Bracketology: UConn's loss bodes well for Ole Miss

With Ole Miss waiting anxiously for the Sunday Selection Show, defending national champion UConn narrowly lost to No. 20 SMU in the American Athletic Conference championship. The Huskies' Ryan Boatright took a knock on his left shoulder and played through in a valiant losing effort.

UConn's loss bodes well for Ole Miss in the Bracketology calculus, though. SMU was dancing win or lose, so had UConn prevailed on Sunday, they would have stolen a bid from one of the bubble-bound squads. As Dobbertean points out, that bubble team very well could have been Ole Miss, considering their season-opening loss to (ugh) Charleston Southern and their ignominious failure to South Carolina in the SEC Tournament.

As of Sunday morning, Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm keep the Rebels in their projections for the First Four play-in games in Dayton, matched against Temple and BYU respectively. Dave Ommen has Ole Miss as full 11-seed in the Round of 64 playing Michigan State, and Shelby Mast keeps the Rebels in his first four out list. Chris Dobbertean also considers the Rebels among the last four in and slots them in a play-in game against Texas.

In any case, the Huskies' loss today erases one barrier on the Rebels' road to the Big Dance.