Mississippi State Basketball Fans React to ESPN app Calling the Bulldogs the "Bisons"

March Madness has officially arrived, and Mississippi State basketball is back in the bracket. The Bulldogs are in the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year under head coach Chris Jans. The 8-seed Bulldogs will open up the Big Dance on Thursday against 9-seed Michigan State in Charlotte.

State fans are waiting anxiously to see MSU hoops back in action after an impressive showing in the SEC Tournament. There's real belief that this team has the makeup to go on a run in March. So naturally, everyone is curious to know what various projections and breakdowns have to say about Mississippi State's chances in the tourney.

And as one Bulldog fan found out, it seems some outlets are struggling to even get Mississippi State's name right...

ESPN app refers to Mississippi State basketball as the "Bisons"

While exploring the ESPN app's breakdown for the matchup between Mississippi State and Michigan State, Twitter (I refuse to call it "X") user @willsullivan_5 discovered that ESPN's preview referred to Mississippi State as the "Bisons".

Besides that fact that they both start with "B", Bisons and Bulldogs are no where close to being the same thing. This isn't the first time a national outlet has had issues branding Mississippi State properly. Once they were called the "Delta Devils", the team name for Mississippi Valley State, during a broadcast. And it'd be impossible to know where to start with all the instances of Mississippi State and rival Ole Miss being confused.

Getting "Mississippi State Bulldogs" correct seems to be difficult.

A.I. imagines what the Mississippi State "Bisons" would look like

Though it's annoying that outlets continue to have issues properly naming Mississippi State, there's no reason to not have fun with it. I asked my friend at The Underdog Tribune to have A.I. imagine what it might be like if the Bisons were MSU's mascot.

The results were incredible.

For whatever reason, A.I. seems to like to generate some sort of "bison-grizzly" hybrid that's somewhat terrifying. But my personal favorite was the basketball-inspired cartoon. Not so much for the mascot itself but rather the wording used in the logo.

Anyone familiar with the rules to "Univertball"?

Mississippi State basketball fans embrace being the "Bisons"

Mississippi State's Twitter fanbase seems to be making the most of ESPN's gaffe. They're fully embracing it, choosing to adopt the Bisons as an unofficial mascot for the NCAA Tournament, a rallying point of sorts.

Here are some of the best reactions from Mississippi State fans after being called the "Bisons"...

You'll notice several fans added Bison emojis to their profile name. State fans are all-in on the Bison being some sort of good-luck charm this postseason. It's reminiscent of the infamous "Rally Banana" for Mississippi State baseball's improbable run to the 2018 College World Series.

Can Mississippi State basketball use a Bison mentality to stampede their way through the NCAA Tournament? We'll find out soon enough. But for now, it's fun to see the fanbase rallying around MSU basketball, even if it's in a somewhat absurd way.