Two weeks ago, Pat Summitt surveyed the national scene and said this:"A lot of people don't have Mississippi State on their radar screen and they should."
Never argue with Pat.
Mississippi State is climbing the rankings -- moving from No. 25 to No. 19 in this week's poll -- and the ladder of national recognition, particularly after Sunday's 84-55 win over No. 20 Maryland.
Granted, Maryland is remodeling after the graduation of Kristi Tolliver and Marisa Coleman and the transfer of Marah Strickland, and Brenda Frese's program will likely struggle with change most of the year, but the Bulldogs took it to the Terrapins on their home floor.
Senior guard Alexis Rack -- one of eight seniors on the roster -- broke out for 43 points, including seven 3-pointers in the victory. It was the fourth-best individual scoring performance in school history.
"Sometimes I was just letting it go," Rack (above, right) said after the game.
Mississippi State is flying high at 4-0, and it has enjoyed its home court advantage. It's time to hit the road now ... which leads up to the sun and sand of the Paradise Jam Tournament next week in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This year's eight-team field will feature five ranked teams.
Mississippi State will be there, playing in the "Reef" division along with Rutgers, USC and No. 13 Texas.
The "Island" division includes No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 20 Oklahoma, No. 23 San Diego State and South Carolina.
San Diego State, who broke into the national rankings for the first time in 14 years, feels like there's a little honor in the invitation to play.
"Three years ago, the only way we get there is to hold a fundraiser and go in the spring," Aztecs coach Beth Burns said.
The holiday's other big tournament is the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas. It is a bit more of a second-tier group with four ranked teams in the field including George Washington, No. 25 Michigan State, South Dakota State, Indiana, Minnesota, TCU, No. 18 Kansas, UNC Charlotte, No. 15 Virginia, Marist, Oklahoma State and No. 9 Xavier.
Don't overlook Tennessee
Summitt was handing off credit to Mississippi State, but her own team was building some impressive momentum after beating Virginia, 77-63. Angie Bjorklund, Shekinna Stricklen and Glory Johnson combined for 56 points.
The Lady Vols were even good enough to get their locker room back at Thompson-Boling Arena. The team had been kicked out of it for lackluster play in February and Summitt had said her team would have to "win something" to earn its way back in.
Apparently, beating a Virginia team that beat the Vols by one point in Knoxville last year was good enough to unlock the door.
Tennessee is young and inexperienced right now. But they look very, very good -- good enough to turn Connecticut and Stanford's intimate party as national championship contenders into a legitimate threesome.
Now for the bad news: Freshman center Faith Dupree will be sidelined for the season with a back injury. She played in two games, including 18 minutes against Texas Tech on Tuesday night in San Antonio. The Lady Vols are down to 11 active players for the season and need to keep Kelley Cain healthy to avoid serious depth issues in the post.
A View From the Top
The Huskies and the Cardinal don't look to be moving off their top two rankings any time soon. Here's a look at how the best of the best are stacking up so far.
| Tale of the Tape |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | No. 1 UConn | No. 2 Stanford | |||||||||
| Scoring Avg. |
91.7 |
86.2 |
|||||||||
| Reb. Margin |
17.0 |
23.0 |
|||||||||
| Victory Margin |
49.4 |
20.4 |
|||||||||
| Next Five Games |
vs. Hofstra vs. Richmond vs. Vermont vs. Hartford vs. Iona |
vs. Utah vs. Gonzaga vs. DePaul vs. Duke vs. Tennessee |
|||||||||
The Week Ahead
The most intriguing non-tournament matchups of the coming week:
UCLA at Tennessee: Former Vols assistant Nikki Caldwell comes back to Knoxville with an intriguing team that should finish near the top in the Pac-10.
Gonzaga at Stanford: One of the country's top mid-majors has a major-league test at Maples Pavilion against the Cardinal.
Cal vs. Ohio State in the Buckeye Holiday Tournament: Cal has showed its youth with poor shooting performances and the Bears lost to Baylor by 20 at home on Sunday. The No. 3 Buckeyes will be an even bigger challenge.
Randoms...
For a mid-major, Dayton is having a good early season run playing tough against big-conference teams. Dayton threw an opening salvo with a 77-74 win over Michigan State, lost a two-point game to Louisville and then knocked off Purdue 56-53 in the Boilermakers' own tournament ... The top nine teams in this week's AP poll went 19-0 last week with an average victory margin of 27 points ...There are two conferences in which every team has at least a .500 record thus far: the Big East and the Big Ten.
