Rebels make NCAA Tournament, open with Arizona in Coral Gables Regional

The Rebels (32-22) seemed out of the postseason mix after a Tuesday loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament, but Ole Miss picked up an at-large bid and will head to Coral Gables, Florida, for the Miami Regional.

The host Hurricanes are the No. 1 seed and face No. 4 seed Canisius on Friday, while No. 3 seed Ole Miss opens against No. 2 seed Arizona.

Arizona hosted the Rebels for the Tucson Super Regional in 2021 and advanced to the College World Series in three games. Miami beat Ole Miss in the 2006 Oxford Super Regional and in the finals of the 2008 Coral Gables Regional.

The Miami Regional is paired with the Hattiesburg Regional, where Southern Miss and LSU are the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively.

The Rebels' No. 39 RPI and 18-18 record against the top 100 were their best metrics, along with 15 wins against SEC teams.

Miami, the No. 6 overall seed in the tournament, is 39-18 and 20-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Hurricanes lost six of eight to close the regular season but picked up a series win over Notre Dame during that stretch. The ‘Canes best series is a three-game sweep of Virginia. Miami lost two of three to Florida at home.

Arizona is 37-23 overall and 16-14 in the Pac 12. The Wildcats finished the year with the No. 38 RPI, one spot ahead of Ole Miss. Arizona has a three-game sweep of Big 12 teams in Arlington, Texas, to start the season and a home sweep of Stanford and a home series win against Oregon State. The Wildcats have lost 10 of their last 15 games.

Canisius won the MAAC to get an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Griffins are 29-23 overall and have a respectable 169 RPI for a four seed. Canisius’ best series is a four-game split at Pittsburgh. It swept Charleston Southern in a three-game series, the only common opponent with the Rebels.

Ole Miss is in the postseason for the 18th time in 21 chances under Mike Bianco. The Rebels have advanced to super regional play seven times, though never away from Swayze Field. It’s Ole Miss’ first road regional since 2015.