The Gauntlet Begins For No. 17 Bulldogs
January 03, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Joel Coleman
State’s stellar nonconference showing has set the stage for another promising few months.
STARKVILLE – It's one of coaching's oldest adages. Take one game at a time.
So, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise when one of the top minds in college basketball, Mississippi State head man Chris Jans, refused to bite earlier this week when asked about the daunting Southeastern Conference schedule his Bulldogs are staring down starting with this weekend's league opener against South Carolina.
"I'm just worried about Saturday, man," Jans said.
It's just how the best go about their business. Jans' ultra-focused philosophy isn't one that breaks any new ground, but it's certainly one that has proved to be fruitful for Mississippi State ever since he took over the program back in 2022. Win each moment. Win each day. Win each game.
Is all that a bit cliché? Sure. But has it also led to remarkable success for the Dawgs ever since Jans came to Starkville and became the community's favorite dentist? Absolutely!
It's how the 2022-23 group overcame a 1-7 start in SEC action to punch the program's first NCAA Tournament ticket in four years. It's how last year's squad made it back-to-back dances for the Dawgs, despite having to navigate one of the country's toughest schedules. And it's how this year's bunch has won 12 of its first 13 games to rise to No. 17 in the country in the Associated Press poll and No. 18 in the all-important NCAA NET rankings – the primary sorting tool used to set the NCAA Tourney field each March.
It's likely none of that happens if not for Jans' all-in-on-the-upcoming-contest approach – a method that surely will serve State well given the beast the SEC is this year.
"Your next game is the biggest game of the year," Jans said. "It's kind of been our mantra as a coaching staff for a long, long time is that we treat every game like the Super Bowl. Our kids have to adopt that as well. If you don't, you're for sure going to get beat. You might get beat anyway, even if you're super prepared and super focused and your opponent plays pretty good. You can still get beat on any given night, home or road.
"A lot of these games are going to come down to the last possession or two. You're hoping that you can give your kids a chance by putting them in the right position, but [the key is] going to be that [mindset] that the next game is the biggest game of the year."
It shouldn't be hard for Jans to get that message to continue to sink in his guys' minds over the upcoming weeks. The SEC as a whole has gone an unbelievable 185-23 overall as a league in the nonconference portion of the schedule. Every single SEC school is currently inside the top 85 of the NET rankings.
Long story short, that means as things stand now, every single game coming up is a chance at a Quad 1 or Quad 2 victory – the most crucial of elements in boosting your all-important team resume. The SEC slate will be opportunity after opportunity after opportunity.
That's both exciting, while at the same time, potentially intimidating. State's schedule simply will not let up, from Saturday right through March.
Again though, Jans has the perfect approach to it all. It's the same tried-and-true one that has made his State tenure such a success already and has the Bulldogs once again yearning for madness come later this season. One game at a time.
"I think we are all in for South Carolina," Jans said.
Of course, the Dawgs are. It'll always be State's style with Jans at the helm. And win, lose or draw, it'll happen 17 more times in the regular season after Saturday.
History says that bodes well for the Bulldogs. So, let the gauntlet begin.
