Mississippi State basketball picked up a big win over the weekend in Oxford, defeating a ranked Ole Miss squad on the road to complete a season sweep of the Rebels. It was a fantastic win for the Bulldogs' NCAA Tournament resume, and they're moving up in bracketology as a result.
Mississippi State Bulldogs a 7-seed in Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology
State had been trending in the wrong direction in recent weeks having suffered consecutive blowout losses at home, even with a quality road win in between. Bracketologists all collectively still projected the Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament field and above the bubble by a few seed lines, but things were beginning to get testy.
Going into Saturday's road rematch with Ole Miss, ESPN's Joe Lunardi had Mississippi State as an 8-seed. But with the Bulldogs winning emphatically in Oxford for a metric-improving Quad 1 win, Lunardi is moving them back up.
State checks in as a 7-seed in the Midwest Region in Lunardi's latest bracket. He sends the Bulldogs to Wichita for the opening weekend of March Madness, facing 10-seed Nebraska in the first round. Right off the bat, that'd be a tough opening draw for MSU. Nebraska is a quality team, and seeing as how the Huskers would be just down the road from home, it'd effectively be a road game for the higher-seed.
As a 7-seed, State's region would be paired with a 2-seed, in this case the Houston Cougars (along with 15-seed Cleveland State) accoring to Lunardi. A potential second round game between two the the nation's best defensive coaches in Chris Jans and Kelvin Sampson would be quite intriguing.
That site and pairing wouldn't at all be ideal, however, for Mississippi State. Playing a lower-seeded team in their backyard and then potentially a national title contender in the second round isn't exactly a formula for making a run in the postseason.
That's why the Bulldogs need to make the most of these final opportunities to move the needle down the stretch. Making the tournament shouldn't be an issue. In fact, State should easily stay above the bubble barring a collapse.
But only a few chances remain at picking up a signature win over a team high in the NET rankings, the type of win that could rise MSU to a better seed-line. That starts tonight with Texas A&M in Starkville. If the Bulldogs can beat the Aggies, they're going to be playing for seeding the rest of the way.