge of competing for a national title. Something that is incredibly rare for teams from Starkville.
And because of that, I’m willing to get a tattoo if the Bulldogs can make it to the national title game. However, it will not be just any tattoo. That’d be dumb. I’ll get something appropriate and inspired by Vic Schaefer.
“Praise the Lord and Go Dawgs!”
That’s Vic Schaefer’s famous phrase. And that’s what I’ll get tattooed if the Bulldogs beat UConn. Except, maybe not the entire phrase. Maybe PTLGD. It’s shorter and takes up less space.
"Praise the Lord and GO DAWGS!" - @CoachVic_MSU
— MSU W. Basketball (@HailStateWBK) January 30, 2015
It’ll take something similar to a miracle for this to happen, of course. The Bulldogs have to face off against the winner of UConn and Oregon. And, in case you didn’t know, UConn is very good at women’s basketball.
The Huskies haven’t lost a game since the fall of 2014. They’ve won more than 100 games IN A ROW the past two and a half years. They’ve even gone 150-1 in the past 4 seasons. It’s not likely that Mississippi State will come out on top when these two teams square off (this is all assuming that UConn beats Oregon, which is a fair assumption).
The last time these two teams faced each other, UConn bulldozed straight through the Bulldogs, winning 98-38. And it felt a lot worse than that score indicated.
All of that said, I’d love to see Vic Schaefer guide MSU to victory over the colossus that is UConn. He’s the perfect man for the job. And should he do it, I’ll get a Vic Schaefer inspired tattoo.
It’s probably a rash decision to make. It might even be a little short sighted. And more than likely, it’ll never happen. Should it happen, however, I can’t think of a better coach to lead the Bulldogs to the championship game, nor a better phrase to commemorate Mississippi State playing for a national title.
Update: I got the tattoo