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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

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Ole Miss coach Chris Beard talks with guard Sean Pedulla (3) during the second half against Lindenwood

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.

Sports columnist, writer, former radio host and television host who has been expressing an opinion on sports in the media for over four decades. He has been at numerous media stops in Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas covering the NFL, SEC and national college sports.

2024 Ole Miss Football

Sat, Aug 31Furman Logovs Furman W, 76-0
Sat, Sep 7Middle Tennessee Logovs Middle TennesseeW, 52-3
Sat, Sep 14Wake Forest Logo@ Wake ForestW, 40-6
Sat, Sep 21Georgia Southern Logovs Georgia SouthernW, 52-13
Sat, Sep 28Kentucky Logovs KentuckyL, 20-17
Sat, Oct 5South Carolina Logo@ South CarolinaW, 27-3
Sat, Oct 12LSU Logovs LSUL, 29-26 (2 OT)
Sat, Oct 26Oklahoma Logovs OklahomaW, 26-14
Sat, Nov 2Arkansas Logo@ ArkansasW, 63-35
Sat, Nov 16Georgia Logovs GeorgiaW, 28-10
Sat, Nov 23Florida Logo@ FloridaL, 24-17
Sat, Nov 30Mississippi State Logovs Mississippi StateW, 26-14
Thu, Jan 2Duke Logovs Duke (Gator Bowl)6:30 PM • ESPN

Ole Miss Men’s Basketball

Mon, Nov 4Long Island University Logovs Long Island University W, 90-60
Fri, Nov 8Grambling Logovs GramblingW, 66-64
Tue, Nov 12South Alabama Logovs South AlabamaW, 64-54
Sat, Nov 16Colorado State Logovs Colorado StateW, 84-69
Thu, Nov 21Oral Roberts Logovs Oral RobertsL, 100-68
Thu, Nov 28BYU Logovs BYUW, 96-85 OT
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Sat, Dec 21Queens University Logovs Queens UniversityW, 80-62
Sat, Dec 28Memphis Logo@ MemphisL, 87-70
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