Kennedy, Ole Miss enjoying young season's reversal of fortune

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. -- Last year, this week was a bad week for Andy Kennedy.

First he was arrested for an incident with a cab driver.

Then his star point guard tore his ACL.

Those setbacks -- one off the court, one on, both of which happened within 24 hours of each other -- were factors in a promising Ole Miss team ultimately finishing 7-9 in the SEC. But here we are, a year later, and Kennedy has the Rebels ranked 20th nationally and looking like future SEC West champions heading into Wednesday night's game against UTEP at the Desoto Civic Center in Southaven.

This time last year, Kennedy's Rebels were generating the wrong type of news. (US Presswire)

"It's truly a testament of perseverance, which I guess is a microcosm of life," Kennedy said. "There are going to be highs and lows."

As you probably remember, Kennedy was arrested early Dec. 18 after a cab driver in Cincinnati named Mohamed Moctar Ould Jiddou alleged the Ole Miss coach punched him and used racial slurs. Right away, Kennedy "vehemently" denied all charges. But by then the damage was done, thanks to a 24-hour news cycle that leads to the reporting of allegations when they are alleged, and not a moment later.

"I knew once I was in a police car that it was going to be a situation just because of the world we live in," Kennedy said. "But I also knew fact from fiction, and I knew at the end of the day that it would be a non-issue. It was not the way it was projected in the first 24 or 48 hours. When the dust settled, it was [a] disorderly conduct [charge] and a $100 fine. It was a non-issue."

But Chris Warren's torn ACL was an issue.

It was just as bad as it seemed when it happened late in a 77-68 loss to Louisville. Warren joined fellow guards Trevor Gaskins and Eniel Polynice on the sideline for the rest of the season. Consequently, the Rebels played the SEC portion of their schedule without three of their projected top five guards. That made everything difficult.

But it might've also been a warped blessing given that it expedited the development of Terrico White, a 6-foot-5 guard who went from a borderline Top 100 recruit to the SEC Freshman of the Year while averaging 13.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.

"I certainly don't think Terrico's development would've been what it is today [without Warren's injury]," Kennedy said. "And we told Terrico that there's no reason to feel guilty about it. Opportunities present themselves in strange ways"

Really strange.

Consider that without Warren's injury, White would've likely spent his freshman season as a reserve, playing off the ball and behind Warren and David Huertas. Instead, White was forced into playing point guard, became more aggressive out of necessity, and now he's a legitimate NBA prospect scoring 16.3 points per game.

Beyond that, it's reasonable to assume Kennedy would've been a serious candidate to replace John Calipari at Memphis if not for the incident in Cincinnati, and it's possible, if not likely, that Kennedy would've accepted an offer to move 85 miles north before the school ever got around to hiring Josh Pastner.

Instead, Kennedy is in his fourth season at Ole Miss, coaching a team with an 8-1 record, a dynamic backcourt -- Warren is healthy now, by the way; he's averaging a team-best 17.8 points -- and the potential to advance in the NCAA tournament.

In other words, a year later, everything is fine at Ole Miss.

And these highs might end up being higher than those lows were low.