COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It wasn't that Victoria Vivians was afraid to leave her home state of Mississippi. It was more that there was every reason not to leave.
The 6-foot-1 senior guard leads Mississippi State (37-1) against Notre Dame (34-3) on Sunday (ESPN, 6 p.m. ET) in the women's basketball national championship game, the Bulldogs' second straight appearance in the final. To win an NCAA title has been a dream of hers for a long time, and one she believed she could achieve at Mississippi State.
Never mind that the Bulldogs had never advanced further than the Sweet 16, and had done that only once.