Bracket Watch: Ole Miss men's team stays steady entering week of big opportunities
This week is an important one for the Ole Miss men’s basketball team with a pair of Top 25 matchups on the schedule that will only strengthen is already strong NCAA Tournament résumé.
Currently sitting atop the Southeastern Conference standings in a three-way tie with No. 1 Auburn and No. 4 Alabama, No. 21 Ole Miss is in a position it has not found itself in many years.
The Rebels (14-2, 3-0 SEC) and Crimson Tide (14-2, 3-0) meet on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Tuscaloosa, which will weed out one of these first-place teams.
Tuesday also saw the latest ‘Bracketology’ update from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, which is still high on Ole Miss with its hot start to conference play.
Lunardi has the Rebels still a 6 Seed but moved them from West Region to the East Region (Newark). If this bracket were true and the NCAA Tournament started now they would play their first round game in Milwaukee against either Iowa or New Mexico, which are projected in the First Four for the 11 Seed. A second round matchup would be against the winner of 3 Seed Houston and 14 seed New Mexico State.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports released his updated tournament projections on Monday and had the Rebels higher up the seeding. He put them as the 5 Seed in the East Region and playing 12 Seed Samford with the potential of a rematch from the exhibition game against 4 Seed Illinois in the Second Round.
Andy Katz released his first batch of tournament projections and also had the Rebels as a 5 Seed but in the South Region (Atlanta). He followed Palm’s thought process and put them with 12 Seed Samford, as well.
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What happens in Tuscaloosa can improve the seeding for Ole Miss with a win. A loss might not be as consequential having already pocketed a SEC road win and three victories in total. Saturday at No. 15 Mississippi State could be the opportunity to pick up another road victory. Going 1-1 this week would be house money for the Rebels.
The Ole Miss women’s team continues sliding down the seed chart.
Similar to Lundardi, ESPN’s Charlie Creme released his updated ‘Bracketology’ projection for the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
After Sunday’s loss to No. 18 Alabama and going 1-1 on the week after its rout of Vanderbilt last Thursday, Ole Miss was bumped down by Creme.
The Rebels are now the 8 Seed in the Region 1 Spokane bracket and projected to play its first round game against 9 Seed Minnesota in Los Angeles. The winner would play the winner between No. 1 overall Seed UCLA and 16 Seed San Francisco in the Second Round.
Of course with the wildfires still burning in the Los Angeles area, any kind of potential postseason play in that city in two months would for sure be uncertain as of right now.
Ole Miss (11-5, 2-2 SEC) hosts Florida (11-7, 2-2) on Thursday at 8 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
