MSU'S 1995-96 FINAL FOUR SEASON

MSU'S 1995-96 FINAL FOUR SEASON

By Tony Schmidt

A nationally televised audience for Midnight Madness... Top-10 rankings in the national polls... A second-straight SEC Western Division title... A school-first SEC Tournament championship... And ultimately, a first-ever appearance in the prestigious NCAA Final Four.

The season was 1995-96 - a season that many faithful who follow the Maroon and White can vividly recall where they were and with whom they were watching the games when Mississippi State University made national news in the collegiate sports world by knocking off favored Connecticut and Cincinnati in the NCAA Southeast Regional played at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. Those memorable pair of wins came just two weeks after the Bulldogs upset top-ranked and eventual National Champion Kentucky in the title game of the 1996 SEC Tournament held at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Ten years ago this month marks the 10th anniversary of the Bulldogs' spirited run to the 1996 NCAA Final Four and a memorable experience at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. However, those who have long followed State hoops tend to point back to the 1990-91 campaign as the turning point when MSU began to return to the college basketball limelight after nearly a three-decade drought. It was that 1990-91 season which made people within the college basketball circles begin talking about the Bulldog basketball program once again. State's 1990-91 senior-laden edition evolved from talented, but untested, freshmen just four years prior into a confident, veteran ballclub that claimed the school's first SEC championship since 1962-63, along with securing the program's first NCAA Tournament berth in 28 seasons of basketball.

"I tend to think that was the team that set the tone for everything that has happened with Mississippi State basketball since that time," recalled former MSU head coach Richard Williams - the all-time winningest basketball coach in school history. "If you look at the history of the program before the 1990-91 season, they had been to one NCAA Tournament in 1963. MSU had played in the NIT in 1979 and had not been back to postseason play until 1991."

Williams believes it was guys like Cameron Burns, Greg Carter, Todd Merritt, Carl Nichols and Doug Hartsfield who laid the new foundation for basketball at MSU. Something that particular group of young men passed onto their State successors was the notion that championships could indeed be brought home to Mississippi State. Those guys proved it could be done on March 2, 1991, when a 76-73 home win over the LSU Tigers meant a share of the SEC crown could indeed be celebrated on the Humphrey Coliseum hardwood.

With the new foundation firmly secured by Williams, who had hired a young assistant coach named Rick Stansbury prior to the 1990-91 season, the Bulldogs got a glimpse of what was in store for them during the 1994-95 campaign by making the school's first-ever Sweet Sixteen appearance in the NCAA Tournament with victories over the Steve Nash-led Santa Clara team as well as a Keith Van Horn-powered Utah club in Boise, Idaho.

For the Bulldogs and their hoops-hungry fans, just getting back to the NCAA Tournament the following year wasn't going to be good enough. Though returning all-SEC standouts Erick Dampier and Darryl Wilson, MSU still had to replace under-appreciated playmaker T.J. Honore along with fellow starters Marcus Grant and Brian Price, who were all valuable components on State's 1995 Sweet Sixteen squad.

"T.J. (Honore) was one of the most under-rated guards that I have ever coached," Williams noted. "Marcus Grant (currently serving on Stansbury's coaching staff) was a great college basketball player and had a very successful professional career overseas."

Expectations were extremely high heading into the 1995-96 campaign, but the MSU staff knew if they could fill the gaps from the previous squad that a return trip deep into the NCAA Tournament was certainly within reach.

"With the players we had returning, in particular Darryl Wilson and Erick Dampier, we knew we could be good again if we could get consistent play from some of the new guys," Williams reflected.

Insert Dontae' Jones, Russell Walters and Marcus Bullard into a lineup already featuring Dampier and Wilson, and the prospects for a potent starting-five were pretty good. After winning eight games in nine outings prior to beginning the SEC slate, MSU dropped four of its first seven conference match-ups, including back-to-back home losses to Kentucky and Alabama. Struggling at the time with a 4-3 league record, the talented Bulldogs benefited from some mid-season soul-searching.

"I think once Dontae' (Jones) and Russell (Walters) figured out what their roles were, we became a much better team," Williams admitted.

Retired from collegiate coaching and living in the Jackson area, Williams still keeps in touch with most of his former players from his collegiate coaching days. He toured Italy last fall and spent time with Wilson and Tyrone Washington, who are currently playing in the Italian professional leagues. One of the surprising relationships, according to Williams himself, is the bond he and Walters have formed over the past couple of years.

"Russell (Walters) is now in coaching and that has led us to become really close," Williams said. "He calls all the time for advice and just to talk. He has indicated to me that he understands much better what I went through as a coach and some of the decisions I made as a coach."

The accomplishments those previous Mississippi State teams achieved some 10 years ago have certainly carried over into the recent successes enjoyed by Stansbury's MSU teams. After succeeding Williams in 1998, Stansbury has since directed the Bulldogs to four-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with four-straight, 20-win seasons, along with an outright SEC championship in 2004, an SEC Tournament title in 2002, and back-to-back divisional crowns in 2003 and 2004.

As this year's youthful Bulldog contingent continues to learn and grow together, the prospects for future hoops success in Starkville does indeed look promising. And as Mississippi State fans across the state and from around the nation come together during this month of March Madness, the Maroon and White faithful can always cling to the precious 1996 Final Four memories created a decade ago.