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Ole Miss sees tourney profile take a hit with loss at Texas A&M

Andy Kennedy, Marshall Henderson, Terry Brutus

Mississippi guard Marshall Henderson (22) and forward Terry Brutus (25) listen as head coach Andy Kennedy gives them instructions in the second half of their NCAA college basketball game against Mississippi State in Oxford, Miss., Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. Mississippi won 93-75. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

AP

Ole Miss couldn’t afford a loss on Wednesday night.

The Rebels can barely afford any loss at this point in the season.

Halfway through February, the Fighting Marshall Hendersons have a profile that looks like it’s straight out of Conference USA. After dropping a 69-67 decision in College Station -- thanks to 37 points on 13-20 shooting from Elston Turner -- Ole Miss now sits at 18-6 overall and 7-4 in the SEC, a solid record before you consider that their resume lacks a shred of substance.

Their best win of the season? Over a Missouri team that looks less and less impressive as the season goes on and that was playing without Laurence Bowers at the time.

Beyond that?

Ole Miss has beaten Rutgers. They’ve swept Tennessee. They beat Arkansas. In fact, the best thing that you can say about the Rebels’ resume is that there isn’t anything bad about it. They have an RPI right around 50. The Aggies are their worst loss of the season, and Texas A&M still has a top 75 RPI.

The other issue is that there really aren’t going to be anymore chances for the Rebels to make themselves look better. Only two of their last seven games are against teams with RPIs in the top 100. Both of those games come at home. They play three teams with an RPI over 200, which means that their RPI of 47 entering today is only going to get worse.

Perhaps the best news for Ole Miss fans is that a resume without anything glaringly terrible is better than a lot of other teams right now. We say it every season, but the bubble is weak this year. There have to be 37 at-large teams that make it from somewhere. Ole Miss was a ten seed in our most recent bracket and wasn’t one of the last five teams in.

They do have some cushion.

But I can guarantee that Andy Kennedy doesn’t want to find out how much.

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.