Report: Mississippi State will participate in first Barstool Sports Tournament
Mississippi State, UAB, Toledo and Akron will participate in the inaugural Barstool Sports tournament this fall. According to College Basketball Insider Jon Rothstein, UAB and Toledo will play and Mississippi State and Akron will play on November 11 in Philadelphia.
Background on Mississippi State, Akron
The Bulldogs recently underwent a head coaching change after Ben Howland was ousted following last season. The Bulldogs went and took Chris Jans from New Mexico State after made three NCAA Tournaments in four possible years and went undefeated in their conference during the 2020 season, certainly paving their way into the field in 2020.
Akron, UAB and Toledo shouldn’t be major threats to State in this event. With it occurring so early in the season, it’s a good chance for Jans to get out to a great start.
As for their roster ahead of the event, Mississippi State returns two of its top four scorers from a year ago. Forwards Tolu Smith and DJ Jeffries headline the 2022-23 Hail State club, while the lose most of their backcourt production from a year ago. Most importantly, All-SEC guard and lead scorer Iverson Molinar is gone, and to replace him, Jans went to the Transfer Portal. He landed pure point guard Dashawn Davis from Oregon State, as well as 16-point-per-game scorer Eric Reed from Southeast Missouri State.
Still, with middling results last year plus the loss of Molinar, it’s hard to imagine Mississippi State will compete near the top of the SEC. However, the pieces are there to make a tournament team out of this group, which would be a soaring success for Chris Jans in year one.
As for Akron, they return two of three leading leading scorers after finishing second in the MAC a year ago. Still no reason for Mississippi State to lose to them, but beating the Zips will require a real effort.