Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard understands the assignment: Can he move to 6-0 in NCAA round-one games?
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MILWAUKEE — No. 6-seed Ole Miss men’s basketball is set to do battle against No. 11-seed North Carolina today in Milwaukee in first round action of the NCAA tournament. The Rebels will do so with a head coach at the helm who has never lost an opening-round game in March Madness.
Chris Beard is 5-0 in round-one games in the NCAA tourney (at the D1 level) and is 11-5 overall when the madness begins. His ability to coach his teams to wins in their initial games is impressive, and the mentality to do that is one Beard credits to his mentor, the late Bobby Knight.
While he’s 5-0 in those games, Beard believes them to be the toughest.
“Very, very difficult,” Beard explained of the first games in the tourney.
“A couple things. One, you never take for granted coming to the NCAA Tournament. It’s really difficult no matter what your conference, no matter what your situation. These things don’t just happen because of what’s on your jersey. Every team in this tournament has earned the right to be here through different paths. (I) just always remind myself and our staff and our players, this is really difficult.“
Chris Beard on the NCAA tournament
From Coach Knight, Beard learned the significance of never underestimating the first-round game, and there is little chance of Ole Miss taking North Carolina lightly. The Rebels, while the No. 6 seed, are actually underdogs to the No. 11 Tar Heels. At the time of this writing, Vegas has North Carolina favored by two points.
“In my opinion, the most important game in any tournament is the first game. It’s something Coach Knight talked about often. The first time he said it, I didn’t have to put it in my journal. I heard it, I thought about it, and I think about it every day since. For us, with our team, we set up every tournament as a four-team tournament. We never look that far ahead, whether it’s the conference tournament or now the national tournament. We’re in a four-team bracket here… The first game in the tournament is the most important, period. Sometimes, or often, the most challenging game too for so many reasons.”
Coach Beard on first-round games
Coach Beard knows of what he speaks — Ole Miss is the fourth different D1 school he has taken to the NCAA tournament, and one of those, Texas Tech, he led all the way to the national championship game in 2019. He has joined an elite group of active head coaches who have brought four or more schools to an NCAA Tournament: Steve Alford, Rick Barnes, John Calipari, Fran McCaffery, Rick Pitino, and Kelvin Sampson.
Beard understands that regardless of North Carolina arriving via a play-in game, the Tar Heels will be a tough foe.
“I think their team, it’s an interesting team to look at,” Beard began. “I know there’s a lot of dialogue. But when you get in the guts of their season, just a lot of one- or two-possession games that could have gone the other way and Carolina’s seeding could have been completely different.”
The Rebels’ head coach summarized what makes the Tar Heels dangerous.
“It’s March. It’s a 68-team tournament, and everything you’ve done before doesn’t matter. They’re talented, have great guard play, good interior play, have a balance between young talent and experienced players who have been around a long time.Defensively, they have a real identity. Offensively, they have an identity, and it’s still North Carolina. The way they can get the ball up the court, feels like Dean Smith’s still sitting over there.”
Coach Beard on North Carolina
There’s no doubt today’s game will be a battle. But if there’s any team in the tournament who is battle-tested, it would be Ole Miss. The regular season schedule for the Rebels was one of the most difficult in the nation. As of March 18, their cumulative opposition’s win percentage of 63.8 ranks as the fourth-highest in the nation, behind only Alabama, Auburn, and Kentucky. The Rebels have faced 12 ranked opponents this season and six top-five teams, both of which are the most in a single season in school history.
Can Chris Beard go move to 6-0 in opening round games of the NCAA tournament? Tune in at 3:05 p.m. CT to find out! The game will be broadcast on TNT.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception. Email Evie at: Evie@TheRebelWalk.com
