College basketball rankings: 2024 could be a great year for Chris Beard, who is undefeated at Ole Miss
The 13-0 Rebels are No. 15 in the Top 25 And 1
By
Gary Parrish
•
2 min read
The calendar flipped, at the stroke of midnight, from December 2023 to January 2024 and officially put another year in the books. It's hard to imagine any college basketball coach had a stranger 12 months than Chris Beard.
Allow me to recap.
On the fifth day of 2023, Texas fired Beard following a domestic incident with a woman who was his fiancee at the time. Just like that, his dream job at his alma mater was gone. Just like that, his coaching future was uncertain. But then, less than 10 weeks after he was terminated, Beard was hired at Ole Miss. And on the final day of 2023, on Sunday afternoon inside The Pavilion in Oxford, the 50-year-old former CBS Sports National Coach of the Year guided the Rebels to a 95-78 victory over Bryant that improved Ole Miss to 13-0, which means that in the same year that Beard was fired by a Big 12 school, he now has a SEC school as one of the only three undefeated teams left in the sport. The others are Houston and James Madison.
Also worth noting: Ole Miss has already won more games this season than it did all of last season in the final year under Kermit Davis. The Rebels have done it by matching the best start in program history.
"If we're going to do the things that we want to get done here, and why we came to Oxford, there's going to be a lot of records that need to be approached and broken over the years -- and over the next months and weeks," said Beard, whose Rebels are No. 15 in Monday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings
I have Ole Miss in the top 15 of the Top 25 And 1 largely because I believe that in a season where UConn, Duke, Arizona, Kentucky, FAU, and Creighton have all already lost to sub-70 teams at KenPom.com, there's simply something to be said for just never losing to anybody (even if the resume is light on big wins). Yes, the Rebels own an 80-77 victory over Memphis that's a certain resume-builder. But they haven't beaten another top-70 team at KenPom.com so far this season, and that fact combined with their subpar computer numbers — Ole Miss is No. 59 in the NET, No. 64 at BartTorvik.com and No. 79 at KenPom.com — are among the reasons some skeptics remain.
I get it.
But it should be noted that Beard's coaching career is filled with examples of him exceeding expectations, often very quickly. He led Little Rock to a school-record 30 victories in his first and only season in the Sun Belt, then guided Texas Tech to its first trip to the Elite Eight in just his second season in the Big 12 before also coaching the Red Raiders to their first trip to the Final Four and national title game a year later.
In other words, it should only be surprising that Chris Beard is already overachieving at Ole Miss if you forget that this is Chris Beard we're talking about. History shows this is exactly the kind of stuff he's capable of doing, and it'll be fascinating to see if he can keep it going as the Rebels prepare to open the SEC portion of their schedule on Saturday at Tennessee.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
1
Memphis
2
Arizona
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Zach Edey finished with 13 points and seven rebounds in Friday's 80-53 win over Eastern Kentucky. The Boilermakers' next game is Tuesday at Maryland. | -- | 8-0 |
| 2 |  | Hunter Dickinson finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds in Saturday's 86-67 win over Wichita State. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday against TCU. | -- | 6-3 |
| 3 |  | LJ Cryer finished with 16 points and four assists in Saturday's 81-42 win over Penn. The Cougars' next game is Saturday against West Virginia. | -- | 7-1 |
| 4 |  | Zakai Zeigler finished with 13 points and five assists in Thursday's 65-46 win over Tarleton State. The Vols' next game is Jan. 2 against Norfolk State. | -- | 7-2 |
| 5 |  | Coleman Hawkins finished with 18 points and three rebounds in Friday's 104-71 win over Fairleigh Dickinson. The Illini's next game is Tuesday against Northwestern. | -- | 6-2 |
| 6 |  | Samson Johnson finished with 16 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 69-65 win over St. John's. The Huskies' next game is Jan. 2 against DePaul. | -- | 7-1 |
| 7 |  | David Jones finished with 19 points and three steals in Saturdays 81-70 win over Austin Peay. The Tigers' next game is Thursday at Tulsa. | 1 | 3-4 |
| 8 |  | Tyler Kolek finished with 15 points and eight assists in Saturday's 72-67 win over Creighton. The Golden Eagles' next game is Saturday at Seton Hall. | 1 | 5-4 |
| 9 |  | Kylan Boswell was 2-of-11 from the field in Sunday's 100-82 loss at Stanford. The Wildcats' next game is Thursday against Colorado. | 2 | 7-0 |
| 10 |  | Antonio Reeves finished with 27 points and six rebounds in Friday's 96-70 win over Illinois State. The Wildcats' next game is Jan. 6 at Florida. | -- | 5-3 |
| 11 |  | RJ Davis finished with 20 points and 10 assists in Friday's 105-60 win over Charleston Southern. The Tar Heels' next game is Tuesday at Pitt. | -- | 7-1 |
| 12 |  | Jalon Moore finished with 21 points and six rebounds in Sunday's 72-56 win over Monmouth. The Sooners' next game is Saturday against Iowa State. | -- | 6-2 |
| 13 |  | Isaiah Stevens finished with 13 points and seven assists in Friday's 106-61 win over Adams State. The Rams' next game is Tuesday against New Mexico. | -- | 6-2 |
| 14 |  | Noah Waterman finished with 17 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 94-68 win over Wyoming. The Cougars' next game is Saturday against Cincinnati. | -- | 7-1 |
| 15 |  | Allen Flanigan finished with 20 points and nine rebounds in Sunday's 95-79 win over Bryant. The Rebels' next game is Saturday at Tennessee. | -- | 5-3 |
| 16 |  | Joseph Girard finished with 24 points and four rebounds in Friday's 93-58 win over Radford. The Tigers' next game is Wednesday at Miami. | -- | 7-2 |
| 17 |  | Jared McCain finished with 24 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 106-69 win over Queens. The Blue Devils' next game is Tuesday against Syracuse. | -- | 9-0 |
| 18 |  | Ja'Kobe Walter finished with 26 points and five assists in Friday's 107-48 win over Mississippi Valley State. The Bears' next game is Jan. 2 against Cornell. | -- | 6-1 |
| 19 |  | AJ Storr finished with 29 points and two rebounds in Friday's 80-53 win over Chicago State. The Badgers' next game is Jan. 2 against Iowa. | -- | 6-2 |
| 20 |  | T.J. Bickerstaff finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 82-65 win over Texas State. The Dukes' next game is Thursday at Louisiana. | -- | 6-4 |
| 21 |  | Devin Carter finished with 24 points and nine rebounds in Saturday's 85-75 win over Butler. The Friars' next game is Jan. 3 against Seton Hall. | -- | 5-4 |
| 22 |  | Johni Broome finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 101-66 win over Chattanooga. The Tigers' next game is Tuesday against Penn. | -- | 7-2 |
| 23 |  | Alijah Martin was 3-of-14 from the field in Saturday's 72-68 loss to Florida Gulf Coast. The Owls' next game is Tuesday against East Carolina. | -- | 5-3 |
| 24 |  | Henry Coleman finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds in Saturday's 79-54 win over Prairie View A&M. The Aggies' next game is Saturday against LSU. | -- | 7-2 |
| 25 |  | Reese Waters finished with 22 points and five rebounds in Friday's 84-74 win at Gonzaga. The Aztecs' next game is Wednesday against Fresno State. | -- | 4-3 |
| 26 |  | Branden Carlson finished with 34 points and seven assists in Sunday's 95-90 win over Washington. The Utes' next game is Thursday at Arizona State. | -- | 6-3 |
