The Mississippi State Bulldogs made it to the NCAA tournament with an impressive SEC Tournament showing. Joining MSU in March Madness will be the Ole Miss Lady Rebels and Jackson State Lady Tigers.
Mississippi State (21-13) will be an eighth seed in the tournament and take on ninth seed Michigan State in Charlotte, NC, in the West Regionals on Thursday. The SEC and Big 12 each led the way with eight teams selected. The top four seeds overall are UConn, Houston, Purdue and North Carolina.
Ole Miss (20-12) fell to Texas A&M in the SEC tournament ending their season. The Rebels' bright spots this season under first-year head coach Chris Beard were their 13-0 start to the season and their No. 20 ranking in both national polls.
Louisville native and former Ole Miss basketball coach Andy Kennedy led his UAB Blazers to the American Conference Tournament championship and NCAA bid.
The Ole Miss Lady Rebels (23-8) are a seventh seed and will play Marquette in South Bend, IN, in the Albany 1 Regionals either Thursday or Friday. Jackson State is seeded 14th and plays UConn in Storrs, CT, in the Portland 3 Regionals later this week. The top four seeds are South Carolina, Iowa, USC and Texas. The ACC and SEC led with eight teams chosen.
The Lady Bulldogs of MSU (21-11) will host Georgia Tech on Thursday in the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitational. The 2024 WNIT selected the Southern Miss Lady Golden Eagles, as an at-large team, to play in the 26th edition of the tournament that begins Wednesday.
The Jackson State Lady Tigers won the SWAC basketball tournament last week in Birmingham as they secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Tigers (26-6) downed Alcorn in the finals to claim their third tournament title under Tomekia Reed and ninth in school history. Andriana Avent of JSU was named the tournament MVP and Ti’lan Boler was named to the All-Tournament team. Alcorn’s Destiny Brown was also selected to the all-tourney team. In the men’s play, Grambling claimed their first tournament title and first bid to the NCAA Tournament in school history.
The William Carey Lady Crusaders fell to Campbellsville (KY), 82-73, in second round play of the NAIA Women’s Basketball Championship. Tracy English’s team claimed the regular season conference title as they ended the season at 22-5.
The Gulf Coast Lady Bulldogs and the Jones College Bobcats won the Region 23 basketball titles last week. The Lady Bulldogs downed Southwest and will head to Casper, WY, on March 27 to play Three River in the 24-team NJCAA National Tournament. Jones nipped Gulf Coast in the Region final and will journey to Hutchinson, KS, for the men’s national tournament to play Panola on March 24.
The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame announced the winners of this year’s Howell and Gillom Trophies last week. MSU’s Jessika Carter and Josh Hubbard were named winners as the Most Outstanding College players in 2024. awards.
Baseball
Mississippi State (15-6, 2-1) were impressive in taking two of three games from No. 2 LSU (17-4, 1-2) over the weekend. The Bulldogs split their mid-week games in Biloxi falling to South Alabama and edging New Orleans. The Bulldogs will travel to Texas A&M (18-2, 1-2) on Thursday.
The Ole Miss Rebels won three of four games last week, which included winning two of three SEC games against No. 20 South Carolina. The Gamecocks stopped the Rebels' nine-game winning streak with the Sunday win. This week, the Rebels (15-6, 2-1) will play USM in Pearl on Tuesday before heading to Tennessee (18-3, 1-2) on Friday.
Southern Mississippi (14-6, 3-0) downed Alabama last week before sweeping Sun Belt foe Marshall. The Golden Eagles will travel to Georgia Southern (9-10, 1-2) this weekend.
The Jackson State diamond Tigers are off and running in 2024 with a 15-4 record. The Tigers will entertain Mississippi Valley (7-7) this weekend.
The East Central Community College Warriors are a perfect 28-0 entering this week’s baseball action.
Dale has been writing sports in Mississippi since 1973. Listen to Dale and Marshall Wood on the Brouhaha Sports Show Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area.
