STARKVILLE — Chris Jans is well aware: March Madness is hard to avoid.
Whether it’s NET rankings, bracketology, matchups or something else, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is everywhere.
“You can’t not see it, unless you’re just going anti-phone, anti-social media, anti-websites,” Jans said Monday.
A Mississippi State team on the tournament bubble has typically seen its name in the “Last Four In” or the “First Four Out” lately.
But the Bulldogs’ postseason status hasn’t been much of a focus within practices or team meetings, particularly during their recent five-game winning streak.
“I don’t always talk about it,” Jans said. “I just get asked about it. That’s a big difference.”
Mississippi State (18-10, 6-9 Southeastern Conference) is in a precarious spot with three regular-season games left. The Bulldogs have the time and the opportunities to play themselves off the Big Dance bubble — in either direction.
MSU will either book its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2019 or squander the goodwill of its 11-0 start in Jans’ first season.
Saturday’s game with No. 25 Texas A&M (21-7, 13-2 SEC) is the Bulldogs’ biggest remaining game and likely their only Quadrant 1 opportunity before the conference tournament.
Perhaps motivated by being left out of last year’s NCAA tournament despite SEC tourney magic, the Aggies are playing elite basketball.
They’ve won 15 of their past 17 games, with their only losses being at Kentucky and at Arkansas. They’ve beaten Florida and Missouri twice and have wins over Auburn, Arkansas and Tennessee.
Early losses to Murray State and Wofford marred the Aggies’ résumé, but they’re at No. 22 nationally in the NET and No. 24 in KenPom.
“They’ve got all the glossy numbers,” Jans said. “They’ve got the record. They’re playing awfully well. It’ll be a big, big, big opportunity for us … ”
Asked Monday about looking ahead to the Aggies, Jans demurred: His focus was on Tuesday night’s road game at Missouri.
Jans said he did watch Saturday’s game between the Tigers and Aggies at Mizzou Arena, although he was homed in on the home team.
Mostly.
“You’re human; you can’t help but pay attention a little bit,” Jans said. “But I’m pretty good at just focusing on the team that we’re about to play. “
Once the Bulldogs and Tigers wrapped up in Columbia — Missouri hit a late 3-pointer to win 66-64 in overtime — Jans was able to turn his attention to Texas A&M.
The Aggies possess a top-50 offense and defense, are the eighth-best offensive rebounding team in the country and are second nationally in their rate of free-throw attempts.
Guard Wade Taylor IV is averaging 21.8 points over his past five games and has scored 20-plus points in a game nine times this season.
The Bulldogs are certainly familiar with junior wing Andersson García, who spent the previous two years in Starkville.
After facing the Aggies, Mississippi State closes out its regular season with a home game against South Carolina on Tuesday and a March 4 road game at Vanderbilt.
Until then, MSU is forced to play the waiting game.
The Bulldogs will have to cheer on their opponents from this season, hoping they fall on the right side of the NCAA’s NET quadrant lines. Georgia, for instance, is now No. 138, making MSU’s defeat Jan. 11 in Athens a potentially costly Quad 3 loss.
“That’s the interesting thing about this whole metric deal is how that changes — from when you play them to now and from now until even when it’s final where they fall,” Jans said. “I talked about it being out of our control, but that part isn’t. We’ve got to root for some teams to end well because that could potentially help our résumé.”
Ultimately, though, winning will solve everything. Two wins in three games could be enough to get the Bulldogs into the NCAA field; three wins would likely seal up an at-large bid.
That stretch begins with A&M, and Saturday’s contest tips off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on the SEC Network.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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