Ole Miss, in its first season under coach Kermit Davis, is back in March Madness.
Despite their early exit from the SEC Tournament on Thursday when they blew a 14-point halftime lead to Alabama, Ole Miss’ resume was undeniable. The Rebels entered Selection Sunday ranked No. 36 in the NET with five quadrant one wins. At 20-12, 10-8 in conference play, the Rebels continued the selection committee’s trend of never leaving out a 20 and 10 SEC team.
The Rebels are the No. 8 seed in the NCAA South region. They will play 9 seed Oklahoma in a second-round game on Friday in Columbia, S.C. Tipoff is set for 11:40 a.m. on truTV.
The Sooners are 19-13 and went 7-11 in the Big 12 regular season. They have an NCAA NET ranking of 37 and have four Quadrant 1 wins, as does Ole Miss.
It’s the first time in 17 years that Ole Miss has received an at-large bid to the tournament’s traditional field.
The Rebels played in the First Four in Dayton as an at-large team in 2015.
They were a 12 seed against Wisconsin in Kansas City in 2013 as the SEC’s automatic qualifier as the conference tournament champions.
Rod Barnes’ Rebels were a 20-11 9 seed in 2002. Aaron Harper scored 19 points and Justin Reed 14 in the Rebels’ 80-58 loss to No. 8 seed UCLA.
Ole Miss senior guard Terence Davis was four years old then.
“Let’s do it, let’s go dancing,” Terence Davis told The Pavilion crowd Sunday.
Ole Miss was a No. 3 seed in 2001 when it defeated Iona and Notre Dame on its way to the Sweet 16, its best-ever tournament finish.
Davis told Ole Miss players, who finished last in the SEC a year ago, that he didn’t want his first season to be a rebuilding one.
“I don’t know if you ever say you expect this, but it was sure our goal. It wasn’t just I said it in the press conference, coach-speak. I hate to sound egotistical, but we’ve won a lot of games over the last eight, nine or 10 years. You get used to winning a little bit, and you kind of expect that’s going to happen,” he said.
The Rebels head to Columbia 20-12 overall after a 10-8 SEC regular season and a conference tournament loss to Alabama.
Davis is back in the NCAA tournament for the sixth time overall as a head coach, including back-to-back seasons with Idaho in 1989 and 1990.
He gained national attention as his Middle Tennessee State teams knocked off Big 10 opponents Michigan State and Minnesota in back-to-back seasons in 2016 and 2017. Middle Tennessee was a 15 seed against Michigan State, and a 12 seed against Minnesota.
