Luke Dunavant
The Ole Miss Men’s Basketball team capped off a fairly decent first season with Head Coach Chris Beard with a loss to the Texas A&M Aggies in the SEC Tournament on Thursday, March 14.
The Rebels did not make the NCAA Tournament and declined an invitation to the National Invitational Tournament, officially putting a lid on Head Coach Chris Beard’s first year in Oxford.
The Ole Miss Rebels will not go dancing this season as they finished the year with a record of 20 wins and 12 losses. While the season did not end the way the team likely wanted it to, it was still a success compared to previous seasons.
Fans had no real expectations for this season coming in, and many thought that the team would finish last in the SEC. This ended up not being the case, as the Rebels started off the season with a 14-0 win streak that led them into conference play and ended up placing 10th in the SEC.
During their win streak, the energy in Oxford was unmatched: The Pavillion was packed, the student section was rocking and the atmosphere was electric. Men’s basketball was a sight to behold for the non-conference schedule, and some of that excitement remained even through the rough gauntlet of SEC play.
The team faced their first real challenge of the season as they began conference play, losing against a very good Tennessee team that went on to be the No. 1 overall team in the SEC and the No. 2 seed in March Madness.
After this, the Rebels would go on streaks of two or three wins and then turn around and lose two or three straight games; they never seemed to get their footing. This was due to both Auburn transfer and guard Allen Flanigan and forward Jaemyn Brakefield being such streaky shooters this season. Those two, coupled with superstar guard Matthew Murrell, carried the offensive load all season long. Their hot streaks were scorching, but their cold streaks led to the majority of losses on this record.
Looking back to the beginning of the season, the year began with former Western Kentucky big man Jamarion Sharp serving as the only real center on the team, as big man Moussa Cisse was not allowed to play without a waiver from the NCAA.
At full strength, though, Ole Miss still struggled against Quad 1A teams and Quad 2 opponents, who the metrics deem as “quality opponents.” Teams like Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Kentucky and Auburn fit these categories, and Ole Miss lost to each of them.
Overall, the Rebels subverted expectations and did well compared to previous seasons. Many did not think much was going to happen for the Rebels, as Beard did not have time to set his own preseason or fully secure his recruits.
Now, with a full offseason, Beard should be able to schedule the games he wants to play and get the recruits that he needs following the exit of a few key players.
Murrell and Flanigan are such key players. Murrell is probably the only player that has a chance to get drafted, but the combine could change that.
While the Ole Miss Men’s Basketball team is not taking home any trophies this season, the team still had a very successful year in Beard’s Oxford debut. They have a lot to build off of going into next season, and the expectations will be much higher for year two of the Beard regime.
