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Back to the Dance! Mississippi State women's basketball returns to NCAA Tournament

Sam Purcell has his Bulldogs back in March Madness for the second time in his career.
ByAndrew Miller|
Mar 6, 2025; Greenville, SC, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Destiney McPhaul (1) celebrates after scoring against the Ole Miss Rebels during the second half at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kinser-Imagn Images
Mar 6, 2025; Greenville, SC, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Destiney McPhaul (1) celebrates after scoring against the Ole Miss Rebels during the second half at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kinser-Imagn Images | Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

Mississippi State women's basketball entered the 2024-2025 season with the goal of returning to the NCAA Tournament. After making it as one of the last teams in the field in Sam Purcell's first season, the Bulldogs were one of the first teams out of the field last year, with a late season collapse costing them consecutive trips to the Big Dance.

At a bare minimum, contending for the postseason was going to the be the expectation for Mississippi State this year. But in order to feel good about the direction of the program, being a part of the field of 68 was necessary.

Sam Purcell got his Bulldogs in position to achieve that, winning 21 games and defeating enough quality opponents that they guaranteed themselves a trip to March Madness. On Sunday, they heard their names called.

Mississippi State women's basketball a 9-seed in NCAA Tournament, facing Cal in Los Angeles

ESPN women's basketball bracketologist Charlie Creme's final projections for the Mississippi State Bulldogs could not have been more spot on. Creme had State as a 9-seed, playing 8-seed Cal in Los Angeles with 1-seed USC as the host. That's exactly what happened.

State was one of 10 SEC teams selected for the 2025 tournament, the second-highest total for any conference behind the Big 10 (12). Each SEC team landed as a single-digit seed, with two, South Carolina and Texas, earning 1-seeds and three others hosting the opening weekend. MSU ended up with four wins over tournament teams between 3-seed Oklahoma, 7-seed Vanderbilt, 8-seed Utah, and 12-seed South Florida.

Mississippi State faces a tall task looking to advance past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament

This is a tough draw for MSU. Cal, who won 25 games and beat the likes of Alabama and NC State, is an outstanding 8-seed. They've got a good defense and several talented scorers. That's not the mention that Cal get the pleasure of playing in their home state while MSU travels cross-country.

And of course if they were to get past the Golden Bears, their next opponent, barring an unthinkable upset, would be 1-seed USC. The Trojans have been dominant all year and have arguably the best player in the country in JuJu Watkins. Getting a win would be a lot to ask. Only six times in the 64+ team era of the women's basketball tournament has a 1-seed not made it past the first weekend, though it did happen twice in the same season in 2023.

For what it's worth, we've seen State go wire-to-wire with a 1-seed when they played Texas in Starkville earlier this year. And they've shown they can beat tournament-caliber teams. At their best, the Bulldogs can compete with anyone, and Sam Purcell showed in his first season that he can get his teams ready to go in March. Mississippi State takes on Cal on Saturday, March 22, at 4:30 PM CT with the game airing on ESPN2.

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