Mississippi State remains unranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll — but probably not for much longer. The Bulldogs should enter those rankings Monday considering they're now 8-0 with two wins over top-50
KenPom.com teams under first-year coach Chris Jans.
How high will MSU be?
Not sure.
But, if you're curious about what I think, let the record show that I have Mississippi State at No. 10 in Sunday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings — and, yes, I can justify the Bulldogs being that high. Before I do so, let me acknowledge that I have no idea — just like
you have no idea — whether Mississippi State actually is or is not one of the 10 best teams in the country. Time will tell. But what I do know is that Mississippi State is A) one of only 14 still-undefeated teams in the sport, B) in possession of a win over the
Marquette team that blasted the
Baylor team that owns victories over
Gonzaga and
UCLA, and C) in possession of another win over the
Utah team that blasted the
Arizona team that owns victories over
Creightonand
San Diego State. Beyond that, Mississippi State has improved 44 spots at BartTorvik.com, and 28 spots at KenPom.com, since the beginning of the season, which highlights how the Bulldogs are not just winning but winning while also performing well thanks largely to a defense that currently ranks eighth nationally in adjusted defensive-efficiency, according to both KenPom and
BartTorvik.
Will Mississippi State eventually show itself to be the bottom-half SEC team
it was projected to be in the preseason? Perhaps -- though I doubt it. Again, time will tell. Either way, so far, the Bulldogs have impressively, and inarguably, out-performed expectations. And that's why right now, in this moment, putting a nice number beside Mississippi State's name is easily justifiable, if not entirely appropriate.
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