When they began the day on Sunday, even playing in the Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship Game may not have been enough to get Mississippi State into the Big Dance.

But as head coach Rick Stansbury said after his team won an outright bid to the NCAA Tournament with their conference championship win the Bulldogs 'busted that bubble'.

MSU gathered in the VIP Lounge at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., to watch the selection show and found out they received No. 13 seed in the West Region in Portland, Ore., against No. 4 seed Washington. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. CST.

"A 13-seed is great compared to where we woke up at this morning," Stansbury said. "We're happy just to be in it. We are not concerned where we are going or who we are playing. We're very happy to be apart of it."

Most experts did not have the Bulldogs among the field of 65 that would make it to the NCAA Tournament.

"We are just happy to be here," said sophomore guard Phil Turner. "We are just going to go down here and take the same attitude that we've been taking in these last couple of games and just go down and play hard and play together."

After receiving the SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player, junior center Jarvis Varnado was glad to see the name Mississippi State flashed across the screen of the three plasma TVs the team was watching on Sunday.



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