Rebels Fall in Rankings, But NCAA Hosting Goal Is Still Alive

Ole Miss women’s basketball has never hosted an NCAA Regional, and this season has offered them a great chance to do just that.

“This is a team that really wants to try to host. So, these next seven games are going to be really important to us,” Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said on Wednesday. “They know how important it is more now, probably than before. It was one of the goals they had in the beginning of the season, but now they kind of see how real it is because I’m sure of watching ‘Bracketology’ and seeing what we’ve done.”

On Saturday, the NCAA selection committee released its initial top 16 rankings. The highest ranked 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament field will host a regional. The Rebels were included in that initial list at No. 15.

But the Rebels’ goal of hosting a regional took a major hit Sunday when they lost to then No. 18 Kentucky, 74-57.

A win might’ve locked up a spot as a regional host for the Rebels. Instead, they’ll need some help.

Ole Miss also took a hit in Monday’s updated AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll. The Rebels fell three spots to No. 17, one spot behind the Wildcats.

If the selection committee copies that top 16 (it won’t), that would send the Rebels on the road for the NCAA Tournament. But there’s time to change that.

“This is life in the SEC. You know, so it’s dog-eat-dog,” McPhee-McCuin said after the loss to Kentucky. “We’re a team that we be Vandy. We’re not throwing water all over me and celebrating. We lose, I’m not going to throw the season away. We have a bunch of great opportunities ahead. And today we just fell short.”

The next opportunity is coming at the Rebels quickly. They’re set to host No. 21 Tennessee on Tuesday, which was rescheduled to then when Winter Storm Ferm made it impossible to do anything in Oxford, let alone host a basketball game.

Here’s the full top 25 rankings released Monday.

AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll

1. UConn 27-0
2. UCLA 25-1
3. South Carolina 25-2
4. Texas 24-3
5. Vanderbilt 24-3
6. Michigan 22-4
7. LSU 22-4
8. Louisville 24-4
9. Duke 19-6
10. Ohio State 22-4
11. Oklahoma 19-6
12. TCU 23-4
13. Iowa 19-5
14. Maryland 21-6
15. Baylor 22-5
16. Kentucky 20-7
17. Ole Miss 20-6
18. Michigan State 20-6
19. West Virginia 21-6
20. Texas Tech 23-4
21. Tennessee 16-7
22. North Carolina 21-6
23. Minnesota 20-6
24. Georgia 20-6
25. Alabama 20-6

Others receiving votes: Rhode Island 41, Washington 22, Princeton 14, Richmond 12, Fairfield 7, N Dakota St 2, Iowa St. 2, Illinois 2, Syracuse 1, Columbia 1.