Bracketology 2023: Christmas wishlist for 5 potential tournament teams
Mississippi State’s Christmas wish: A quality win
Chris Jans spent years building New Mexico state into a western mid-major power and in his first year at Mississippi State his Bulldogs as one of the seven undefeated teams in the country entering the week. The schedule hasn’t been the strongest, with their non-conference slate ranking 279th, but they have wins over a good Akron team and Marquette. While the numbers look good the substance isn’t there compared to other teams so far.
The Bulldogs could use another solid win to add to their lacking resume, and they get that chance on Tuesday when they host another set of Bulldogs, the preseason favorite in the Missouri Valley, Drake.
Even though the names on the schedule won’t blow you away, Mississippi State’s effort on the defensive end has been as good as anyone so far. Even though the Bulldogs enter the week undefeated the thing that should be first on their list to Santa is a quality non-conference win to boost their resume. Their best win to date is a 19-point beating of Akron in the second game of the year and the Zips rank just 127 on Kenpom. On Tuesday they have a big opportunity to grab a neutral-site win over Drake who is 8-3 after their 83-75 loss to Saint Louis last time out.
Takeaways from loaded weekend of games. dark. Next
The record may be gaudy for Mississippi State but there isn’t much meat on the bones as they say. For a team that is ranked 16th in the NET, but has just two quad 1 wins over Utah and Marquette. The Bulldogs have a strength of schedule of 279 to match their non-conference slate. No other team in the top 16 in the NET has more quad 3 and 4 wins than the Bulldogs’ nine, so Mississippi State could use another quality win before league play, and that means beating Drake on Tuesday, Dec. 20.