BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Mississippi State women's basketball program is eager to take that one final step toward greatness.
The Bulldogs know it's a big one.
Favored to finish first in the Southeastern Conference again, their most substantial, most exasperatingly elusive goal remains to win a national title. Senior center Teaira McCowan leads a team that has reached the championship game in the past two NCAA tournaments only to fall short.
"That's definitely in the back of our minds," McCowan said Thursday during SEC media day at the Grand Bohemian Hotel. "But first we have to learn how to do the things in order to get back to that point."
Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer enters his seventh season in charge with the task of replacing four starters - including first-team AP All-America guard Victoria Vivians - from a team that won its first 32 games and wound up 37-2 last season. The Bulldogs are still regarded as front-runners in the SEC and beyond.
"Now, you've got to go wear it," Schaefer said. "You'd better stay humble and hungry in this league, or this league will humble you in a hurry."
The NCAA title game left a bitter memory even after winning the program's first SEC regular-season title. Notre Dame won 61-58 on a last-second 3-pointer after Mississippi State let a 15-point third-quarter lead slip away.
"We've been on the cusp for two years in a row," Schaefer said. "But you know, at the end of the day, it's on my shoulders to get them prepared to get through that last three seconds that were there last year."
McCowan's return is a boost. She was an AP All-American after setting SEC single-season records with 544 rebounds and 29 double-doubles. McCowan averaged 20.8 points and 18.2 rebounds in NCAA tournament games.
Schaefer has added graduate transfer Anriel Howard, the leading rebounder in Texas A&M history. Howard ranked seventh nationally with an average of 12.2 rebounds per game last season.
Tennessee and 2017 national champion South Carolina - which beat the Bulldogs in the title game that year - appear to be Mississippi State's most likely challengers. South Carolina must replace consensus national player of the year and No. 1 overall WNBA draft pick A'ja Wilson, and the Lady Volunteers have work to do, too.
"This is kind of a new era for us," Lady Vols coach Holly Warlick said. "A'ja Wilson's gone. Mercedes Russell and Jaime Nared are gone from our team. Mississippi State, four of their starters are gone, so it's a little bit wide open.
"But you're going to see the same quality of opponent that you've seen in the past."
Tennessee returns three starters, led by sophomore guard/forward Rennia Davis, and landed a top-five recruiting class. The Lady Vols have 10 players who are at least 6 foot tall and half of them are at least 6-3.
"Our wingspan is huge," said Warlick, who this summer received a three-year contract extension through the 2021-22 season. "We're extremely tall. We are lengthy. Very athletic. It's going to help us play the way we want to play, and that's fast and getting up and down the floor."
PRESEASON PICKS
A select panel of SEC and national media predicted the finish for the league's women's basketball teams in 2018-19, as well as its preseason standouts. Results were released Thursday at SEC media day in Birmingham, Ala.
Poll: 1. Mississippi State, 2. South Carolina, 3. Tennessee, 4. Georgia, 5. Missouri, 6. Texas A&M, 7. Kentucky, 8. Auburn, 9. LSU, 10. Alabama, 11. Arkansas, 12. Florida, 13. Vanderbilt, 14. Ole Miss.
All-SEC team: Chennedy Carter, Texas A&M Sophie Cunningham, Missouri; Rennia Davis, Tennessee; Anriel Howard, Mississippi State; Alexis Jennings, South Carolina; Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State (player of the year); Caliya Robinson, Georgia.