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Bracketology Losers: Syracuse, Texas and St. John’s suffer setbacks

By Tristan Freeman

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 16: Oshae Brissett #11 and teammate Tyus Battle #25 of the Syracuse Orangereact after the conclusion of the first half of the game against Oregon Ducks during the 2k Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 16: Oshae Brissett #11 and teammate Tyus Battle #25 of the Syracuse Orangereact after the conclusion of the first half of the game against Oregon Ducks during the 2k Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 27: Lamar Peters #1 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs reacts in the fourth quarter against the Penn State Nittany Lions during their 2018 National Invitation Tournament Championship semifinals game at Madison Square Garden on March 27, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 27: Lamar Peters #1 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs reacts in the fourth quarter against the Penn State Nittany Lions during their 2018 National Invitation Tournament Championship semifinals game at Madison Square Garden on March 27, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

Mississippi State Bulldogs

While Syracuse and Texas look like they’ll be on the bubble fence through the season, Mississippi State was supposed to be nowhere near the cut-line, being ranked all along to this point. And while that’s still possible, the Bulldogs did themselves no favors this past week.

The SEC may be the toughest league from top of bottom, with literally no nights off. After a dreadful non-conference, South Carolina has started out 3-0 in the SEC, including a win over Mississippi State at home. The Bulldogs followed that up with a home loss against rival Ole Miss, another pleasant surprise who ended up being one of the big “winners” in Bracketology.

The losses (although South Carolina is still a bad one) aren’t a huge problem when it comes to making the NCAA Tournament. However, it does cause an issue when it comes to future seeding. Mississippi State’s resume currently includes wins over Dayton, Saint Mary’s, Clemson and Cincinnati, which are solid but not top-4 protected seed worthy, which is where the team’s goal should be.

Four of the next six games are on the road for the Bulldogs, including one at Kentucky coming up. And after starting out 0-2 in the SEC, there’s more pressure on the team to get those wins. They’re 1-1 on true road games so we’ll see how good this team really is in the month of January.

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