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Summer School: MSU Basketball’s Lost Years

MSU men’s basketball hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2009, as the curse of Hank Flick continues to haunt the Bulldogs. There was once, however, a time when MSU had great basketball teams. I don’t mean good ones like Coach Stansbury had – but great ones. The Babe McCarthy era, specifically 1957-1963, featured a handful of years when Mississippi State had great basketball teams but nearly all of them were relegated to just another season in the record books due to the prejudice of the times.

1957: 17-8, ranked 15th in final AP poll

1958: 20-5, ranked 15th in final AP poll

1959: 24-1, ranked 3rd in final AP poll – SEC Champions

1960: 12-13

1961: 19-6 – SEC Champions

1962: 24-1, ranked 4th in final AP poll – SEC Champions

None of those teams went to the NCAA Tournament (only one SEC team made it during this era, so State would have gone in 1959, 1961 and 1962).