Chris Beard’s Preseason Blueprint: Ole Miss’ depth, Pearl’s exit and what’s next

Third-year Ole Miss basketball coach Chris Beard addressed the media prior to the team’s third preseason practice. 

Beard touched on his new-look roster, Bruce Pearl’s retirement and much, much more. Here’s everything he had to say.

OPENING STATEMENT

BEARD: Third day of practice is always a big day. Every one of them is big. We’re trying to get some carryover from the summer in the preseason to official practice. It’s kind of our big, big goal. First two days went well. Exciting time for college basketball. Guys’ daily schedules have changed with us practicing basically longer now. Just making sure they kind of clean up other areas of their life. 

In other words, in the preseason, guys were in the gym a lot, individual workouts. At this time, team practice becomes the priority. So, kind of spent a lot of time these last couple days kind of defining each guy’s individual schedule. It’s the big thing we’ve been doing around here.

ON HOW OLE MISS GUARD ILIAS KAMARDINE IS ADJUSTING AFTER HIS AUGUST ARRIVAL

BEARD: I think, overall, good, because he’s such an experienced player. He’s shown the ability to really take the information. ‘Here’s what we’re trying to do’ and he gets it done quickly. We don’t waste a lot of time over-explaining things with Ilias.

On the other side of the coin, we’ve got a lot to accomplish. I think different officiating in college basketball than Europe. More physical in some ways. So, just being careful that we don’t just take his talent for granted, that we’re continuing to try to move the needle each day with the things we’ve got to do to help him with shifting from summer into preseason camp. 

ON WHAT HE’S LEARNED ABOUT THESE OLE MISS REBELS THE LAST FEW MONTHS

BEARD: I think, above all, if I had to describe this team based on what we learned this summer in preseason, we have a lot of depth, which should translate to us having very competitive practices, which ultimately in college basketball is where you improve. That’s been a real positive. 

I think sometimes with that depth it can become a challenge if you don’t have guys kind of separating from each other. So, one one hand, it’s really good to have a lot of competition, but on the other hand, it’s an opportunity for guys to kind of separate. That’s been the daily message individually, really, for the past couple weeks. 

ON THE SCHEDULE FOR THE FALL, OLE MISS’ EXHIBITION GAME, ETC.

BEARD: So, they basically give you 42 days, which is six weeks. So, we started on Monday exactly six weeks until our first game, and then in that 42-day period we’ve got 30 practices. It really relates to about a day, day and a half off per week, if that makes sense. 

So, within our 30 practices, we know we have two outside competitions. We’ve got a closed-door scrimmage and then we’ve got the exhibition game here in Oxford with St. Mary’s. I don’t know if that’s been released yet. Breaking news right there.

St. Mary’s, a perennial Top 25 team, a perennial NCAA Tournament team. You think about the recent history of college basketball, I don’t think there’s been a better program build than what was sustained at St. Mary’s. So, in our opinion, we did a really good job getting that game, ‘cause we’re playing a game that’ll really expose a lot of things for us and opportunity. I think that’s the Sunday before the season starts. 

So, obviously not one day before, but that would be eight days before. I don’t have my calendar on me right now. Hopefully that’ll be being released really soon.

ON OLE MISS’ NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

BEARD: Non-conference is set. I think we’re waiting on a couple of contracts to be officially signed. But I’m surprised the schedule’s not out. I was told it’d be out [Wednesday], so I’ll check on that today.

ON OLE MISS GUARD EDUARDO KLAFKE

BEARD: Klafke’s doing well. He had a summer filled with adversity. There’s kind of some nickel and dime injuries. He couldn’t get on the court for more than two or three days at a time. But he worked really, really hard all summer in the training room, strength and conditioning. So, really, we’re blessed to have Klafke on the floor right now. He’s playing well. 

Kind of a balance, you know, of all the things that made him such a good player for us last year. One of only, I think, 11 or 12 freshmen in the SEC that played in every game. It’s time for him to expand his game, but at the same time, don’t forget who you are. You guys remember, one of our great cutters last year, good defensive player, a guy we trusted. 

So, for Klafke, like most sophomores around the country, he’s trying to stay on the floor. But he’s also trying to expand his game, and we support that.

BRACKET WATCH: Ole Miss opens preseason camp in NCAA Tournament field projections

ON LEADERSHIP FROM RETURNING PLAYERS KLAFKE AND MALIK DIA

BEARD: Malik and Klafke are our only returners, so obviously it’s a big part of our team with those guys in terms of leadership. They know a little more than the next guy about what we’re all about around here. Dia has done a good job on that. I think he’s tried to make himself a little bit better leader. It’s important to him. He spends time thinking about it. 

On the basketball court, we’re just looking for consistency with Dia. We hope the one formula to get that consistency will be that he’s in better shape this year. He’s in better condition. His preseason conditioning times were better. It’s important to him. 

I think Dia’s got to rebound the ball for him to be the player he wants to be and for us to be the team we’d like to be.

ON BRUCE PEARL’S RETIREMENT

BEARD: Hadn’t thought about it much, but I did see that. I have a lot of respect for coach Pearl, not just based on our two years competing against him, but really a couple decades before that. We share the common thing of both being Division-ll coaches in our past. Coach Pearl was somebody that, as a Division-ll coach, we looked up to in a lot of ways. 

I think the most important or impressive thing he did at Auburn is he sustained. It wasn’t a one Final Four story. It wasn’t a two or three-year stretch. He built a program that had a lot of consistency in all ways, whether it be the crowd support, attendance, home-court advantage at Auburn and certainly the basketball team. So, a lot of respect for coach, and I know I wish him well in retirement.