BRACKET WATCH: No. 15 Ole Miss still has the opportunity to move back into a host seed

The final week of the regular season is here and that means the last batch of NCAA Tournament projections before the Southeastern Conference Tournament week, giving No. 15 Ole Miss an idea of where it stands on the host bubble.

Taking the series last weekend against Texas A&M boosted the chances to host for the Rebels (34-18, 14-13 SEC) after dropping series against Georgia and Arkansas. Though this week’s series at No. 18 Alabama will more than likely be the deciding factor in if a run in Hoover would be enough to get back in the Top 16 National Seeds or not at all.

Both D1Baseball and Baseball America released its latest Field of 64 projections and continue to have Ole Miss just on the outside looking in when it comes to hosting.

Similar to last week Baseball America has the Rebels as the No. 17 National Seed – reminder the selection committee is seeding 1 through 32 this year – and basically the first team out of hosting. They are projected to be the 2 Seed of the Morgantown Regional, joining host team and No. 16 National Seed West Virginia.

Rounding out that regional is Liberty as the 3 Seed and Binghamton as the 4 seed.

The Morgantown Regional is paired with the Westwood Regional and No. 1 National Seed UCLA for a potential Super Regional matchup in the Los Angeles area.

In D1Baseball’s projections Ole Miss inches closer to a host seed, moving up a spot from last week to No. 18 National Seed and the 2 Seed in the Corvallis Regional. Host team and No. 14 Oregon State, Arizona State (3 Seed) and Niagara (4 Seed) rounds out the field.

The regional is paired with the Athens Regional and No. 3 National Seed Georgia for a potential SEC Super Regional rematch for Ole Miss.

Heading into Tuscaloosa the Rebels have a 14-14 record against SEC opponents, including the loss to Mississippi State in the Governor’s Cup as the selection committee views it as a conference game. The committee also adds whatever the record ends up being in next week’s SEC Tournament to that overall conference tally, too.

“I think it’s going to be an interesting test case to see how the committee handles, not just Ole Miss, but other programs in this world of unbalanced schedules,” D1Baseball’s Mark Etheridge said on Tuesday. “But what if they do go to Alabama and do (win the series)? I think it’s all right there for them. They could win their way into it.”

Before Tuesday’s final midweek game of the season against UT Martin, Ole Miss is sitting at No. 13 in the RPI and 13-15 in Quad 1 games. The three games at Alabama will be Quad 1 opportunities.