Mississippi State Basketball Closing in on Lock Status in Latest Bracketology
Mississippi State basketball is looking to reach the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season for the first time since 2008-2009. After a slow start to conference play, the Bulldogs reeled-off five-straight wins to put themselves in great position to return to the Big Dance. State has since lost their last two, most recently a 78-63 loss at Auburn.
Still, MSU remains in great shape to get back to the tournament. Neither of their recent losses were damaging to their resume, and with a solid overall profile, they're on the verge of locking-up an at-large bid. But they're not fully safe yet.
Bracketologists agree that Mississippi State basketball still has a little work to do in this final week of the regular season if they want to assure they're in the tournament. Let's look at where the Bulldogs are projected in the latest bracketology.
Mississippi State basketball in updated bracketology
ESPN: 9-seed, Midwest Region
CBS Sports: 10-seed, East Region
FOX Sports: 9-seed, Midwest Region
Andy Katz: 9-seed, Midwest Region
Bracketometry 9-seed, East Region
Bracketeer: 8-seed, South Region
Bracketville: 8-seed, South Region
Making the Madness: 9-seed, Midwest Region
Heat Check CBB: 9-seed, East Region
USA Today: 8-seed, South Region
JBR Bracketology: 9-seed, Midwest Region
T3 Bracketology: 9-seed
Bracket Matrix Average: 9-seed
Takeaways from Mississippi State basketball's bracketology projections
Mississippi State basketball is a consensus NCAA Tournament team right now, with nearly every bracketologist having them on the 8/9 line. This is an slight drop from where they were the last time we looked at bracketology, when several brackets had the Bulldogs as a 7-seed.
Neither the loss to Kentucky nor Auburn hurt Mississippi State's resume. The reason for the minor fall is merely from other teams around them jumping them. Regardless, MSU still finds itself off the bubble at the moment. At this point, they'd need things to really fall apart to miss the tournament.
Still, we cannot call them a lock because if they were to lose out, there's a real possibility that enough teams could jump them in the field that they'd fall out. That's unlikely, but we can't rule it out. But if State can add one more win, they'll be safely locked-in the the NCAA Tournament.