Women's basketball: Schaefer shifts Mississippi State's focus to busy offseason

STARKVILLE – Vic Schaefer will dwell on a number all summer.

It’s not 33, the number of games Mississippi State won last season. And it’s not three, the number the Bulldogs lost. It’s eighty-eight; the number of points Oregon scored against MSU in an Elite Eight loss to the Ducks in Portland last month.

Schaefer said he could count on one finger how many times one of his Mississippi State teams lost a game in which it scored 84 or more points. It was a 92-90 loss to Kentucky on Feb. 12, 2015. Now he has to count that statistic on a peace sign, not a No. 1.

“If I need to hang on to something, that number 88 is going to be in my head for a while,” Schaefer said. “It ain’t my favorite number, if you’re asking.”

Schaefer saw Oregon head coach Kelly Graves in Los Angeles last week for the Wooden Award ceremony. No. 88 must have been on Schaefer’s mind then, too, because he didn’t let Graves slip by without striking up a competitive conversation.

“I told Kelly when I shook his hand to leave that night, I said, ‘Let’s play again,’” Schaefer said. “Let’s start it up and play again. I want to play again. I want to play them again.”

Schaefer said he thinks his team brought out Oregon’s best on two separate occasions last season. The first was Oregon’s 82-74 win against Mississippi State in Eugene last December, and the second was the Regional Championship game just a few weeks ago.

Those two games haven’t sat well with Schaefer, so he was delighted to receive a text from Graves this week – a few days after the awards ceremony – about potentially setting up another home-and-home series between the two programs in the coming years.

Before then, Schaefer has a busy offseason, including his participation as an assistant coach for the U.S. Pan American Games women's basketball team this summer. In addition to gearing up for that, here's what Schaefer's assignments are between now and this fall. 

More:Looking ahead: Where does Mississippi State women's basketball go from here?

Potentially adding a graduate transfer 

Schaefer had immense fortunes in bringing Anriel Howard to Starkville last summer, and he could try his luck in the open market once again. 

Mississippi State will have a young team next season. As it stands now, there will not be a single Bulldog senior on the roster. Adding a graduate transfer would not only make the team deeper, but it would provide veteran leadership.

Only if she's the right fit, though. Schaefer said he will be really careful to not simply look for the best player who's out there. He wants a skilled player who meshes will with who he already has on the floor. 

“I think our brand is out there for women’s basketball at Mississippi State,” Schaefer said. “I think kids that are looking to do something different know what we’re about. Quite frankly, there’s a lot of kids that want to be a part of that. We just have to make sure they’re a fit.”

Healing a handful of injuries 

This summer will be a time to rehab for a few Bulldogs. Juniors Chloe Bibby and Promise Taylor and incoming freshman Esmery Martinez all have injuries to nurse. 

Bibby, of course, is coming off ACL surgery she had in late January. Schaefer has no worries about the physical aspect of Bibby's recovery, but he knows how hard it can be for a player to mentally come back after that sort of injury. 

“It’s just going to depend on how she’s able to bounce back and how fast,” Schaefer said. “Some kids take a while. Some kids don’t. It’s just going to be interesting to see what her time frame is and how comfortable she can get back on the floor.”

Taylor, a 6-foot-5 center who sat out this past season after transferring from Ole Miss, recently had surgery on her foot to correct a nagging issue. She was still in a cast as of last week. Schaefer said she will be on a "crash course" to get into the flow of his system once she's healthy enough to do so this summer. 

Martinez, a versatile forward from Chattanooga, Tennessee, hurt her knee last fall. Schaefer said he is "anxious" to see how far along she is in her rehab. He cannot wait to get her on campus so MSU's training staff can expedite the process. 

Acclimating the freshmen 

There are four other freshmen in addition to Martinez who will join the program this summer. The group is headlined by 6-foot-2 do-it-all combo guard Rickea Jackson, a high school All-American out of Detroit. 

“She can score at all three levels; at the rim with contact, mid-range, shoot the three,” Schaefer said. “She’s going to be able to play multiple positions for us. She’s going to be a mismatch. She’s going to be a nightmare for teams.”

Schaefer already has a comparison for Jayla Hemmingway, a 5-foot-9 guard from Collierville, Tennessee. He said Hemmingway will play like a "mini Anriel." 

“That kid’s motor is off the charts," Schaefer said. "You’re going to see her go rebound like Anriel from the guard position.”

Schaefer said the two remaining freshmen, JaMya Mingo-Young and Aliyah Matharu, each have great builds and are very dynamic. The one thing about this freshman class, Schaefer said, is that it reminds him of when Blair Schaefer, Victoria Vivians and Morgan William were freshmen.

Schaefer recalls driving that trio around campus in the summer of their freshman year when Vivians made one of the most confident remarks Schaefer has ever heard from such a young player. 

“I don’t care who’s here and I don’t care who starts, I’m here to play and take somebody’s position,” Schaefer said Vivians told him. “And they all chimed in. That was the competitive spirit and nature of those kids we all learned to love for four years. I think this group has that same mental piece to them. They’re here to play, they’re here to compete and they want to win.”

Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter.