Basketball
Ole Miss’ lack of focus doesn’t knock them out of meaningless ranking
Loss to Memphis doesn’t knock Rebels out of SEC-heavy polls heading into SEC play starting Saturday against Georgia
OXFORD, Miss. — Don’t pay much attention to basketball polls in college basketball. It doesn’t have anything to do with winning a championship, but Ole Miss fans can still boast they are ranked.
Just barely, though. The Rebels stumbled to an 87-70 loss to Memphis on Saturday and as a result fell dramatically to No. 23 in the coaches’ poll and 24th in the media poll. Considering the SEC play starts this weekend don’t be surprised to see everybody bouncing all around in these polls.
“We have to do a better job embracing each possession,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said later. “We have veteran players that have played a long time that think everything will be okay. When you play a team like Memphis, a team that was emotionally attached, there’s no margin for error. In the first half and start of the second half was the difference in the game.”
Five of the Top 10 in the AP poll are SEC teams with Tennessee and Auburn at the top. Alabama (5), Florida (6) and Kentucky (10) are also there. Other league teams in the Top 25 are Oklahoma (12), Texas A&M (13), Mississippi State (17) and Arkansas (24) joining the 24th-ranked Rebels.
To save you some math, that’s 40 percent of the entire poll based in the SEC. While that could put a wad of league teams into the NCAA Tournament, it makes for a brutal regular season. Ole Miss starts SEC play at 11 a.m. Saturday morning against the Georgia Bulldogs. The game will be televised on the SEC Network and broadcast on the Ole Miss Radio Network statewide.