Ole Miss women’s basketball head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin didn’t hold back on the voters in the Associated Press poll who ranked them below Oklahoma despite the Rebels recent win in Norman. She also was critical of ESPN host Stephen A. Smith, who recently said some derogatory remarks about the city of Oxford and Ole Miss.
It was an exclusive interview with OleMiss365.com.
The Rebels own a 16-3 record and a monumental win at Oklahoma last week. They also beat rival Mississippi State like a drum Sunday in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion. Throw in its narrow loss at Texas nine days ago, and McPhee-McCuin has a case.
The Rebels are ranked No. 16 in this week’s poll. Oklahoma sits at 14-3 and is ranked No. 13. Kentucky, which beat Oklahoma on Sunday in Lexington, is ranked No. 7 with a 16-2 record. LSU is out to a 16-2 mark and jumped six spots to No. 6.
Ole Miss narrowly loses to a Texas team ranked No. 2 at the time, beats an Oklahoma squad in Norman and destroys its instate rival and rose just two spots.
McPhee-McCuin held nothing back.
“For me it’s more of consistency thing,” said McPhee McCuin, “and it’s my love for Ole Miss. I’m tired of the whole narrative. Stephen A. Smith and all these people coming in and saying…you know…making all these false narratives about Oxford, Mississippi.
“And I live here every day. At some point they have to be comfortable knowing that le Miss has evolved. Whatever it was in the past, it’s not. And we are serious about competing and competing at a high level in every sport. I always feel like we have to do stiff three times more in order to get the respect that we deserve.”
McPhee-McCuin provided examples of the AP poll being foul.
“Michigan barely lost to UConn and they treated them like they were the number six team in the country. Right away. Ok, LSU had a great win the other day (versus Texas) at home. They moved them up six spots. We go on the road and we lose to Texas by three points. We go on the road to Oklahoma who was number five. We won. Then we come home against a Mississippi State team. It’s a rivalry and we do something since we haven’t done since 1991. Right? We beat them by 25 points, and you move us up two spots,” she explained.
“Where is the consistency I don’t care about rankings, either. It’s not going to decide what our seeding is, right? But be consistent. What you’ve shown consistently is that, if a lower team beats a higher team, especially on the road, they are rewarded.”
She also accused some of the poll’s voters of not taking their responsibility seriously.
“I was just disappointed because I don’t think that everybody that has the opportunity to make the vote…I don’t believe that they take it seriously, she related. “I went through and looked at it. Some people didn’t even move certain teams. I’m an SEC girlie…Don’t be like ‘Oh, Yo’, you guys got to win six top 25 games to be moved up.’ That’s not fair, and I’m going to call it out. I Know that I have the platform, and I know the point I made is legitimate.”
Of course, there are fans who tell her polls don’t matter. But she says they do.
“People are saying don’t worry about it; I’m not worried about it. We could go to Georgia, and if we don’t handle business, we’ll lose…But I also know had we lost to Oklahoma and Mississippi State, we’d be fighting for our lives. And they can’t tell me that that’s not the case. Last year, we beat Kentucky here, we went on the road and beat LSU, and you don’t let us host, and you say that this other team had a better record and they didn’t…You want to penalize us. You say we lost to a non-ranked team. Well, so did Oklahoma. So did a bunch of teams that you guys have ahead of us.
“Michigan State lost to Wisconsin. We beat Wisconsin. Michigan State beats us. So make it make sense. It’s not consistent. I’m just going to call it out. I’m sick of it. I’m tired of people acting like Ole Miss is just this team that hasn’t been to the Sweet 16 twice in the last three years, that hasn’t been in the top four in this league multiple time and hasn’t been doing what it needs to do. I’m going to fight fo4r the team and for the brand.”
The Ole Miss women are in the midst of a bye week and won’t return to the court until Sunday at Georgia. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
McPhee-McCuin gave her team a few days off at the front of this week. The Rebels defeated Georgia, 79-63, on New Year’s Day at the Pavilion.
Ole Miss is currently in a four-way tie for fourth place in the rough and tumble SEC,
SEC WOMEN”S BASKETBALL STANDINGS
| conf | cpct | overall | opct | home | road | neutral | strk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vanderbilt | 4-0 | 1.000 | 17-0 | 1.000 | 10-0 | 4-0 | 3-0 | W17 |
 South Carolina | 4-0 | 1.000 | 17-1 | 0.944 | 10-0 | 5-0 | 2-1 | W10 |
 Tennessee | 4-0 | 1.000 | 12-3 | 0.800 | 7-0 | 5-1 | 0-2 | W5 |
 Texas | 3-1 | 0.750 | 18-1 | 0.947 | 12-0 | 3-1 | 3-0 | L1 |
 Alabama | 3-1 | 0.750 | 17-1 | 0.944 | 14-0 | 1-1 | 2-0 | W3 |
 Kentucky | 3-1 | 0.750 | 16-2 | 0.889 | 9-0 | 6-1 | 1-1 | W1 |
 Ole Miss | 3-1 | 0.750 | 16-3 | 0.842 | 10-0 | 3-1 | 3-2 | W2 |
 LSU | 2-2 | 0.500 | 16-2 | 0.889 | 8-1 | 5-1 | 3-0 | W2 |
 Oklahoma | 2-2 | 0.500 | 14-3 | 0.824 | 9-1 | 2-1 | 3-1 | L2 |
 Georgia | 1-3 | 0.250 | 15-3 | 0.833 | 9-1 | 2-2 | 4-0 | L2 |
 Mississippi State | 1-3 | 0.250 | 14-4 | 0.778 | 11-1 | 1-3 | 2-0 | L3 |
 Auburn | 1-3 | 0.250 | 12-6 | 0.667 | 8-2 | 2-4 | 2-0 | W1 |
 Texas A&M | 1-3 | 0.250 | 8-5 | 0.615 | 4-3 | 2-1 | 2-1 | L1 |
 Florida | 0-4 | 0.000 | 12-7 | 0.632 | 9-3 | 1-4 | 2-0 | L4 |
 Missouri | 0-4 | 0.000 | 12-7 | 0.632 | 7-4 | 2-2 | 3-1 | L4 |
 Arkansas | 0-4 | 0.000 | 11-8 | 0.579 | 8-4 | 1-4 | 2-0 | L5 |