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POLL POSITION: Ole Miss men's basketball ties its highest AP ranking in 11 years

11by:Jake Thompson•12/23/24•

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NCAA Basketball: Mississippi at Louisville
Dec 3, 2024; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard watches from the sideline during the second half against the Louisville Cardinals at KFC Yum! Center. Mississippi defeated Louisville 86-63. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

The holiday break is here for the Ole Miss basketball programs with another week off between games, or nine days for the women’s team.

Each team has one non-conference game remaining before their respective Southeastern Conference schedules begin in early January.

Heading into 2025 both teams are still ranked inside the Top 25 of their respective Associated Press Polls after a pair of wins in Saturday’s doubleheader inside the SJB Pavilion.

The men’s team defeated Queens, 80-62, while the women’s team beat Mississippi Valley State, 78-44.

For Chris Beard’s squad, the Rebels (11-1) are still creeping towards a Top 15 ranking with SEC play looming. In this week’s AP Poll they moved up a spot to No. 16, tying its highest AP ranking since 2013.

Saturday will bring a tough test to wrap up non-conference play, traveling to Memphis to take on the Tigers inside FedEx Forum at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN2. Penny Hardaway’s team is coming off a 79-66 home loss to Mississippi State this past Saturday.

The Bulldogs (11-1) moved back into the Top 25 to No. 19 with the win and Memphis fell out after being No. 21 in last week’s poll. The season has been an and down one for the Tigers with a strong showing at the Maui Invitational last month but then setbacks to Arkansas State and Mississippi State have negated some of those efforts.

Once again the SEC continues to dominate college basketball with 10 teams this week’s rankings and eight inside the Top 16.

Ole Miss women’s team stays inside the Top 25

Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s seventh season in Oxford has also been an up and down affair nearly two months in.

Wins against the expected opponents have come but close losses to then No. 2 Southern California in Paris to open the season last month and North Carolina State in Raleigh on December 5 have hurt along with the loss to UConn in the Bahamas during Thanksgiving week.

There is moral victories to be had, but at this stage of where McCuin has built up the program some of those are going to have to start becoming actual notches in the win column.

As usual, SEC play will provide plenty of those opportunities with Ole Miss sitting with a NET ranking of 20 and a strong foundation for its NCAA Tournament resume heading to January.

Below are the full Associated Press Top 25 rankings:

MEN

  1. Tennessee (11-0)
  2. Auburn (11-1)
  3. Iowa State (10-1)
  4. Duke (10-2)
  5. Alabama (10-2)
  6. Florida (12-0)
  7. Kansas (9-2)
  8. Marquette (11-2)
  9. Oregon (11-1)
  10. Kentucky (10-2)
  11. UConn (10-3)
  12. Oklahoma (12-0)
  13. Texas A&M (10-2)
  14. Gonzaga (9-3)
  15. Houston (8-3)
  16. Ole Miss (11-1)
  17. Cincinnati (10-1)
  18. Michigan State (10-2)
  19. Mississippi State (11-1)
  20. San Diego State (8-2)
  21. Purdue (8-4)
  22. UCLA (10-2)
  23. Arkansas (10-2)
  24. Illinois (8-3)
  25. Baylor (7-3)

WOMEN

  1. UCLA (12-0)
  2. South Carolina (11-1)
  3. Notre Dame (10-2)
  4. Southern California (11-1)
  5. Texas (12-1)
  6. LSU (14-0)
  7. UConn (10-2)
  8. Maryland (11-0)
  9. Oklahoma (11-1)
  10. Ohio State (12-0)
  11. TCU (12-1)
  12. Kansas State (13-1)
  13. Georgia Tech (13-0)
  14. Duke (10-3)
  15. Tennessee (11-0)
  16. Kentucky (10-1)
  17. North Carolina (12-2)
  18. West Virginia (10-2)
  19. Michigan State (11-1)
  20. Alabama (12-1)
  21. California (13-1)
  22. North Carolina State (9-3)
  23. Michigan (10-2)
  24. Iowa (10-2)
  25. Ole Miss (8-3)

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