Mississippi State, the No. 2 seed in the South region, has steadily climbed the national polls with consistently strong performances in the SEC, which earned them the regular season title. Having failed to get past the first round of the tournament last year and having its last Final Four appearance in 1996, MSU will need to pull off a string of strong performances to make it far this March.
Though the Bulldogs have a strong 27-3 record this season, it has only played two top-25 teams, splitting the games 1-1. After losing in the last seconds to then-No. 5 Kentucky, the team turned around and beat LSU and then-No. 17 Florida by double digits. The team is led by Lawrence Roberts, the 6-foot-9 forward/center, who averages 17.1 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game. However, the SEC's Player of the Year's greatest weakness is at the foul line, shooting 63 percent. Roberts is the dominant presence on the court and the player to whom the entire team looks. This fact was made evident in MSU's overtime loss to Vanderbilt in the first found of the SEC Tournament last week, in which Roberts sprained his ankle.
"We naturally need Lawrence and need him at full speed," head coach Rick Stansbury said. "Obviously he wasn't full speed when he came back in [against Vanderbilt]. He had no offensive rebounds in the last 12 minutes of the game, which is uncharacteristic of Lawrence."
The Bulldogs will face Monmouth Friday in the first round. After losing in the first round to Butler last year, Stansbury knows that there are no guarantees in the NCAA Tournament.
"Last year, we played a different type of team with a different style," Stansbury said. "I think after that everyone found out how good Butler was. Butler was a heck of a basketball team that played a particular style. That's what [is] so important in the NCAA Tournament, not where your seed is but what your match-ups are along the way. Those different types of styles cause people some problems."
Another key player for MSU will be Branden Vincent, who Stansbury calls the glue of the team. He has had some notable games this season, including a 13-point, 18-rebound effort against South Carolina.
If Vincent and Roberts are stifled in the paint, the Bulldogs have strong perimeter shooters in Timmy Bowers, Winsome Frazier and Shane Power, who each shoot over 34 percent from three-point range. However, if MSU is cold from the outside and cannot get any good looks into Roberts, it will not be able to compete with the other teams in the Atlanta Region, namely North Carolina, an opponent MSU could potentially meet in the Sweet 16.
While the Bulldogs did not have a particularly strong non-conference schedule, the team played very well within one of the nation's strongest conferences. Along with its 13-game winning streak to begin the season, MSU set a school record with 14 SEC wins this year.
Though the team has more than proven itself as a strong contender this season, it will need to play impeccably to survive the obstacles in the South region.
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