Alright, ladies, you said all year you wanted UConn.

[Ari Gold]

Yes, people do remember who won the men's championship 5 years ago haha. And I am by no means a regular follower of women's basketball, and even I know the only women's teams to win a title recently are UConn, Baylor, and A&M. It would be a bigger deal to win the national title than to beat UConn. Now, if we beat them on the way that's fine...but I would rather play Oregon than UConn. Without question.

I have forgotten more about sports in general than half the people on this board know and off the top of my head I have no idea who won it 5 years ago.
And neither do half of college basketball gurus. Bet I bet 99.9% of them know ND beat UCLA and thatvwas over 40 years ago...
Of course it's an easier path to the finals if Uconn were to lose tonight . And In 5 years no one outside of MSU fans would know who won the title if we did but they would all know Oregon St slayed the Giant and that's all that will be talked about .. The point is you beat Uconn and then win the whole thing it's something that will be remembered and talked about in women's basketball for decades to come.. Hell just beat Uconn and lose in the finals and ur still the team that stopped the streak In the final four. For sure I would take a Natty over a Uconn upset but u still have the finals to win.. Another example most everyone remembers Duke upset of Unlv in 1991 .. but prob 3/4 don't know who they beat in the finals..
And I will almost guarantee you that you had no idea who won the 2011 NCAA men's championship off the top of your head.. and if you did you were either there or had mad $$ on it .
Uconn beat Butler.. yeah I had to look it up .. I actually thought it was Duke over Butler and that was 2010 and the only way I remembered that was because of Butler . First time there and the half court shot that alomost went In..

[DancingRabbit]

Many people don't remember that after USA Hockey defeated Russia in 1980, they still had to beat Finland to win the gold.

That said, I'm torn on the question. To me a natty is the bigger deal however it happens.

[thedawg]

If we follow up wins vs Washington and Baylor with ending Uconn's streak and then defeating South Carolina the way they have had our number lately they will be making a 30 for 30 about it

[Gutter Cobreh]

I have forgotten more about sports in general than half the people on this board know and off the top of my head I have no idea who won it 5 years ago.

Thank you for bringing some sanity back into the discussion!!

You are spot on and anyone here disputing isn't being honest with themselves. This year, breaking the 110 game UCONN winning streak is more important than winning the title. It will push the program higher than actually winning the title, in my opinion.

From an individual perspective, if I say Bryce Drew what comes to mind first? The shot he hit against Ole Miss nearly 20 years ago or that he's the current men's basketball coach at Vandy?

[Ari Gold]

Thank you for bringing some sanity back into the discussion!!

You are spot on and anyone here disputing isn't being honest with themselves. This year, breaking the 110 game UCONN winning streak is more important than winning the title. It will push the program higher than actually winning the title, in my opinion.

From an individual perspective, if I say Bryce Drew what comes to mind first? The shot he hit against Ole Miss nearly 20 years ago or that he's the current men's basketball coach at Vandy?

Agree... the only thing I differ with is that if we could be promised one or the other. A Natty or ending the streak you chose the natty. Only Thing better would have been chance to end the streak in the title game. (Clemson over Bama football)
And after last years curb stomping if you are a competitor and an athlete you want to play them again.

[smootness]

I have forgotten more about sports in general than half the people on this board know and off the top of my head I have no idea who won it 5 years ago.
And neither do half of college basketball gurus. Bet I bet 99.9% of them know ND beat UCLA and thatvwas over 40 years ago...
Of course it's an easier path to the finals if Uconn were to lose tonight . And In 5 years no one outside of MSU fans would know who won the title if we did but they would all know Oregon St slayed the Giant and that's all that will be talked about .. The point is you beat Uconn and then win the whole thing it's something that will be remembered and talked about in women's basketball for decades to come.. Hell just beat Uconn and lose in the finals and ur still the team that stopped the streak In the final four. For sure I would take a Natty over a Uconn upset but u still have the finals to win.. Another example most everyone remembers Duke upset of Unlv in 1991 .. but prob 3/4 don't know who they beat in the finals..
And I will almost guarantee you that you had no idea who won the 2011 NCAA men's championship off the top of your head.. and if you did you were either there or had mad $$ on it .
Uconn beat Butler.. yeah I had to look it up .. I actually thought it was Duke over Butler and that was 2010 and the only way I remembered that was because of Butler . First time there and the half court shot that alomost went In..

If you name me a year, I might not be able to immediately produce the champion that year. But ask me to list the programs who have won national titles recently and it's pretty easy if you pay attention at all - Villanova, UConn, Louisville, Duke, Kentucky, UNC, Kansas, Florida (men's, I already did it with women's)...if a program like Mississippi State won the national title that would absolutely be a huge story no matter who we beat, and people would remember that.

Yes, of course beating UConn on the way would make it an even bigger story. I'm not questioning that. But I'd rather the far better odds of beating Oregon than taking my chances with UConn. If I had hindsight, of course I'd take a win over UConn instead of a win over Oregon; it's just that those odds are incredibly smaller.

And I bet more people could tell you that Duke won the national title in 1991 and 1992 than would remember who they beat on the way there.

[Ari Gold]

If you name me a year, I might not be able to immediately produce the champion that year. But ask me to list the programs who have won national titles recently and it's pretty easy if you pay attention at all - Villanova, UConn, Louisville, Duke, Kentucky, UNC, Kansas, Florida (men's, I already did it with women's)...if a program like Mississippi State won the national title that would absolutely be a huge story no matter who we beat, and people would remember that.

Yes, of course beating UConn on the way would make it an even bigger story. I'm not questioning that. But I'd rather the far better odds of beating Oregon than taking my chances with UConn. If I had hindsight, of course I'd take a win over UConn instead of a win over Oregon; it's just that those odds are incredibly smaller.

And I bet more people could tell you that Duke won the national title in 1991 and 1992 than would remember who they beat on the way there.

What do you think would have been remembered more by the average fan if it had gone done different
Duke upsets Unlv , ends their perfect , season, revenges the blowout last from previous year and ending UNLV chance to go back to back champ.
Or Kansas knocks of Duke in 1990 finals .
Like I said again if one of the 2 could be promised win the natty or beat Uconn you chose win the natty but that's not promised

If you want to go back and forth and channel your inner Skip Bayless have at it . Im ****ing right and if you ask our girls who they want to play they all would say Ucon. You want that challenge . Cause everyone outside of Starkville will say yeah they won it but Didnt have to play and beat Uconn.

If we win the natty with out beating Uconn.. that's awesome and an amazing accomplishment and the first for MSU.
But If we win the natty and end the streak that's legendary..
Lets be ****ing legends.

[smootness]

What do you think would have been remembered more by the average fan if it had gone done different
Duke upsets Unlv , ends their perfect , season, revenges the blowout last from previous year and ending UNLV chance to go back to back champ.
Or Kansas knocks of Duke in 1990 finals .
Like I said again if one of the 2 could be promised win the natty or beat Uconn you chose win the natty but that's not promised

If you want to go back and forth and channel your inner Skip Bayless have at it . Im ****ing right and if you ask our girls who they want to play they all would say Ucon. You want that challenge . Cause everyone outside of Starkville will say yeah they won it but Didnt have to play and beat Uconn.

If we win the natty with out beating Uconn.. that's awesome and an amazing accomplishment and the first for MSU.
But If we win the natty and end the streak that's legendary..
Lets be ****ing legends.

My point is simply that beating, say, Oregon/SC for the title would probably be something like 35-40% odds for us. Beating UConn alone would be more in the neighborhood of about 2% odds.

Since I'd rather have a national title than beat UConn, I'll go with the much higher odds of winning the whole thing.

And honestly, I'm not even that concerned with what people outside Starkville say or remember about it. Why do I care about that? I want a national title. I'm not saying it's a huge negative if we play UConn, I'm just saying that if I'm choosing, give me Oregon.

But yeah, you've brought 'I have forgotten more about sports in general than half the people on this board' and 'I'm ****ing right,' but I'm Skip Bayless...

[Quaoarsking]

I think there's a generation gap issue here. I think Notre Dame beating UCLA 50 years ago is a lot more obscure than Kentucky and Anthony Davis winning the title in 2012.

[RocketDawg]

I think there's a generation gap issue here. I think Notre Dame beating UCLA 50 years ago is a lot more obscure than Kentucky and Anthony Davis winning the title in 2012.

Depends on how old you are I guess. I remember seeing that game on a B&W television ... it has to be the best game every played.

[LC Dawg]

If you name me a year, I might not be able to immediately produce the champion that year. But ask me to list the programs who have won national titles recently and it's pretty easy if you pay attention at all - Villanova, UConn, Louisville, Duke, Kentucky, UNC, Kansas, Florida (men's, I already did it with women's)...if a program like Mississippi State won the national title that would absolutely be a huge story no matter who we beat, and people would remember that.

Yes, of course beating UConn on the way would make it an even bigger story. I'm not questioning that. But I'd rather the far better odds of beating Oregon than taking my chances with UConn. If I had hindsight, of course I'd take a win over UConn instead of a win over Oregon; it's just that those odds are incredibly smaller.

And I bet more people could tell you that Duke won the national title in 1991 and 1992 than would remember who they beat on the way there.

I'm with you and I guess we're in the minority. I just want Mississippi State to win a national championship in anything and I don't care who remembers it in five years. Most sports fans can't tell you that Mississippi State went to a Final Four in 1996 but that doesn't make the memories of that run any less satisfying to me.

[biggun]

We will have to play a near perfect game to beat UCONN and with that being said, I don't see it happening. There were a couple of times last night that Baylor looked like they were seizing momentum and about to pull away due to our poor shot selection coupled with bad transition defense. UCONN won't let up like Baylor did nor will they allow 1 player to beat them. They are just a whole different animal.

If we can keep it competitive and stay within 10, I will be happy. Unfortunately, I see around a 20 point L but still an incredible season and a program with an actual opportunity to elevate itself to elite status if we can keep our HC.

[drunkernhelldawg]

I have forgotten more about sports in general than half the people on this board know and off the top of my head I have no idea who won it 5 years ago.
And neither do half of college basketball gurus. Bet I bet 99.9% of them know ND beat UCLA and thatvwas over 40 years ago...
Of course it's an easier path to the finals if Uconn were to lose tonight . And In 5 years no one outside of MSU fans would know who won the title if we did but they would all know Oregon St slayed the Giant and that's all that will be talked about .. The point is you beat Uconn and then win the whole thing it's something that will be remembered and talked about in women's basketball for decades to come.. Hell just beat Uconn and lose in the finals and ur still the team that stopped the streak In the final four. For sure I would take a Natty over a Uconn upset but u still have the finals to win.. Another example most everyone remembers Duke upset of Unlv in 1991 .. but prob 3/4 don't know who they beat in the finals..
And I will almost guarantee you that you had no idea who won the 2011 NCAA men's championship off the top of your head.. and if you did you were either there or had mad $$ on it .
Uconn beat Butler.. yeah I had to look it up .. I actually thought it was Duke over Butler and that was 2010 and the only way I remembered that was because of Butler . First time there and the half court shot that alomost went In..

Great post. Banners and titles are the best, but the bottom line is great competition and high level play.

[msstate7]

Yeah, we may say we want uconn. We don't want uconn. They're way too good

[drunkernhelldawg]

Yeah, we may say we want uconn. We don't want uconn. They're way too good

Could you give us at least a ten percent chance?

[msstate7]

Could you give us at least a ten percent chance?

I think that's actually about our real chance

[I_Spy]

We want UCONN!

[smootness]

I think that's actually about our real chance

I think it's way lower than that. Possible, but incredibly unlikely.

[Reason2succeed]

The question is if our men's team could beat UConn? I'm not sure.

[msstate7]

The question is if our men's team could beat UConn? I'm not sure.

Come on mane... we'd absolutely destroy them.