Breaking Down the Mississippi State Basketball Schedule

On Friday, Mississippi State, along with the rest of the SEC, released their 2014-2015 Men’s Basketball conference schedule. With this release, us the fans now have a complete schedule for this coming up season. The conference schedule features two nationally televised games, with the feature game being Thursday, February 19 in Humphrey Coliseum on ESPN2 as the Ole Miss Rebels come into town. The other nationally televised game will be the Saturday before the Ole Miss matchup when the Bulldogs travel to Columbia, Missouri to face off against the Missouri Tigers on ESPNU.

Some other conference games of note include a January 13 trip to College Station, TX as we have a meeting of the guard, so to say. Rick Stansbury, now an assistant at Texas A&M, will be welcoming his former Bulldog team into the friendly confines of Reed Arena in the first matchup between the two schools since his hiring at Texas A&M. Another notable game on the schedule is the last of a 3-game home-stand as the Kentucky Wildcats will travel to Starkville for a SEC Network broadcast game on Wednesday, February 25. We all know how the games between MSU and Kentucky usually go in the Hump, and I wouldn’t expect anything different from this season’s game.

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Now I know that we are less than two weeks away from the start of football season, but I figured I would go ahead and try to play predictor here with the schedule. I’ll try to be fairly conservative with my predictions and take into account some of the improvements that Rick Ray and his staff have made with this team. For post-season purposes, we will consider a 19-win season as enough to get this Bulldog squad to the National Invitational Tournament, and a 22-win season as enough to get the Bulldogs to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. So let’s start from the top:

Non-Conference (2013-2014 W-L)

vs. Western Carolina (19-15) – W

vs. Mississippi Valley State (9-23) – W

vs. Utah State (18-14) – L

vs. Clayton State (10-16) – W

vs. St. Louis (27-7 & 3rd Round NCAA) @ Corpus Christi, TX – L

vs. Bradley (12-20) or TCU (9-22) @Corpus Christi, TX – W

@ Tulane (17-17) – W

@ Oregon State (16-16) – W

vs. Arkansas State (19-13) – W

vs. USC Upstate (19-15) @ Jackson, MS – W

vs. Jacksonville (12-18) – W

vs. McNeese State (11-20) – W

vs. Florida State (22-14 & NIT Semifinal) – L

Non-Conference W-L: 10-3

Conference Schedule (Overall W-L, Conference W-L)

Jan. 7 vs. Tennessee (24-13, 11-7 & NCAA Sweet 16) – L

Jan. 10 @ Florida (36-3, 18-0 & NCAA Final Four) – L

Jan. 13 @ Texas A&M (18-16, 8-10 & CBI Quarterfinal) – L

Jan. 17 vs. Vanderbilt (15-16, 7-11) – W

Jan. 21 @ Auburn (14-16, 6-12) – W

Jan. 24 vs. Georgia (20-14, 12-6 & NIT 2nd Round) – W

Jan. 28 @ Ole Miss (19-14, 9-9) – W

Jan. 31 vs. LSU (20-14, 9-9 & NIT 2nd Round) – W

Feb. 3 @ Tennessee (24-13, 11-7 & NCAA Sweet 16) – L

Feb. 7 @ Arkansas (22-12, 10-8 & NIT 2nd Round) – L

Feb. 10 vs. Alabama (13-19, 7-11) – W

Feb. 14 @ Missouri (23-12, 9-9 & NIT 2nd Round) – L

Feb. 19 vs. Ole Miss (19-14, 9-9) – W

Feb. 21 vs. Arkansas (22-12, 10-8 & NIT 2nd Round) – W

Feb. 25 vs. Kentucky (29-11, 12-6 & NCAA National Runner-up) – L

Feb. 28 @ South Carolina (14-20, 5-13) – W

Mar. 4 @ Vanderbilt (15-16, 7-11) – W

Mar. 7 vs. Missouri (23-12, 9-9 & NIT 2nd Round) – W

Overall Final Record: 21-10 (13-7) & Berth in NCAA Tournament as At-Large

Now I realize that almost all of you are saying I’m crazy for this prediction. In many ways, you’re right. But then again, games cannot be played on paper or in the minds of the fans or coaches. They are played on the hardwood and we will see our first action of basketball in an open exhibition against Div-II Delta State on Thursday, November 6 at 7:00 PM. So maybe we will be able to see a little preview of this team. Call me out for wearing Maroon-tinted glasses, but I have faith in this squad that Rick Ray will be putting on the floor this season, his third at the helm of the Mississippi State Basketball Bulldogs.

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Breaking Down the 2014-2015 Mississippi State Basketball Schedule

By Andrew Norwood | Aug 17, 2014