Ole Miss Fans Cheering for Mississippi State? What’s up?

Courtesy: Vicksburg Post

Some Ole Miss Rebels will be cheering on the Mississippi State Women’s Basketball team as they get ready to compete in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed once again on Sunday.

“It’s great to see Mississippi State be at that level, the top level of women’s basketball,” Kris Storey, Ole Miss Women’s Basketball manager said. “We want them to do good and it is amazing to see them do well because it shows light to Mississippi. We are more than what people think we are.”

Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs won the SEC Tournament this year against the Arkansas Razorbacks and easily won their first round in the NCAA Tournament against Southern University’s Jaguars Friday. In round two, they play Sunday at 8 p.m. against Clemson.

“This is such a great representation of the whole state, and I do wish the best of luck to them,” Storey said. “Although they are our rivals and we do not like them when we are playing them, it is just something about them being in the state of Mississippi that can make you proud.”

Storey says Mississippi State women’s basketball could serve as a blueprint for the Reb’s women’s basketball team’s road to success. But the Rebels, of course, still want to beat the Bulldogs when they play them.

“We do want to see them do better, a lot of the reason is that the better they do, and we can turn around and beat them, the better we look and feel,” Storey said.

The season may be over for the Lady Rebels team, but they are already getting ready for next year.

“I definitely think that Ole Miss is preparing to get to the level that Mississippi State is at,” Tyus Hooks, manager for Rebels women’s basketball team, said. “I think that as time goes on, Ole Miss can become one of those power teams.”

The Lady Rebels have recently hired a new women’s coach, Yolett McPhee-McCuin, and a new staff.

Although women’s basketball hasn’t always been the most popular sport in Mississippi, Hooks thinks that it is gaining more attention.

“I think that women’s basketball is on the rise,” Hooks said. “Not just at Ole Miss, but in Mississippi in general.”

The NCAA Tournament began Friday and the championship is scheduled for April 7.

By Bailey Martin / bcmartin@go.olemiss.edu and Malia Carothers / mscaroth@go.olemiss.edu.