Mississippi State won the Southeastern Conference regular-season title one year after finishing in the league basement.
Now the Bulldogs want to carry the momentum of that dramatic rise into the postseason.
Mississippi State (40-14-1, 21-9 SEC) enters this week's Southeastern Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed after winning its first regular-season league title since 1989. The Bulldogs had gone 24-30 overall and 8-22 in conference play in 2015 to finish last in the Western Division and post the SEC's worst overall league record.
Bulldogs coach John Cohen, who played for Mississippi State's last SEC regular-season champions, said there isn't much of a gap separating the top of the conference from the bottom.