Selection Sunday: Mississippi State Is Headed To Charlotte As An 8-seed
STARKVILLE, Miss - The Mississippi State Bulldogs are dancing once again and are headed to the NCAA Tournament as an eighth seed.
The Bulldogs were facing a dilemma heading into the SEC Tournament. They had lost their last five games of the regular season and went from a projected seven or eight seed to the last four in. Even with quality wins against Washington State, Tennessee, and Auburn, State had to do what it did last season. Win and you're in.
To start, the Bulldogs had to face LSU who were their last win before the five-game skid. The All-SEC freshman Josh Hubbard scored his then-career-high of 32 points in that game. Similar to their most recent games, they started slow and found themselves down before completing the comeback against the Tigers to send them to the quarterfinals against top-seeded Tennessee.
The performance Mississippi State demonstrated against Tennessee, showed why they're one of the many dark horse teams in the tournament. A dominant defense that can suffocate anyone, even the SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht. This was also with an off-shooting night from Hubbard.
Head coach Chris Jans knew the importance of winning the first game against LSU but the win against Tennessee helped solidify the Bulldogs bid into the NCAA Tournament.
"Certainly it was a big win for us, considering the platform, considering it's the end of the year, and considering what we are trying to play for," Jans said.
The loss against Auburn was disappointing, however, there was still a chance in that game where the Bulldogs could have been the victors. This was the first time since 2010 that the Bulldogs had advanced to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. Taking the momentum from these games will just add fuel to the fire that the State players play with and give the Bulldog faithful a look at what the program is transitioning into.
Mississippi State now has its sights on making some noise and busting a lot of brackets in the tournament. The Bulldogs will be headed to Charlotte, North Carolina as the eighth seed where they will take on No. 9 seed Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
