Matthew Stevens of the Starkville Daily News reports on his Twitter feed that Virginia Tech and Mississippi State will play in the Bahamas next season. Both teams were on the bubble for the 2010 NCAA Tournament, but wound up as No. 1 seeds in the NIT.
On the surface, it looks like Seth Greenberg is giving his non-conference slate a shot in the arm by scheduling the Bulldogs. However, Mississippi State loses its two best players from last year, Jarvis Varnado and Barry Stewart, to graduation as well as 6-8 forward Romero Osby, who transferred to Oklahoma.
They will be led next year by guards Ravern Johnson and Dee Bost. Hopefully the Bulldogs won't be a paper tiger next year and putting them on the schedule will benefit the Hokies, but the loss of Varnado and Stewart will be tough for them to overcome immediately.
UPDATE: Doug Bowman of Rivals confirms the matchup and reports it will be on Saturday, Dec. 18.
UPDATE 2: A reader informs me that Bost entered the NBA draft and will not be on MSU's roster next season.