A Visit with Chris Beard: Ole Miss Men’s Basketball Coach Discusses 2024-25 Rebels’ Roster
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss men’s basketball head coach Chris Beard visited with The Rebel Walk Monday afternoon and talked about his team’s returnees, recent transfer portal commits, incoming freshmen, and the upcoming 2024 season.
With the portal additions of Sean Pedulla, Davon Barnes, Dre Davis, Malik Dia and Mikeal Brown-Jones, Ole Miss adds experience and depth in year two under Coach Beard. The Rebels’ head coach seemed to have a specific type of player in mind when going into the recent portal window, adding much-needed size and length to the roster.
We asked Beard what he liked about the 2024 portal class thus far.
“It’s a talent talent-driven business, so what was equally important to us was trying to get some guys that have experienced winning before, had some individual success and great team success. So, several of our guys have played in the NCAA tournament…“
Coach Beard on his portal class
Coach Beard on his incoming portal players
Here’s what Coach Beard has to say about each of the new transfers in:
Sean Pedulla: “Pedulla, we believe, is one of the best guards in college basketball. He’s got a proven track record as an all-conference player in ACC. His intangibles, his ability to run a team and also score were very viable to us.”
Davon Barnes: “Davon Barnes from Sam Houston. Just a winner man. Made the last two NCCA tournaments, one in Texas Southern and one in Sam Houston. He has positional size and is a high-character guy.”
Dre Davis: “Dre Davis has done a lot of great individual stuff, plus a lot of team stuff at Seton Hall. He just won the NIT championship a couple of weeks ago. So, another guy can do a lot of things. He has competitiveness and is really important to us.”
Mikeal Brown-Jones: “Mikeal Brown-Jones comes from Greensboro and just graduated a couple of days ago. He comes in as an experienced player. He played for a really good coach and a really good program. He has some versatility and can-do things around the basket on both ends. So, another winner.”
Malik Dia: “Malik has a lot of skill, he’s around 6’10 240-250 and really dominant in the paint but also established himself as a shooter last season. Defensively, he would give us some physicality that we really have been looking for.”
Returnees
Ole Miss lost seven of the ten players who played significant minutes for Beard in 2023; four entered the transfer portal and the other three ran out of eligibility. However, Beard returns TJ Caldwell, Jaylen “JuJu” Murray, Jaemyn Brakefield and Robert Cowherd for another season.
The Rebel head coach commented on what those guys will mean to the 2024 team.
“They’ve (the returning players) already been in the program before; they understand expectations and four of those guys have a chance to be leaders in their own ways…Another thing we talked about with those guys a lot is I think all four of them can improve… all of them have huge ceiling to them.“
~ Beard on the returners from the 2023 team
Talented High School Additions
Beard also added two very talented high school prospects from the class of 2024, center John Bol and guard Eduardo Klafke. In my opinion, both signees can make an impact right away in the 2024 season with many other new faces likely still finding a role as well.
We asked Beard where he sees Bol and Klafke fitting in on next year’s roster.
“We recruited both guys to have an impact right away. There’s always a learning curve in college basketball…With Klafke, it will just be his experience to play different positions in the backcourt. He will continue to learn to take care of the ball and grow as a defensive player. He’s really competitive and was born to be a basketball player. As a young man, he already made a lot of sacrifices, leaving home when he was young to play in the NBA Academy…“
Coach Beard on Eduardo Klafke
“John Bol, obviously, the talent, the length, athleticism, rebounding, blocking ability. He will have a chance to contribute early. But equally important to me in recruiting John was his personality, his intelligence, his character. He’s a guy that is going to work on his craft. The pressure of the world won’t be on any of those young guys’ shoulders, but there’s a solid opportunity for them to contribute and play as well as freshmen.”
~ Beard on John Bol
2024-25 SEC Matchups Announced
The SEC matchups for the 2024 men’s basketball season were officially released on Monday. The Rebels will take on Auburn, LSU and Mississippi State twice in a home-away series and will face the other 12 SEC teams just once.
Coach Beard commented on the new-look SEC while also adding to the ‘culture’ trend that was set around the Ole Miss program upon his arrival.
“A lot of things changed in college basketball in terms of the conference continuing to change and bring teams in, realign and all. So, me personally, just from a traditional basketball standpoint, I wish you had a chance play everybody in equal amount, like a true a champion. I understand when you start getting 12 to 14 teams in leagues or even more, it’s hard to do that. As coaches we don’t make those decisions… I know this, the SEC is as good as any conference in college basketball. So the addition of Oklahoma and Texas coming in the league, the league only strengthens. I glanced at it this morning, and I saw we had some good home games for the fans. I see some challenging road games, it’s going to be tough when you’re in the SEC, but I think tough is an opportunity. I think tough is the reason why great players want to play in this league.“
Coach Beard on the SEC
Coach Beard also talked about his first season at Ole Miss and the culture the Rebels’ are building.
“In terms of our crowd, just a lot of work went into that from administration to our coaches. We had a good first-year relationship with the students..We think we can develop one of the best home courts in college basketball…Season tickets, people are buying seats, and we really appreciate it. We’ve just got to get people to come to the games more on the nights others cannot come to the games, (so they can) give their tickets away to other Ole Miss fans. So that would be the real challenge, a real priority for us this summer and the fall, is just thanking all the season ticket holders, but asking them if we can have some improvement in terms of seats being filled every night.“[/perfectpullquote]
~ Beard on the 2024 season and the Pavilion crowd
Be sure to stay tuned to The Rebel Walk for more updates!
Kameron Wicker
Kam is an undergraduate at Ole Miss, currently pursuing a degree in Journalism. Even though he’s from Delhi, Louisiana, that didn’t stop Kam from growing up a diehard Ole Miss fan. He’s a sports guru who watches and follows all sports at all times. He lettered four years in football and baseball in high school and is an avid Saints, Pelicans, and Astros fan. In his free time, you can find him watching sports or at the rec participating in them.
