Show Me My Opponent, 2022-23: Mississippi State (#2)

how about Chris Jansport and it's the Backpack Defense and it...zips you up? I guess?

This game had a lot more juice to it two weeks ago, or even three mornings ago. Tennessee still enters as an AP Top 10 team and a consensus top-three team by the metrics, but Mississippi State has absolutely cratered since first playing Tennessee. Really, they’ve cratered since the second the calendar flipped from November to December. To boot, here’s Bart Torvik’s November-only ratings:

And here is December 1 to today.

You can win games 58-54 for a while, but you cannot do it forever unless you have a historically elite defense. Mississippi State has a very, very good defense that is not an elite unit. They merely have the worst offense of anyone ranked in the top 100 of KenPom overall. If Saturday gave you nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, and/or diarrhea, I would advise never watching the Bulldogs play a game of basketball.

BELOW THE LINE: possibly the worst jump-shooting performance of all time? ($)