Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin
Most college basketball coaches, including Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, will tell you in October they want their team to be playing its best basketball come March. The Rebel women (21-10, 8-8 SEC) limp into the SEC Tournament having lost four in a row and six of their last eight SEC contests.
The Ole Miss women were seriously being considered strong contenders to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament only a few weeks ago. Then a terrible slate of games presented itself, including a contest with the Tennessee Lady Vols that was rescheduled due to Winter Storm Fern and created a stretch of matchups against four nationally ranked teams in a span of seven days. Ironically, Tennessee was the only one that finished in the win column.
On Sunday, Ole Miss closed out the regular season inside the Pavilion with a 66-58 loss to Texas A&M.
Yes, the late-season schedule and rubber legs aside, the Rebels are a bit banged up. But for a program that usually offers no excuses, this is where the rubber hits the road.
The SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament is opportunity.
Ole Miss enters as a…gulp…No. 7 seed with a first-round bye. The Rebels will play the winner of Wednesday’s 5 p.m. CT game between No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 15 Auburn on Thursday at five o’clock. If they win, they’ll advance to Friday for a matchup with No. 2 Vanderbilt at 5 p.m.
The gulp is because…as said before…this was a team in string contention for a double bye in the toughest basketball conference in America.
Sure, Ole Miss is solidly in the NCAA Tournament field, but any chance of hosting has seemed to evaporated as the weather outside has turned warmer.
This team has its backs against the ol’ proverbial wall as the postseason begins.
SEC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
| Matchup | Second Team | Time/Result | Game Info |
|---|---|---|---|
 #16 Arkansas |  #9 Kentucky | SEC NetworkWed., Mar. 4 / 11:00 AM EST | SEC NetworkOpens in a new window |
 #13 Mississippi State |  #12 Florida | SEC NetworkWed., Mar. 4 / 1:30 PM EST | SEC NetworkOpens in a new window |
 #15 Auburn |  #10 Texas A&M | SEC NetworkWed., Mar. 4 / 6:00 PM EST | SEC NetworkOpens in a new window |
 #14 Missouri |  #11 Alabama | SEC NetworkWed., Mar. 4 / 8:30 PM EST | SEC NetworkOpens in a new window |
 G1 Winner |  #8 Georgia | SEC NetworkThu., Mar. 5 / 11:00 AM EST | SEC NetworkOpens in a new window |
| G2 Winner |  #5 Oklahoma | SEC NetworkThu., Mar. 5 / 1:30 PM EST | SEC NetworkOpens in a new window |
| G3 Winner |  #7 Ole Miss | SEC NetworkThu., Mar. 5 / 6:00 PM EST | SEC NetworkOpens in a new window |
| G4 Winner |  #6 Tennessee | SEC NetworkThu., Mar. 5 / 8:30 PM EST | SEC NetworkOpens in a new window |
| G5 Winner |  #1 South Carolina | ESPNFri., Mar. 6 / 12:00 PM EST | ESPNOpens in a new window |
| G6 Winner |  #4 LSU | ESPNFri., Mar. 6 / 2:30 PM EST | ESPNOpens in a new window |
| G7 Winner |  #2 Vanderbilt | SEC NetworkFri., Mar. 6 / 6:00 PM EST | SEC NetworkOpens in a new window |
| G8 Winner |  #3 Texas | SEC NetworkFri., Mar. 6 / 8:30 PM EST | SEC NetworkOpens in a new window |
| G10 Winner | G9 Winner | ESPN2Sat., Mar. 7 / 4:30 PM EST | ESPN2Opens in a new window |
| G12 Winner | G11 Winner | ESPN2Sat., Mar. 7 / 7:00 PM EST | ESPN2Opens in a new window |
| G14 Winner | G13 Winner | ESPNSun., Mar. 8 / 3:00 PM EDT | ESPN |