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Can the Lady Bulldogs Host in the 2016 NCAA Tournament?

By Andrew Norwood

Mar 20, 2015; Durham, NC, USA; Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs guard Dominique Dillingham (00) defends Tulane Green Wave guard Danielle Blagg (20) during the first half in the first round of the women
Mar 20, 2015; Durham, NC, USA; Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs guard Dominique Dillingham (00) defends Tulane Green Wave guard Danielle Blagg (20) during the first half in the first round of the women /
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It’s the time of the year where all the pundits and “experts” come out to play, so I figured I would give myself a shot at the 2016 NCAA Tournament this time around. Now your Lady Bulldogs ended the regular season 24-6 after a victory against Alabama this Sunday. This locked the Bulldogs into the #3 seed in the SEC Tournament in Jacksonville, FL. Now let’s look at the bracket for the tournament shall we?

2016 SEC Tournament

The Bulldogs hold the #3 seed in the 2016 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament bracket. The three teams that the Bulldogs could play in the Quarterfinals on Friday, March 4 are as follows: #14 Ole Miss, #11 Vanderbilt that gave the Bulldogs trouble last season, and #6 Georgia who the Bulldogs lost to in a low scoring affair early in the SEC season. So obviously us fans would want to play Ole Miss just for rivalry’s sake, right? Well if you want to be a host location for the 2016 NCAA Tournament, then you better be cheering for the other Bulldogs in the conference in the second round. That’s right, the team we actually LOST to is the one that we need to hope we play if we want to host. According to NCAA.com, Mississippi State’s RPI currently sits at #26, while Georgia’s RPI sits at #22. Of course, this is all before today’s games happened.

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Now before we get too ahead of ourselves, ideally I would like to see the Bulldogs get to AT LEAST the Finals of the 2016 SEC Tournament before we start thinking of hosting an NCAA Tournament in the Hump. Now this also means that the Bulldogs will have to defeat either Arkansas, Tennessee, or Texas A&M. All three of those teams will provide a very formidable opponent in Jacksonville on any given night. While the Lady Vols are down this year, they are certainly always a factor in being a measuring stick for the SEC as a whole.

2016 NCAA Tournament Hosting

So starting not too long ago, the NCAA has allowed the Top 16 seeds to host in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Lately, the hosting schools were selected, and they strangely followed very similarly to the RPI that was provided just before Selection Monday.

Now I know many of you Bulldogs fans would be absolute ecstatic if we got to host this year, and I would be too. But let’s be realistic about this, we’ll need a little bit of help if we are #26 in RPI before the conference tournament. We have a good chance of beating at least Georgia, but we will need a little help. Now if we make the Finals, then I could see us easily hosting in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

So all in all, let’s just say that the Bulldogs could make a good run for hosting in the tournament if some pieces fall into place. I could very easily see it happening, but first the road goes through Jacksonville, FL as the Lady Dawgs head to the 2016 SEC Tournament. So buckle up, Ladies and Gentlemen. We are headed to the big time.

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