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Ole Miss basketball takes on LSU with NCAA Tournament bid on the line

Is this another WAOM moment in the making?

By One Man To Beat
NCAA Basketball: SEC Conference Tournament-South Carolina vs Mississippi Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

As of this moment, Ole Miss is expected to be the first team left out of the NCAA Tournament, according to the bracket nerds out there.

The good news? The Rebels (16-10, 10-8 SEC) can still add on a win tonight. And maybe even more after that!

The bad news? LSU awaits Ole Miss with one more day of rest, and the mental advantage of winning by double digits two months ago. Plus, Tigers head coach Will Wade is so crafty not even a wiretap confession handed to the FBI and made public can derail his coaching career.

Ole Miss played one of its better games of the season last night against South Carolina in a fairly one-sided game. The Rebels could use this as momentum tonight, be in a groove and come out playing well against a more rested LSU squad.

Currently the line for this game is -1 in favor of LSU, and ESPN’s Basketball Power Index puts the chances of an Ole Miss upset at around 37 percent. Really not a bad spot to be in as its clear the Rebels are playing some of its better basketball of late, winning eight of its last ten.

The Tigers, meanwhile, have won three of its last five since it postponed a game against Ole Miss in February due to a COVID issue. LSU is by no means an unstoppable force as it has dropped games to Georgia most recently and earlier in the season to a mediocre Kentucky, and the Rebels are undoubtedly more of a cohesive unit compared to the game the Tigers and Rebels played in January.

So, yes, we’ve definitely talked ourselves into believing Ole Miss can win tonight, get into the NCAA Tournament and maybe make for at least one exciting postseason game. This group has come a long way in the last two months when it was basically left for dead, hovering in the mid-80’s in the NET, and sitting at 3-6 in the SEC. Senior guard Devontae Shuler and senior forward Romello White have stepped up when it mattered most and got this team into the conversation.

Now, it’s the next 40 minutes of basketball to summarize an entire season of work. Win or go home time for the Rebels, and we are 100 percent here for it.