Cowbell Corner

Mississippi State Rising in College Basketball Rankings & NCAA Tournament Projections

After a rough several games, one win over Ole Miss put Mississippi State back up in the rankings and NCAA Tournament projections.
Pete Fiutak|
Feb 15, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Josh Hubbard (12) reacts after defeating the Mississippi Rebels at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Feb 15, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Josh Hubbard (12) reacts after defeating the Mississippi Rebels at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

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Mississippi State Bulldogs

What a difference one big win makes.

Mississippi State was stuck. It spent a month losing to the top teams in the SEC, and sputtering to get wins against the mediocre teams on the slate, and it was all starting to come apart. It started a run of three road games in four weeks with a date in Oxford against Ole Miss, and then ...

Boom.

One fantastic 81-71 win later, and now there's room to breathe with a rough run of Texas A&M, at Oklahoma, and at Alabama up next.

So where do the Bulldogs fit into the latest top college basketball rankings and where will they likely be seeded in the NCAA Tournament? Here we go going into Week 16 and before the battle with Texas A&M on Tuesday.

Mississippi State latest college basketball rankings

AP Top 25 Men's College Basketball Poll
This week: 21, Last week 22

USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
This week 23, Last week Not Ranked (26)

KenPom Rankings
This week 30, Last week 34

NCAA NET Rankings
This week 29, Last week 30

ESPN BPI Rankings
This week 34, Last week 33

CFN College Basketball Rankings
This week 26, last week 30

Mississippi State Consensus Ranking
This week 27.2, Last week 29.17

Mississippi State latest bracket projections

ESPN Bracketology (Joe Lunardi)
This week: 8 (this was before the Ole Miss win)

CBS Sports Bracketology (Jerry Palm)
This week: 6

FOX Sports (Mike DeCourcy)
This week: 7 (this was before the Ole Miss win)

CFN Bracket Projections
This week: 9, Last week: 9

Mississippi State Consensus NCAA Tournament Projection: 7.5

Mississippi State remaining schedule, projected final record

Texas A&M, Feb. 18
at Oklahoma, Feb. 22
at Alabama, Feb 25
LSU, March 1
Texas, March 4
at Arkansas, March 8

Mississippi State Current Record: 18-7

Mississippi State Projected Final Regular Season Record: 22-9

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Pete Fiutak
PETE FIUTAK

Notre Dame, Kansas, Illinois, and Mississippi State On SI. Publisher of CollegeFootballNews.com since 1998, writing more words about college football than any human ever. Worked for FOX Sports, USA TODAY, The Sporting News, and CBS Sports. America’s radio guest on ESPN, FOX, VSiN and several major market stations. Co-hosted shows on NFL Network, Big Ten Network, FOX Sports Radio, and for eight years was a talking head for Campus Insiders - now Stadium - including as an in-stadium co-host for the first four CFP National Championships. Heisman voter, FWAA Award winner, Doak Walker Award advisory board. Ordered by Keith Jackson to “call me Keith.” BlueSky @petefiutak.bsky.social and X @PeteFiutak

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