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NCAA Tournament: Ole Miss now a host seed? Win over No. 7 LSU has the Rebels trending that way

11by: Jake Thompson03/03/25JakeThompsonOn3
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Ole Miss women's basketball team celebrates during its game at No. 7 LSU on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Mandatory credit: Ole Miss athletics.

While the Ole Miss basketball program is all but set to make history this March by both playing in the NCAA Tournament in the same season the women’s team is ready to end another lengthy drought.

Since Yolett McPhee-McCuin has come to Oxford she has led the Rebels back to the dance for what will now be four straight years. Plenty of streaks have ended with positive ones taking their place, but there is one that has eluded Ole Miss.

Until now, possibly.

Not since 1994 has the women’s team hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament in Oxford. Outside of winning a SEC Championship and reaching the Final Four to play for a national title this is one of the last major boxes left unchecked by McCuin.

A top four hosting seed seemed out of reach after scuffling through February and losing key opportunity games against Tennessee and South Carolina, among others. But then Sunday’s regular season finale at No. 7 LSU might have changed everything.

The Rebels went down to Baton Rouge and left with a 85-77 victory, handing the Tigers their first loss at home this season after winning the first 17 games inside the PMAC.

So now has Ole Miss (20-9, 10-6 Southeastern Conference) done enough to move back into one of the four host seeds?

“I don’t really know, because when I look at the standings they have teams that are below us that are ranked,” McCuin said on Monday. “I don’t know what people think of us. What it says to me is maybe we’re not as sexy people would like us to be, but check our résumé out. Our Quad 1 victories, our Quad 1 losses, the margins. I think we deserve it as much as anybody else. Here’s the thing. If we do host Oxford is going to show up. Oxford loves those type of situations.”

Ole Miss has one believer in ESPN’s Charlie Creme

The women’s bracketologist has kept the Rebels hovering around the host seed spots but also has had them as low as a 7 or 8 seed throughout the season.

After Sunday’s win Creme was bullish on the Rebels, saying they have now moved into the Top 16 overall seeds, placing them at No. 14 and now hosting. Their NET ranking as of Monday was No. 12.

In Monday’s ‘Bracketology’ update Creme has Ole Miss a 4 Seed in Region 1 Birmingham, hosting the first two rounds at the SJB Pavilion.

The Rebels would play 13 Seed Florida Gulf Coast while 5 Seed Ohio State would play 12 Seed Fairfield.

Now Ole Miss heads to Greenville, South Carolina for the SEC Tournament this week as the 7 Seed and earned a first round bye. The Rebels will play at 5 p.m. CT on Thursday against the winner between Missouri and Mississippi State.

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