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| Marshall Henderson |
Everything is set up for Ole Miss to make such a statement. With Kentucky's loss to LSU Tuesday night the Rebels find themselves alone in 2nd place in the SEC. Ole Miss is on a 4-game winning streak. Team depth is growing as players like Sebastian Saiz, Anthony Perez and Snoop White are playing better each night out. Jarvis Summers and Marshall Henderson are playing like two of the best guards in the conference. The only thing missing is quality wins.
Tennessee (12-7, 3-2 SEC) brings an RPI of 51 into tonight's contest according to the ESPN RPI index. Ole Miss is close behind at 55. Ole Miss currently has wins against LSU (58), Vanderbilt (86) MSU (127) South Carolina (135) and Auburn (185) - none of which are feathers worthy of being put in a cap. The Southeastern Conference doesn't offer a lot of opportunities for good wins, so the Rebels have to take them where they can find them. Tennessee isn't great, but it would be the best Ole Miss has so far.
With a win tonight, Ole Miss could get over the worthiness hump and possibly even break into the Top 50 of the RPI. While the RPI doesn't dictate who gets in the NCAA Tournament and who doesn't, the higher a team can get the better. Also, being alone in 2nd place of the SEC would also make the Rebels hard to dismiss.
"We're a pretty confident group," said head coach Andy Kennedy. "We have won four straight. It's just the next game for us. It's obviously a huge opportunity anytime you get a chance to play a team in the top 60 in the RPI. We all know how the RPI is balanced where they give you a lot more weight if you find a way to break through on the road because everyone realizes how difficult that is."
Happy Hump Day!