A new era of Mississippi State Basketball is upon us. A renovation is underway at the Humphrey Coliseum, and both the Men's and Women's programs will have new head coaches for the 2022-2023 season. That means it's time to rethink everything, including uniforms.
For the last ten seasons (12-13 to 21-22), Mississippi State's men's basketball program has worn uniforms primarily featuring the "banner" wordmark logo. This comes after ten seasons (02-03 to 11-12) of wearing a "stacked" wordmark design. Prior to that, the Bulldogs generally wore either a "split" design or one with simple block "STATE" lettering. That simple block "STATE" lettering has returned in recent years on some alternate uniforms, but the "banner" wordmark has remained as the primary.
With a new era being ushered in under new Head Coach Chris Jans, it's time for Mississippi State to re-think its uniform set- and to find the answer for what direction the Bulldogs need to take their Men's Basketball uniforms, all they have to do is look into the past.
LINK: 2022-2023 Women's Basketball Uniforms Concept
For the last ten seasons (12-13 to 21-22), Mississippi State's men's basketball program has worn uniforms primarily featuring the "banner" wordmark logo. This comes after ten seasons (02-03 to 11-12) of wearing a "stacked" wordmark design. Prior to that, the Bulldogs generally wore either a "split" design or one with simple block "STATE" lettering. That simple block "STATE" lettering has returned in recent years on some alternate uniforms, but the "banner" wordmark has remained as the primary.
With a new era being ushered in under new Head Coach Chris Jans, it's time for Mississippi State to re-think its uniform set- and to find the answer for what direction the Bulldogs need to take their Men's Basketball uniforms, all they have to do is look into the past.
LINK: 2022-2023 Women's Basketball Uniforms Concept
Primary Uniforms It's almost too perfect of a coincidence that Mississippi State's most successful season of Men's Basketball ever happened to be in the best uniforms that the program had ever worn. As Mississippi State enters the Chris Jans era, bringing back the '96 jersey design is something that would instantly inject fan excitement into the program. The classic "split" lettering design featuring "Mississippi" over the player number and "State" below the player number, all in block lettering, is a classic basketball look, and one that would fit right in with the classic jersey designs that are taking over college basketball across the SEC and across the country. The shorts design in this concept are inspired by another all-time great era of Mississippi State basketball: the Babe McCarthy era. This classic shorts design, featuring double stripes on the waistband, side, and bottom of the shorts, creates a timeless look that matches perfectly with the double stripes on the collar and sleeve of the jersey. The look is completed with the Bulldog silhouette on the waistband and M-State logo on the shorts. |
Block "STATE" Uniforms By far the best uniform Mississippi State has worn in recent years was the cream "STATE" look worn from 2016 to 2020 that was based on the iconic uniforms worn in the 1963 "Game of Change." It was absolutely criminal that this look was only ever worn in 9 games over the course of 5 seasons; bringing it back as a permanent part of the rotation would be a major step in the right direction. In a similar vein, basing a throwback uniform on the light gray uniforms worn in the late '80s is a slam dunk idea. Featuring the block "State" wordmark and block numbers in white outlined in maroon, this could essentially just be a re-coloring of the cream uniforms and work perfectly. Even if the primary uniforms aren't changed immediately, adding these as a throwback/alternate would be a great idea. |
If this feels a bit repetitive, that's because it is. I've presented what is essentially this same except concept twice in the past (here and here). The reason it hasn't changed much is because I truly believe that this is the direction that Mississippi State's Men's basketball uniforms need to go. We have one of the most mediocre uniform sets in all of college basketball right now, but by embracing our history and committing to some classic looks, we could have one of the best. With Coach Jans at the helm, now is the time to make that move. Hail State!