Ole Miss Basketball tips in less than three weeks.
After a frustrating 2019-20 season, Kermit Davis spent the offseason reshaping this roster. On multiple occasions last season, usually following frustrating defeats, Davis made no bones about what his team lacked and what needed to change once the season ended. He needed rebounding, defense, and more so than anything else, toughness. He brought in Arizona State transfer forward Romello White, Samford's Robert Allen and Ryder grad transfer and small foward Dimencio Vaughn. All three contribute to the needs Davis listed. This group has a lot of new faces, which makes its non-conference slate all the more paramount. Will the Rebels play inside-out or will it run offense through Jarkel Joiner? Where does Ole Miss go when it needs a basket in the game's waning minutes? What is the starting lineup? Who is the best on-ball defender that will guard the other team's best scorer? There's time to debate all of this and these questions will find answers through the non-conference slate, but let's take more of a macro lookout this for now. What are the most intriguing games on Ole Miss' schedule? I picked five that stood out.
1. Memphis (December 5)
Last year's late November game in Fedex Forum was a fantastic college basketball game. It was Ole Miss' first real test of the season. The Rebels overcame a sluggish first half performance and made a run late in the game, but ultimately fell short in an 87-86. defeat. Memphis won't have the same star power that accompanied their freshman class that included James Wiseman, D.J. Jeffries and Precious Achiuwa, but Penny Hardaway still reeled in another five star in Moussa Cisse. This year, this game is in Oxford and is the fourth game of the season after a round robin tournament. This game will be the first litmus test of the Rebels' toughness and is of course a potential resume builder if they were able to win the game. This game makes the list simply because of its location on the schedule and the first arduous task this new group will face.
2. at Dayton (December 19)
Two weeks to the day following the Memphis game, the Rebels will be Dayton, Ohio to face the Flyers in what is their first week on the road following a midweek game at Middle Tennessee State. Dayton was the mid-major storyline of college basketball last season before its premature end led by future lottery pick Obi Toppin. This is a much different team Flyers team without Toppin, but there is enough talent returning from last year's roster that this will be a formidable road test for the Rebels, even without a normal crowd. If this is a close contest down the stretch, this feels like a game where Ole Miss finds out who it can trust on the floor in crunch time and who they play through in crucial possessions. Davis' first two teams have been very guard-oriented largely because of what he inherited from Andy Kennedy. But Davis' career provides evidence that he prefer to play through the front court. Does have have the horses to do that this year? Will Joiner be an elite-enough scorer to force him not to do so? Barring a blowout, this feels like a game in which you will learn a lot about this team.
3. at Alabama (December 29)
This is the SEC opener and one hell of a measuring stick game for Ole Miss to open SEC play with. Nate Oates brought in a top 12 recruiting class and there is a great deal of buzz surrounding the Crimson Tide entering this season. These are the games Davis so often referred to in impassioned postgame monologues last year. How will this team fair in its first SEC road test? The Rebels got blown out in this building two years ago and really just came unglued in the process. This will be a fascinating opener in terms of where the Rebels actually fit in the SEC landscape.
4. Tennessee (February 2)
Rick Barnes' Volunteers are the favorite to win the SEC this year and for good reason. As the calendar turns to February and the NCAA Tournament push intensifies, where is Ole Miss at this point? Is it a must-have to makeup for a tough month of January? Is it irrelevant at this point because of how the team has faired in the season's first two months? Perhaps it is an opportunity for a huge NET-boosting win that further strengths an NCAA resume that is fringing on being concrete. Who knows at this point, but this game to open the season's penultimate month has potential.
5. at Kentucky (March 2)
If you'll remember, Ole Miss nearly pulled off an upset in Rupp last February that would have really vaulted the Rebels back into the NCAA Tournament conversation after an awful start to SEC play. It came at a time in which Ole Miss was playing its best basketball of the season, but also ended up serving as a breaking point as the team ran out of gas after this gut-wrenching loss. This year, this is the final game of the Rebels' SEC season. Similar to the aforementioned Tennessee game, where is Ole Miss at this point? Fighting to get back on the bubble? Firmly in and looking to improve seeding? Limping to the finish line? Any scenario except the last means this game has significant implications.
The Rebels tip off the 2020-21 season on November 25 against Central Arkansas
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November 09, 2020 at 05:22AM
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Five most ingriguing games on the Ole Miss Basketball schedule - 247Sports
"five" - Google News
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