The Ole Miss Rebels are off to a hot start in this men’s basketball season, earning a ranking of 16 in the latest AP Poll and holding an 11-1 overall record with one non-conference game left to go in the season.
Ole Miss has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2019, but could that streak come to an end this season? According to Joe Lunardi’s latest NCAA Tournament bracketology projections, the Rebels are on track to do just that.
In the bracketology update that was released on Christmas Eve, Ole Miss is projected to be a six seed in Seattle on the South (Atlanta) quadrant of the bracket. The Rebels would be paired with 11-seed Drake or Saint Mary’s, three-seed Oregon and 14-seed UMass Lowell (who would be in as an automatic qualifier).
In total, 13 SEC teams are currently projected to make the Big Dance this season, a testament to just how deep the conference appears to be in the early going. The Auburn Tigers are also currently projected to be the top overall seed in the tournament.
A total of 10 teams from the Southeastern Conference also made the latest installment of the AP Top 25 with two teams (Georgia and Missouri) receiving votes.
The Rebels are idle until Saturday when they travel up I-55 to take on the Memphis Tigers in their final non-conference game of the season. Ole Miss will then play host to the Georgia Bulldogs on Jan. 4 to open SEC play.
Tip-off on Saturday between Ole Miss and Memphis is slated for 1 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
