From staff reports

The good news for Ole Miss is that it played its way into an NCAA Tournament berth.

The bad news is, it’s heading to Miami.

The Rebels, who advanced to the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game last weekend, will have to go through a tough regional in the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament next weekend. They’ll open with Missouri on Friday morning and, if they get by the Tigers, will likely face regional host and top overall seed Miami.

The Hurricanes (47-8), who won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament for the first time, will make their record 36th straight NCAA appearance. Miami was ranked No. 1 in various polls for the majority of the season and opens up against Bethune-Cookman (36-20).

“Everyone who has played Miami this season has said they are the best team in the country, so it will be a huge challenge to go to their regional,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “But the thing about this tournament is you have to go somewhere and play someone good.”

Ole Miss and Missouri (38-19) will both make their sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The two teams have played six times, with each winning three games, and haven’t met since Ole Miss took two of three from the Tigers in Oxford in 1987. Missouri finished fourth in the Big 12, while Ole Miss (37-24) was eighth in the SEC in the regular season. The Rebels won three of four at the SEC Tournament to solidify their NCAA standing before losing to LSU 8-2 in the championship game.

That victory was LSU’s 20th in a row, a run that allowed them to earn a national seed and host a regional that will include Southern Miss.

The Baton Rouge Regional starts Friday at 1 p.m. when LSU faces Texas Southern. Southern Miss will play New Orleans in the second game at 6 p.m. LSU, which won five national titles between 1991 and 2000, is playing host to a regional for the 18th time, and for the first time since 2005.

“I don’t think we are all the way back yet. I think we have accomplished some things and I’m very proud,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “The goal is to get to Omaha and to win when we get there. No matter what happens the rest of this season, I don’t think it will take away the accomplishments that this team has had this year.”

This will be the third meeting this season between Southern Miss and New Orleans. Southern Miss won the first meeting in New Orleans in March, 9-4, and lost 9-3 in April at Pete Taylor Park. USM also faced LSU in April in Hattiesburg and lost 8-4. Even with the victory, Mainieri was wary of facing the Golden Eagles again.

“Southern Mississippi’s team is phenomenal. We played there earlier this year. With 5,000 people at the game, it was a tremendous atmosphere. It was a great ballgame from our standpoint because we took control of the game early, and then held them off at the end. I’m sure Southern Miss is going to come in here and let it rip. They are going to be a tough team.”