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Bracket Watch: Ole Miss men's team gets big boost in latest 'Bracketology' update

11by:Jake Thompson•about 17 hours•

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NCAA Basketball: Mississippi at Mississippi State
Jan 18, 2025; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels forward Jaemyn Brakefield (4) drives to the basket as Mississippi State Bulldogs forward RJ Melendez (22) defends during the second half at Humphrey Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Last week was a big one for the Ole Miss men’s basketball team despite splitting its pair of road games in the Southeastern Conference.

A win at No. 4 Alabama boosted the No. 16-ranked Rebels NCAA Tournament résumé and gave them a bigger margin for error. The overtime loss at No. 14 Mississippi State on Saturday stung, as all losses do, but turns out was not a major back breaker in any way.

Monday and Tuesday brought about new tournament projections and the ‘Bracketology’ was very good news for Ole Miss (15-3, 4-1 SEC).

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm of CBS Sports both moved the Rebels up to a 4 Seed but in different regions.

Lunardi has Ole Miss as the 4 Seed in the West Region (San Francisco) and playing its First Round game against 13 Seed South Alabama – a rematch from this year’s ‘Tad Pad’ throwback game — in Seattle. If the Rebels advanced to the Second Round they would face the winner between 5 Seed Wisconsin and 12 Seed Lipscomb in Lunardi’s projections.

In Palm’s newest projections released on Monday he placed the Rebels in the Midwest Region (Indianapolis) against 13 Seed UNC Greensboro. A potential second round matchup would be against the winner between 5 Seed Illinois (a potential rematch from the exhibition) and 12 Seed Bradley.

Ole Miss is still No. 13 in the NET rankings and gets two more prime opportunities this week, starting Wednesday against No. 13 Texas A&M (No. 19 in the NET) and at No. 22 Missouri (No. 23 in the NET) on Saturday.

Ole Miss women get closer to a potential host seed

The basketball program is still on track to make history this season with both teams reaching their respective NCAA Tournaments in the same year.

Last week was better week for the women’s basketball team going a perfect 2-0 with wins over Florida and at Mississippi State.

Much was on the line in the lone meeting of the regular season between in-state rivals as ESPN’s Charlie Creme noted the winner would get a bump in seeding.

The Rebels won and Creme was correct, bumping them up to a 6 Seed in the Region 2 Birmingham, two spots up from where he had them in his Friday update. Teams that are top four seeds get to host first and second round games, a goal for Ole Miss (13-5, 4-2 SEC) this season.

Another week off for the Rebels before hosting No. 7 Texas on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT

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