Oh, the madness!

By David Murray

From midnight to March, it was madness, Mississippi State style.

The 1995-96 Basketball Bulldogs did more than just rewrite State history. They wrought a state of hoops hysteria unseen since the first rim was nailed to a Mississippi backboard. In one wonderful winter, Coach Richard Williams and his Bulldogs inspired a fever and fervor that left an entire state more than slightly Maroon-mad.

Dontae Jones and Erick Dampier sign autographs for well-wishers in the Humphrey Coliseum after returning home from the Final Four (Photo by Russ Houston)

The numbers and notes are remarkable enough: a 26-8 record and Southeastern Conference Western Division crown; the first-ever SEC Tournament title; championships of both NCAA sub-Regional and Regional Tournaments; and, of course, Mississippi State's debut appearance in the Final Four. Along the way there were enough new standards made or matched to completely rewrite the record book. The most wins, points, assists, blocks, dunks, and three-pointers-an astounding 37 team and individual marks in all.

Yet numbers were just part of this story. The impact of this team, this season, is better measured by how often State appeared on national television (20, another record), and the full-court media press at Bulldog games. By Ticket Office phones ringing like cowbells with fans frantic for admission to Humphrey Coliseum. And by store racks and street stands buried under Bulldog gear, and the swarms of ecstatic folks swapping green for maroon.

And why not? Even if just a T-shirt, everyone wanted a piece of State's action, which explains playgrounds dominated by Super D wanna-bes and little Big Ericks with No. 25 jerseys dragging the asphalt. At times, even the big Dogs seemed to live a playground dream on their March to The Meadowlands. From the moment they clinched the Western Division title to the rude awakening in the Final Four, this was truly a fantasy come true.

Senior captain Darryl Wilson cuts down the nets at Rupp Arena after the Bulldogs won the 1996 Southeast Regional Championship. (Photo by Darrell McAllister)

"Our players had a great run," Williams said. "It's something I think all the people of Mississippi will remember, and be very proud of."

Pride was there before a new season's sneakers had been ordered. The program was riding high from reaching the 1995 NCAA "Sweet 16," a feat which had netted State the most roundball respect since Babe McCarthy was fuming at SEC referees. This roster had two established stars, two more proven performers, and the top junior college signee of the year. Small wonder State basketball passes were the toughest ticket in town, and that a 'Midnight Madness' practice debut drew more than 8,000 crazed fans and an amazed ESPN2 crew. Then the season began with a 10-1 run up to the most anticipated game of the regular season, the home date with Kentucky.

Today it is easy to forget that in January there were honest concerns for State even making the NCAA tourney, much less New Jersey. That even as they won on raw talent, they were doing things the hard way. This was a team still looking for the right offensive pace and the proper defensive chemistry, throwing passes at anything but the right color jersey.

The largest crowd ever jammed The Hump for that Kentucky game, but most of the 10,315 left disappointed. State was too tight, too keyed-up, and a 74-56 loss sent the deflated Dogs into a January tailspin and out of the rankings. Four losses in five games suddenly left the Bulldog bandwagon a lot less crowded.

Coach Richard Willams with CBS TV's Andrea Joyce. (Photo by Darrell McAllister)

Yet it was in this very stretch that a squad turned into a team, and a season turned around. Erick Dampier began dominating at both baskets. Marcus Bullard had a surer hand with the ball, and Darryl Wilson found the three-point range. Bench-Dogs Whit Hughes, Bart Hyche, and Tyrone Washington became real contributors. Most of all, Dontae' Jones found his outside/inside game and his place as the do-it-all forward to perfectly complement State's post muscle and perimeter shooting.

By February, pollsters and networks were again smiling upon State, and the Bulldogs made Senior Day a fitting farewell by clinching the division title. It was the first game of March.

SEC Tournaments have long been low points in State seasons, but 1996 saw past frustration become historic celebration. A second-half blitz of Auburn earned win No. 20 and assured a return to the NCAAs, but they didn't stop there, and Georgia was a surprisingly easy next victim. Finally, instead of stepping aside for prohibitive favorite Kentucky, State stunned league and land with an 84-73 victory so convincing viewers had to wonder which was the nation's No. 1-ranked team. Certainly, State was best in New Orleans, and Dontae' was tourney MVP for an infernal performance. If the season had ended March 10, on as great a triumph as dear old State has ever hailed, Dog fans would have been content.

The Hump was a rocking place during the season, with ticket sales at record levels. (Photo by Russ Houston)

But not the Dogs. Real March mania had just begun.

An emotionally-drained team rebounded-and defended, and made just enough shots-to survive a first-round scare from Virginia Commonwealth. The Dogs were much more on their game in retiring Princeton and legendary coach Pete Carrill, to make the Sweet 16 a second time. Except now, even 16 wasn't sweet enough.

Lexington's Rupp Arena, the capitol of Big Blue Country, became a most unexpected Maroon Heaven as State shocked highly ranked Connecticut and Cincinnati, as well as the NCAA, CBS, ESPN, and probably NASA with a pair of overwhelming performances that proved the SEC Tournament was no fluke. The most astonishing aspect was how easy State made it look as they took on the nation's top programs and athletes. Plays ran as smoothly as if this were practice; defenses worked precisely as planned. The bench got into the act with Washington and Hyche both playing major roles.

Several thousand Bulldog supporters packed the Golden Triangle Regional Airport to await the Bulldogs following their victory over Cincinnati which propelled them into the Final Four (Photo by Darrell McAllister)

A welcome-home party shut down Golden Triangle Regional Airport with the wildest State pep rally ever held off-campus. There was no natural immunity to a MSU madness that made "them Dogs" the center of all attention and the subject of special editions and broadcast tributes.

Even now, Final Four week remains indescribable. Nothing could have prepared players, coaches, or the university for the demands of public and press. Everyone wanted, needed, a ticket or an interview. For one week, Starkville was the media center of the South, with enough print, radio, and TV reporters on hand to cover the Second Coming.

And that was just a warm-up for the Big Apple. The national press 'discovered' Mississippi State, the program, and the university, and most of all the legend of 1963, when Babe snuck his last great team out of town for State's first NCAA trip. Actually playing for a championship seemed almost an afterthought for everyone but the team.

The bracket matched MSU with another upstart, Syracuse, and there was room for only one Cinderella at this ball. The Orangemen wore the glass hightops, so the Bulldogs took their final, bittersweet bow in the 1996 NCAA Final Four. They had played longer and gone farther than any State club before them, and they understood what they had achieved.

"This team came together and started to play well at the right time of the year," Hughes said. "This team came a long way . . . all the way to the Final Four."

The season images remain sharp. Of Dampier swatting balls into orbit, and Wilson spotting up to stick the "3." Of Bullard making opposing guards suffer with linebacker-like defense and Walters keeping trainers-of both teams-busy with bruising screens and block-outs. Of Jones magically levitating for another didja-see-that dunk.

And the supporting players, such as former walk-on Hughes becoming a frequent starter and season-long competitor with Wilson in taking charges (Wilson won, 12 to 11). And fearless freshman Hyche heaving the game ball into the rafters to signal another celebration. And rookie Washington providing priceless relief minutes and clutch contributions. And beloved Bubba Wilson, outlasting five years of knee pain to hit a three-pointer in the last second of his last home game.

There were no secrets to State's '95-'96 campaign strategy. Game plans began with defense, usually tight man-to-man anchored around Dampier's one-man 'zone.' The Dog D was at its finest in postseason as intimidated opponents made just over a third of their shots. This was so ingrained that even Jones began a press conference commenting on defense, prompting laughter from his coach and teammates.

Bill Cosby joins the Mississippi State pep band for a little fun prior to the Final Four matchup with the Syracuse Orangemen at The Meadowlands

But State also turned into a strong, even exciting offensive team under postseason pressure, led by brilliant efforts from Jones, Wilson, and Dampier. And it wasn't so much how many as how these Dogs put points on the board in tournament time. They dunked, dished, and drilled treys with a flash and flair that caught a country's fancy. And yes, they made some of their own luck, such as the off-balance heave from Hughes that banked in and essentially stuck the fork in Kentucky at the SEC Tournament. Or Wilson's unintended banked trey that beat the clock and Cincinnati in the Regional finals. (They make you call it the playground.)

Finally, it was an earned confidence, even cockiness, that allowed State to beat-whip-three top 10 teams in two weeks, and win more NCAA Tournament games than several major conferences. The Bulldogs blended their skills and their hearts, and they made history.

"I'm very proud of what these players accomplished," Williams said. "They came from a group with diverse backgrounds, not understanding each other or what they were all about, to being a group of young men who truly liked each other, maybe even loved each other."

They were a team to love. A video of season highlights was released in April, and sales are strong. More than 3,000 showed up for a Super Saturday celebration and awards ceremony, which provided a fitting closure to 1995-96.

For the team, that is. Mississippi State will profit from March 1996 long after the T-shirts fade. Recruiting, already strong, only got better in April as Williams reloads for his 11th season. The entire university will benefit through royalties, more enrollment interest, and increased donations to The Campaign for Mississippi State, which with a little boost from basketball will soon go into nine figures. That's $100,000,000 in Dog dollars.

Now that's history-and hysteria.