Bracket Watch: Ole Miss men's team is once again living on the bubble
The madness of March is nearly upon us and the postseason could be slipping away from one of the Ole Miss basketball teams. The men’s team has eight regular season games remaining while the women’s team has six but postseason chances only look favorable for one as the calendar hits mid-February.
A two-game losing skid has the Rebels men’s team sitting eighth in the Southeastern Conference and a .500 record in conference play. After a week Ole Miss (18-5, 5-5 SEC) head back on the road for a late-tip at No. 22 Kentucky (16-7, 6-4) on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Prior to the showdown inside Rupp Arena the Rebels know its latest postseason situation with ESPN’s Joe Lunardi providing a new ‘Bracketology’ update on Tuesday. Due to the back-to-back SEC losses to Auburn and South Carolina, Lunardi puts Ole Miss squarely on the bubble as the second team among the Last Four In.
The Rebels are projected to play New Mexico in Datyon as part of the First Four and for the right to be the 11-Seed in the Midwest Region (Detroit). The winner would play 6-Seed Florida Atlantic in the first round in Omaha.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has Ole Miss still in the Field of 64 as of his latest update on Monday. The Rebels are the 10-Seed in the East Region, playing 7-Seed Butler in the first round in Memphis.
When it comes to the metrics Ole Miss is still inside the top 60 of the NET rankings, sitting at 59 as of Tuesday. Kentucky provides a massive road-win opportunity with a NET ranking of 25. The latest KenPom rankings are in lock-step, putting the Rebels at 60.
Related: GameDay Primer: Ole Miss is well-rested but heads back to Rupp, historically a house of horrors
The postseason outlook still has a sunny disposition for the Ole Miss women’s team.
After a week off themselves the Rebels (16-7, 6-4 SEC) travel to Florida on Thursday at 5 p.m. CT for the first of three games in seven days.
The Gators (13-9, 4-6) are the first repeat opponent on the SEC slate for Ole Miss this season. The Rebels won the meeting in Oxford, 81-70, last month.
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Despite the women’s team also currently riding a two-game losing streak to South Carolina and Texas A&M the ESPN ‘Bracketology’ is a little kinder to Ole Miss.
ESPN’s Charlie Creme still does not consider the Rebels a bubble team, yet, slotting them as the 8-Seed in the Portland 2 Region in Tuesday’s latest update. Creme also has Ole Miss returning to Palo Alto and the Stanford quadrant with the 1-Seed Cardinals.
The winner between the Rebels and 9-Seed Princeton would face the host team for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16. Deja vu, anyone?
Still a lot of basketball to go and SEC Tournaments to be played for the Ole Miss basketball programs to better their postseason chances.
The rest of this week’s schedule includes home games this weekend for both teams with the men taking on Missouri on Saturday and the women hosting Mississippi State on Sunday.
