Mississippi State basketball has had some struggles lately. The Bulldogs have lost four of their last six games, and in none of those games, even the wins, would you say they played their best on both ends of the court. But despite the rough patch, State is still projected as a higher-seed in the latest bracketology.
Mississippi State Bulldogs a 4-seed in Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology
Bulldog basketball has been hovering somewhere around the 5-seed line in most bracket projections over the last few weeks, but ESPN's Joe Lunardi has Mississippi State just ahead of that point. In his latest bracket, Lunardi has the Bulldogs as the 4-seed in the East Region.
Lunardi's projections would send Mississippi State up to Providence, Rhode Island for the opening weekend of the tournament. In the first round, he has State facing off with 13-seed Yale. That'd be a scary matchup to have seeing as how the Ivy League Bulldogs pulled up an opening round upset over a 4-seed SEC team just last year, beating Auburn 78-76. Not the mention that Yale is less than two hours away from Providence.
The other pairing for that site in Lunardi's bracket is 5-seed Illinois and 12-seed George Mason. The 1-seed for the region would be the Duke Blue Devils. As it stands, Lunardi has 13 SEC teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament with five as a 3-seed or higher and none lower than among his "Last Four Byes." It really is an unprecedented year for the conference.
Despite some frustrating moments, Mississippi State basketball remains in good position to earn a high seed in NCAA Tournament
There's no doubt State could be playing better right now, but there's no need to panic about where this team is at. Their resume remains strong.
MSU is #24 in the NET with four Q1 wins, an 8-5 record against the top two quadrants, and no bad losses. They've got eight wins away from home, including four true road wins, while playing the #17 schedule in the country. That strength of resume has them inside the Top 20 nationally, which is why they're projected near the 4/5 cutline.
Their performance metrics grade them slightly lower, but by all methods of evaluation, this is objectively a very good basketball team. Even if they just split their remaining games, they'd likely end up seeded in a similar spot to where they are now. But if they could add a truly high-level win to the resume, they'd have a great shot to move up.