Ole Miss preparing for fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance

OXFORD, Miss. (WLOX) - The Rebels really sweat it out Monday before hearing the news that we will make a tournament appearance for the ninth time in the last 10 tournaments played.

Ole Miss seemingly played itself firmly back in the conversation by way of a seven-game winning streak that included a sweep of top-10 LSU and a road win over Southern Miss, but a series loss to Texas A&M and a one-and-done showing in the SEC tournament left everything up to chance. While they waited, though, they got ready as if their name would be called. As they say, you don’t have to get ready if you stay ready. And that’s what Mike Bianco made sure his team did in the meantime.

“Probably the biggest fear is that you get good news like this, and you’re not prepared, so that was a challenge,” he said. “I said that numerous times over the last few days, just reminding them because it’s hard, they are 18 and 20 years old, and there is a lot of uncertainty.”

“We’re just happy we’re in, we could be the 64th seed, we could’ve been anywhere and we’re just happy we’re in, given a chance,” first baseman Tim Elko said. “I think if you just give us a chance and let us go play, we’ll let our game talk.”

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