With 10 seniors, five of which were transfers, it’s no secret that Ole Miss is in a ‘win-now’ mindset.
If it wasn’t obvious before, it became clear after the Rebels beat Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday night, 91-78.
Before head coach Chris Beard’s arrival in Oxford, the Rebels had just come off two losing seasons. Just two years into Beard’s tenure, the Rebels have now punched their ticket to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2001.
Eight transfers litter the Rebels’ roster, most notably senior Sean Pedulla, who led Ole Miss in points (20) and assists (eight) in the aforementioned win against the Cyclones. Further setting the stage for the Rebels’ corps was senior Matthew Murrell’s decision to return to school after initially declaring for the 2024 NBA Draft. Murrell has been with the Rebels for his entire college career, providing a sense of consistent leadership in a rapidly changing environment fueled by the transfer portal.
Senior guard Davon Barnes said that a key principle behind the Rebels’ success is ensuring investment from within the inner circle.
“Everybody’s buying in, coming in with all these transfers to Ole Miss, a lot of guys from different areas, with different colleges and teams,” Barnes said. “Once you get it all together, we bought into our roles to our game plan that Coach had for us, and ultimately the results just show how. Let’s say once everyone buys in, that we can win.”
Murrell doubled down on Barnes’ thoughts and said that by having teammates come from varying prior stops, that coming in with a collective mindset has fueled the program’s shared success in its turnaround.
“Buying in was definitely a big thing, this world of transferring now, people are transferring for their certain regions, but I feel like everybody that came to this program, we all came into it with one meaning, and that’s to win,” Murrell said. “Most of the guys haven’t been to the tournament, and to be able to make a run in the tournament has been something special for all of us.”
Beard mentioned that with the influx of transfers coming into the program over the past spring, that not only recognizing talent, but getting the group to play as one, has been a point of focus over the offseason through studying Team USA.
“One of our challenges this year has been when this journey started, making sure that each individual player to be the best version of himself, but also this work in as a team, so we spent some time in summer watching the USA basketball documentary, trying to demonstrate how their team was a bunch of talented guys that came together with one purpose,” Beard said.
“Our team’s a bunch of talented guys that come together with one purpose, certainly not saying we’re USA basketball talented, but there’s a lot of parallels. I think that’s one of the stories of our team is all these guys that check their egos at the door when they arrive to Oxford, and they’re really playing for each other.”
As March Madness leaves Milwaukee for the rest of the tournament, it’s safe to say that these Rebels are all-in as they enjoy a rapid turnaround and are still dancing.
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at michael.severson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.