Chris Jans shares what his NCAA Tournament experience can do for Mississippi State

In just his first season at Mississippi State, coach Chris Jans has a chance to take the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. Although not many players on his roster have experience playing in March Madness, he is confident his previous stops as a coach can help get the team prepared.

In five seasons at New Mexico State, Jans helped lead the Aggies to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including last year. Following a 72-49 loss to Alabama in the SEC Tournament on Friday, Jans explained how he will use that to his advantage should Mississippi State make the tournament.

“It helps just with the routine of the turnarounds, understanding what’s at stake,” he said. “Certainly playing in this tournament with the stage of the SEC Tournament, the lights are a little brighter. I think that helps if you’re chosen to play in the NCAA tournament. You can’t teach experience.”

It’s not a guarantee that Mississippi State will make the NCAA Tournament, especially after the blowout against the Crimson Tide. The Bulldogs will be sweating it out on Selection Sunday, as they ranked among the “last four in” according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi heading into Saturday.

However, Jans believes that his team is worthy of an at-large bid based on several quality wins throughout the season. Mississippi State has a 4-8 record against quadrant one teams, and its only quadrant three loss came against Georgia back in January. With victories against Marquette, TCU, Texas A&M and others, Jans is confident in Mississippi State’s case.

“Obviously played in Florida in the fall, and we beat Marquette, Utah,” the coach said. “Marquette has gone on to have an unbelievable season. It goes back to what I said earlier. We had so many good wins, and the majority of them have been away from home with some high-level teams. If you really look at it we have zero bad losses.

“Georgia is our only Q3, Q4 loss. You know how this goes. Georgia was playing much better. I like Mike White. He would tell you the same. They just beat Auburn. It was a close game. We didn’t get it done. Then their numbers dissipated. They went from a quad two to quad three loss. On the road against Georgia is certainly not a bad loss.”

The Bulldogs will find out their NCAA Tournament fate at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday when the bracket is revealed live on CBS. If they do ultimately make it, Jans will hope to use his March Madness experience to lead them to pull off a first round upset.