STARKVILLE, Miss. — Three weeks ago, Mississippi State’s postseason hopes looked bleak. Then they made some changes.

The Bulldogs, once a national powerhouse, found themselves outside NCAA tournament projections and without a coach after Chris Lemonis was dismissed on April 28.

Fast forward to mid-May, and a remarkable turnaround under interim coach Justin Parker has Mississippi State (34-20) not only back in the conversation but firmly projected to make the 2025 NCAA tournament.

Since the coaching change, Mississippi State has won nine of its last 10 games, including a crucial sweep of Missouri.

This late push has elevated the Bulldogs’ RPI to No. 30, their highest mark since the season’s start. The team’s resurgence has been attributed to Parker’s steady leadership and the players’ renewed focus.

“The Bulldogs were not projected to make the NCAA tournament when coach Chris Lemonis was fired on April 28. MSU (34-20) won nine of its last 10 games of the regular season under interim coach Justin Parker and is now firmly projected to be in the NCAA tournament,” wrote Sam Sklar of the Jackson Clarion Ledger.

Current projections from D1Baseball slot Mississippi State as a No. 3 seed in the Tallahassee Regional, with Florida State hosting, West Virginia as the No. 2 seed, and Bethune-Cookman rounding out the group.

Meanwhile, Aria Gerson of the Tennessean sees MSU as a No. 2 seed in the Atlanta Regional hosted by Georgia Tech, alongside Austin Peay and Eastern Illinois. These projections highlight the Bulldogs’ strong finish and improved tournament résumé.

Mississippi State’s NCAA tournament case is built on a robust strength of schedule (SOS) and a solid record outside the top tier.

The Bulldogs are 8-17 in Quad 1 games, 3-2 in Quad 2, and an impressive 23-1 in Quads 3 and 4.

Their opening SEC tournament matchup against Texas A&M is classified as a Quad 2 opportunity, giving MSU a chance to further solidify its postseason credentials.

Baseball America’s latest bubble watch pointed out the importance of the upcoming series.

“Mississippi State looks poised to become the 13th [SEC team in the field] with one more series win,” they wrote. “Win the series and they’re in. Lose it, and the conversation becomes much murkier again.”

Mississippi State has been in this spot before. They’ve been in the College World Series in 2019 and the national championship season in 2021.

That didn’t buy Lemonis lifetime job security, which is why a couple of months ago nobody was singing these optimistic songs.

The Bulldogs’ late-season surge has already shifted the national narrative, making the Bulldogs one of the most intriguing teams to watch in the SEC Tournament and where they’ll land for another chance to get to Omaha.

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Lights, camera, action.

Two student filmmakers from Mississippi had the opportunity to show off their short film to a crowd of a few dozen at the Two Mississippi Museums.

College student Jermarius Everett and high school student Walter Giesen watched their films take to the big screen.

Both films focus on the civil rights era and the process of de-segregation in different parts of the Magnolia State. Everett’s film is called ‘Masterminds Of The Movement.’

He said, “Our film was just about the students at Tougaloo and how impactful the college was being that they were in a unique position as a private liberal arts college and out of state funded college. Who could recommended for by the government. So, we wanted to just tell that story. Just tell how influential they was during their time and just the impact that they’ve made.”

Giesen’s film is called Mississippi Turning: The Pivotal Role Of School Desegregation In A Southern Town.”

He said, “My film tells the story of the school desegregation in Starkville and it looks at it from the national level all the way down to the local level, and it runs through that story in the really unique circumstances surrounding that.”

After both films were shown at the Two Mississippi Museums Sunday, the two young film makers got up on stage and took questions about the hard work they’d put into their films.

The moderator for the discussion, Randy Kwan, is also a film maker. He says he is inspired when students are eager to make films on Mississippi’s history.

Kwan said, “I grew up here in the Mississippi Delta and I wanted to be a filmmaker, and since I’ve moved back, I’ve always wanted to try to help young filmmakers and, you know, give them the opportunity that I never had. I’ve always had a love for documentaries and, to me, it’s inspiring to see all these new students that come in that have the desire to tell our stories.”

These filmmakers have some advice for those looking to get into the business… and may want to make a historical film of their own.

“I’d say just tell the story that you want to tell and tell the local story and like my story did, like it can garner national attention just by being the local story about your little town.”

“Don’t be discouraged by, you know, the lack of, you know, resources that you have at your leisure or the equipment that you might not have or things like that. Continue to tell your story.”

The next film on deck at the Two Mississippi Museums will be June 22 where at 2 p.m., the museum will show Farming Freedom: The Inspiring story of Black Land Ownership in Mississippi.

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Halfway through the 2025 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship, Mississippi State finds itself in a good spot.

The Bulldogs climbed up the leaderboard in Saturday’s second round with a 2-under par team score and sits in sixth place in the tournament (4-over). A large reason for Mississippi State’s standing is Avery Weed, who leads the individual leaderboard ahead of Sunday’s rounds with a 7-under total for the tournament (69, 68).

“Playing in the morning today, we were hoping for a little less wind than we had in the afternoon yesterday, so we felt like we could really go out there and get some birdies early and I did do that,” Weed said when asked about her round. “I started out three under through four, and rode that the rest of the round as the wind kind of got more intense.”

Mississippi State was just one of six teams to shoot under-par in the second round of action.

The Bulldogs are nine stokes above tomorrow’s projected cutline of 13-over, which is currently held by Florida and UCLA. The top 15 teams will advance to play in the fourth round of stroke play. After that fourth round, the top eight of the leaderboard will advance to the match play portion of the tournament and the top player of the leaderboard will be named the NCAA Individual Champion.

The Bulldogs will tee off at 10:20 a.m. in the third round of the tournament Sunday. Here’s the complete team leaderboard and individual scores for Mississippi State golfers:

1. Stanford, -5
2. Northwestern, E
3. Oregon, +1
4. USC, Florida State, +3
6. Mississippi State, +4
7. Texas, Oklahoma State, +5
9. Arizona State, +6
10. South Carolina, +7
11. Virginia, Arkansas, +11
13. Vanderbilt, Tennessee, +12
15. Florida, UCLA, +15
17. LSU, Kansas State, +14
19. Ohio State, +16
20. Michigan State, +21
21. Oklahoma, +2322. Iowa State, +24
23. Kansas, +25
24. Wake Forest, +26
25. Ole Miss, +28
26. Baylor, Purdue +31
28. Georgia Southern, +32
29. CSU Fullerton, +33
30. UNLV, +35

1. Avery Weed (69, 68)
T13. Chiara Horder (73, 70)
T53.Ana Pina Ortega (77, 71)
T103. Samantha Whateley (75, 77)
T141. Izzy Pellor (79, 78)
Par = 72