In almost exactly two months, the fields for the men and women NCAA Tournaments will be set. That leaves a lot of basketball left to be played.
It’s important to keep that in mind because if Selection Sunday were today, January 15, only one Ole Miss team would be in their NCAA Tournament.
The Rebels’ women’s team is well within the field. There’s more debate about where they’re ranked and if they’ll end up hosting a weekend of tournament games.
The men’s team, though, is firmly outside the field of 68 teams even after upsetting No. 21 Georgia on a buzzer-beater in overtime. The Rebels will need more games like that to overcome the rough start it had in non-conference play.
At 10-7 overall this season, Ole Miss is ranked No. 82 in the NET Rankings and No. 59 in KenPom rankings. Wednesday’s 97-95 win against Georgia is its best win of the season. There are no Quad 4 losses, but the 75-74 loss to Utah back in November is a Q3 loss.
Improving their ranking won’t be easy, but the next three games offer an opportunity to do that. Mississippi State (No. 92 in NET), Auburn (No. 37) and Kentucky (No. 34) are all unranked, giving the Rebels a relatively “easy” upcoming schedule. (Nothing is truly easy in the SEC, but it could a lot harder.)
Here’s the full men’s NET ranking breakdown.
Ole Miss Men’s NET Ranking
- Rank: 82
- Overall: 10-7
- Road: 1-2
- Neutral: 2-3
- Home: 7-2
- Q1: 1-5
- Q2: 1-1
- Q3: 2-1
- Q4: 6-0
The women’s rankings are in a much better position than its male counterparts. That’s in spite of some nonsensical voting in the latest AP Women’s Top 25 College Basketball Poll.
The Rebels are ranked No. 16 in both the AP and WBCA Coaches’ Poll and also got its best win of the season recently. Ole Miss beat then-No. 5 Oklahoma on the Sooners’ home court last week then followed up with a 25-point win against its biggest rival, Mississippi State.
The Rebels are off this week and will be back in action Sunday in a rematch against Georgia in Athens. But they won’t play another ranked team until January 26 when No. 20 Tennessee comes to Oxford.
Ole Miss Women’s NET Ranking
- Rank: 16
- Overall: 16-3
- Road: 3-1
- Neutral: 3-2
- Home: 10-0
- Q1: 2-2
- Q2: 2-1
- Q3: 2-0
- Q4: 10-0
