All the major conferences are having their tournaments this week, most starting today including the SEC. The action in Nashville tips at noon central (and yes, even after allllll these years one must remind one’s self that burg is in the central time zone).
Mississippi State has six more hours to wait for their tourney tip, against LSU in the day’s third game. The Bulldogs failed to escape the opening round by losing four of their last five games including both in the final regular week. So, they are a double-digit seed at this tournament.
At the next? Panicked fans can try to relax. As of today the major bracket boys project the Bulldogs as either a six or an eight seed for the NCAA Tournament. Losing to the Tigers today would hurt, to be sure. But at this point Mississippi State appears at worst to be in the no-difference 8/9 range. Win today and the seeding stays top-half in a regional bracket.
The NCAA will keep updating their NET rankings through each day’s conference meets results. The Bulldogs begin at #34 today, which is not all that bad a slide over the last regular season week. Opponent LSU is only #86 so a win won’t do much to improve the score.
Looking at State’s record against the latest NET standings, the Bulldogs are: 0-5 against the top-10, 1-8 top-20; 3-8 top-30 with both wins over Ole Miss; 7-11 top-50; and 13-12 against top-100.
Mississippi State also has two wins over conference champions, #49 Memphis of the AAC and #58 McNeese of the Southland. Now we wait to see how many conference tourney champs the Bulldogs will have beaten, though that won’t be settled until Sunday and likely come too late to budge the NCAA’s seedings and thus assignings. But it’s still fun to list.
Speaking of fun…we owe Mississippi Valey State a tip of the topper. OK, maybe not the program itself for a long-lost season. But the Delta Devis have at least one aggressive and creative fan. Someone with the energy and the time to do the who-beat-who-beat-who and come up with a case Valley deserves invitation to the NCAAs. Based on just win, true, but through transitive values and connections it was a tournament team beaten.
Seriously, find that social media post and enjoy. Laugh out loud even, because even the advocate making his case to the basketball committee finishes up with stating inviting the Devils to the dance would just be funny.
At a time fans and media get waaaaay too tense about such stuff, we need more of this sort of fun.
MARCH 12 NCAA NET RANKINGS (change from last report)
34.Mississippi State (-1)
20-11 SEC 8-10 10th
Q1 7-8 Q2 5-2
2.Auburn (NC)
27-4 SEC 15-3 champions
Q1 15-4 Q2 6-0
Auburn won @AU
4.Florida (NC)
27-4 SEC 14-4 2nd
Q1 8-4 Q2 9-0
Fla won @MSU
5.Tennessee (NC)
25-6 SEC 12-6 4th
Q1 9-6 Q2 5-0
Tenn won @UT
6.Alabama (NC)
24-7 SEC 13-5 3rd
Q1 10-7 Q2 8-0
Alabama won @MSU, won @Ala
12.Kentucky (+1)
21-10 SEC 10-8 6th
Q1 10-9 Q2 1-1
Kentucky won @MSU
17.Texas A&M (+3)
22-9 SEC 11-7 5th
Q1 7-8 Q2 9-1
MSU won @MSU
20.Missouri (-4)
21-10 SEC 10-8 7th
Q1 6-10 Q2 3-0
Mizzou won @MSU
27.Ole Miss (NC)
21-10 SEC 10-8 8th
Q1 6-9 Q2 6-1
MSU won @MSU; MSU won @OM
31.Georgia (+1)
20-11 SEC 8-10 11th
Q1 4-10 Q2 5-1
MSU won @GA
39.Arkansas (NC)
19-12 SEC 8-10 9th
Q1 5-9 Q2 3-3
Arkansas won @Ark
42.Texas (-2)
17-14 SEC 6-12 13th
Q1 5-10 Q2 3-4
Texas won @MSU
43.Vanderbilt (+1)
20-11 SEC 8-10 12th
Q1 5-8 Q2 4-3
MSU won @Nashville
47.Oklahoma (+3)
19-12 SEC 6-12 14th
Q1 6-10 Q2 4-1
OU won @OU
86.LSU (-2)
14-17 SEC 3-15 15th
Q1 2-14 Q2 2-3
MSU won @MSU
86.South Carolina (+2)
12-19 SEC 2-16 16th
Q1 1-15 Q2 2-3
MSU won @ home; MSU won @SC
NON CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
49.Memphis (-1)
26-5, AAC 16-2 champions
Q1 6-1 Q2 5-1
MSU won @Memphis
50.SMU (-4)
22-9, ACC 13-7 tie4th
Q1 0-4 Q2 6-5
MSU won @Dallas
58.McNeese (+2)
24-6, Southland 19-1 champions
Q1 0-2 Q2 1-2
MSU won @ Tupelo
61.Pitt (NC)
17-15, ACC 8-12 tie8th
Q1 1-9 Q2 4-4
MSU won @ home
70.Utah (-5)
16-16, Big 12 8-12 11th
Q1 2-11 Q2 4-5
MSU won @ Southaven
82.Butler (+2)
13-18, BigEast 6-14 tie8th
Q1 1-11 Q2 3-5
MSU lost @ Arizona
93.UNLV (-1)
17-14, MWC 11-9 6th
Q1 1-7 Q2 2-6
MSU won @ Arizona
210.Southeastern Louisiana (-4)
16-14, Southland 12-8 tie4th
Q1 0-2 Q2 0-2
MSU won @ home
219.Central Michigan (-11)
10-17 MAC 7-11 tie9th
Q1 1-3 Q2 1-3
MSU won @ Jackson
265.Georgia State (NC)
13-19, SunBelt 8-10 tie7th
Q1 0-3 Q2 0-3
MSU won @ home
274.Bethune-Cookman (NC)
16-15 SWAC 13-5 3rd
Q1 0-4 Q2 0-2
MSU won @ home
345.West Georgia (NC)
5-25, ASUN 4-14 tie9th
Q1 0-1 Q2 0-4
MSU won @ home
356.Prairie View (-1)
5-27, SWAC 4-14 10th
Q1 0-4 Q2 0-3
MSU won @ home
