NCAA Basketball: Ranking final 18 unbeaten teams for 2023-24 season
By Joey Loose
16. Mississippi
The Rebels don’t exactly have an extensive history of success in basketball. This program has made several trips to the Big Dance and the NIT over the years but have never really been considered a top-tier team in a tough SEC that’s only gotten harder the last half decade. They hoped to turn that fortune around this offseason by hiring Chris Beard, the coach who led Texas Tech to the national title game before being fired by Texas last January.
Ole Miss have won their first six games, though it was hard to be blown away by their play in the opening weeks. Their first four games all came at home against mid-majors and featured some close calls, hanging on to beat Detroit by one point and Sam Houston State by just three. They played a fantastic offensive game to win at Temple before delivering a 20-point win against NC State in the ACC/SECC Challenge earlier this week.
It’s pretty clear that the SEC schedule will pose significant challenges to this Rebels squad, especially compared to what they’ve faced to this point. There are other challenges long before that, as they’ll face a hungry Memphis squad at home on Saturday and still have a road trip to UCF the following weekend. The initial signs are that Beard has this team playing hard and trending in a great direction, but just because they are one of the last few unbeaten teams doesn’t mean as much right now.