It’s not like Mississippi State did anything over the last week to crank up the men’s college basketball rankings, but it did win two games, it’s playing well – okay, it could be a tad sharper – and it should at least hold firm in this week’s AP and Coaches top 25 polls.
The dominant performance over Pitt happened before the Week 6 rankings were released last Monday. This week the team was on cruise control with a 91-84 win over Prairie View and a 66-63 victory over McNeese, but …
The McNeese win was okay. It was a little too close throughout, but that’s a solid Cowboy team that should be in the mix for an NCAA Tournament spot from the Southland Conference.
It’s one of those wins no one will give the Bulldogs credit for, but should show up later in the season when the metric rankings really start to kick in.
The Prairie View A&M win should’ve been a whole lot easier.
MSU won, and everything is fine – the team turned it on when it had to – but it was a bit of a lull before some of the bigger games start to kick in.
The Dawgs are 1 of 6 teams in the country with a NCAA NET Quad 1/Quad 2 record of 4-1 or better! #HailStateš¶ pic.twitter.com/hqF7Nhl71Q
ā Mississippi State Men’s Basketball (@HailStateMBK) December 16, 2024
Central Michigan shouldn’t be too much of a problem this week, and then comes the fun when the Bulldogs take a trip up the road to Memphis for a Saturday morning showdown on CBS.
But before that, where should the team be ranked this week in the AP and Coaches polls? Last week it was 25th in the AP and just outside of the top 25 in the coaches – technically, it was 26th.
Depending on how much love the pollsters give Missouri for its win over Kansas, and if there’s any respect shown to Illinois for that fun fight against Tennessee, Mississippi State should move up a little in the AP, and slide on into the top 25 in the Coaches Poll.
Prediction: Mississippi State will be 24th in the AP Poll, 25th in the Coaches Poll