Tom Brady, Dogs and Diverse Lunch Tables: Beard says summer is about balance and team-building

Ole Miss men’s basketball is in its second week of summer practices.

The Rebels last season won 24 games and matched the program’s greatest-ever single-season accomplishment and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. 

Just three players return. However, Ole Miss signed three Top 100 recruits, seven transfers and former Eurobasket MVP Ilias Kamardine, who’s finally reported to campus. He was the last arrival.

Third-year Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard updated progress so far with local media on Tuesday. He also talked his off-season of studying Tom Brady and much, much more. 

Here’s everything he had to say.

ON THE EVOLUTION OF MALIK DIA

BEARD: Yeah, I think it’s early, but I think Malik’s trying. We had some really good postseason meetings with him. They kind of bled into the early-summer. Actually met with Malik today one-on-one for a while and just complimented him on his effort. If you’re going to make some improvements and if you’re going to make some changes, the first thing is you have to want to embrace that. It’s one thing to sit around and talk about it; it’s a whole ‘nother thing to actually try to execute it on a daily basis. 

But I think he’s working on just kind of his maturity in terms of handling success and handling adversity. He’s working on trying to be a leader in his own way, and really that all starts with relationships with his teammates. I think it’s very visible that he’s a returner. It’s very visible he’s been in this program before. I’m proud of him. He’s had a good first week in terms of just trying some new things. Last year as a new player you can imagine you’re just trying to survive. You’re taking it all in. This year he seems to be a little bit more confident in himself not pressing so much on the court and off the court. He’s doing a good job getting to know his teammates early on.

ON BEARD’S INFLUENCE IN LANDING BUTLER’S AUGUSTO CASSIA

BEARD: I really like ‘Gusto. He’s another one of these guys [where] basketball doesn’t define him. He’s had an amazing early part of his life being from Brazil, coming to the States and pursuing an education through basketball. Somebody I have a lot of respect for. The first conversations we had weren’t kind of typical player-coach portal recruiting. We obviously talked about basketball, but we talked about other things. He has a chance to be one of the leaders of this team. Because of his composure he doesn’t seem to get too high or too low. He’s earning our trust, but at the same time, we’re trying to earn his trust as well. But he appears to be a guy that if he tells you he’s going to do something, he’s going to try to do it. You can have a grown-man conversation with him. 

BEARD: Basketball, really intrigued. He’s really a position-less player. He’s got size [and] he can stretch the floor like Dia and other guys that can shoot the basketball.

Brings a confidence about him. We’re looking for guys that know how to win. We’re looking for guys that have been coached, and Thad Matta at Butler, in my opinion, is one of the best coaches in college basketball, period. I don’t have a personal relationship with coach, but I think there’s some respect there, and speaking to him about ‘Gusto, he said some pretty strong statements that he believed in him as a young player. ‘Gusto had some adversity with some injuries; never was able to play a full season. So, we’re hoping he can have his most healthy year of basketball. 

But I think he can really help this team because he can play different positions. He’s a mature guy. He’s a big part of what we’re doing here.

RELATED: Beard’s recruiting pitch to Louisville duo? Real talk — and a broken golf cart

ON EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF LSU TRANSFER COREY CHEST

BEARD: Two different ways to look at Corey. You look at him as an SEC transfer that had some real moments in the league as a young player, which is really hard to do. Or you can look at the other side of the coin, where he’s still a young player himself. Just a sophomore in the SEC, so there’s a role for him. There’s some urgency for him to contribute on a daily basis and be a big part of our team this year on the court. But we’re also spending a lot of time and effort on player development and developing his game both physically and mentally. We’ll see where he ends up. 

It’s always a good thing to have young talent in your program that can also contribute physically while they’re still trying to kind of grow into being a player. Athletic guy. He’s got some competitiveness to him. He’s a real player-development guy. Got to work on his skill level, and he embraces that. I don’t want to speak for him, but one of the decisions, I think, for him to come here was kind of the vision we laid out for him not only day one or season one but also the future. 

He’s an athletic guy. He’s a great teammate. All the guys, myself included, enjoy being around him. But like Zach [Day, Ole Miss guard] said, his athleticism is a game-changer. He can do some things other guys can’t do. It’s really two sides of the coin, you know? What can he do to help us today, and then where could this guy be in the future if he works on his game?

ON SECOND-YEAR GUARD EDUARDO KLAFKE AS A POTENTIAL TEAM LEADER 

BEARD: Every team has leaders in different ways. I think a lot of times when you think of a leader you think of Tom Brady or Kobe Bryant. There’s no denying that that leadership is special. But every guy on the team has to be a leader in his own way. So, first thing we try to explain to the players [is] there’s no leader if there’s no followers. 

Tom Brady, for example. I studied him a lot this off-season and he said it himself in several interviews over the years, ‘I can’t lead if other guys don’t want to follow.’ Certainly understanding that with the players. So what most people might perceive as our leader, the captain [or] whoever goes out there and shakes hands with the other team’s player and does the coin flip or whatever, no coin flip in basketball, that guy’s not a leader unless he has people in the organization that want to follow. So, trying to encourage all these guys to pick and choose their moments and lead in certain ways. 

BEARD: ‘Gusto has a chance to be a leader because of his experience, his age [and] his demeanor.

His life experience, he’s been through a lot. Klafke has a chance to lead this year. He’s one of three returners on the team. Max [Smith] was on the team las year. Didn’t get to play, but one of four guys that wore the jersey last year. Klafke also can really lead through his effort. 

Crowd favorite early on [last] season, just with the energy he plays with. That bleeds into everybody else. Guys lead in different ways. From time to time over the years you’re blessed to have that special guy that wants it all on his shoulders. Too early for us to identity that year, but what’s a given and kind of a non-negotiable is everybody on this team’s going to have to find their ways to lead in certain ways, and everybody’s going to have to be a follower as well.

RELATED: ‘Electric player’ Koren Johnson looks to be Ole Miss basketball’s next Sean Pedulla

ON HOSTING MIAMI (FLORIDA) IN THE SEC-ACC CHALLENGE

BEARD: Looking forward to the ACC Challenge. Miami coming to Oxford, home game. That’s an important thing for a lot of reasons. Want to try to have quality opponents for the season-ticket holders.

Coach (Jai) Lucas is a friend of mine. Known him since he was a player and competed against him over the years. A lot of respect for him, mostly recently what he did at Duke. We know this about Miami — they’re going to be talented. They did a really good job in recruiting the spring portal, and then Jai has a lot of experience in basketball. His dad, his brother, he’s a great player himself. 

Very similar, I think, to kind of the Louisville game last year. Louisville … I felt strongly about it. I felt really strongly about it that Louisville was going to be a really good opponent and NCAA Tournament team, whereas most people kind of disagree with that. The same thing could be said for Miami. I think their coaching staff knows what they’re doing. They did a great job assembling talent on the roster. So, it’ll be a great opportunity game for us.

ON OLE MISS BEING WHERE IT NEEDS TO BE TWO WEEKS INTO SUMMER

BEARD: A lot of urgency on that. We’re just fighting time. You just want to have a team meeting and a team exercise to just kind of max the 24 hours every day. But it’s the summertime. A big part of summer is balance. We all know what’s coming when the grind starts, so it’s kind of a fine line. We want to work really hard during the summer, but we also want to encourage these guys to have some fun. 

Balance is a big part of our process, whether these players are in a relationship or a couple of these guys have dogs, which is a huge commitment. All these guys have a passion off the court. So, that’s kind of a fine line in the summer. We want to work extremely hard, but there’s a great value and just a natural off-day, too, where these guys can kind of just on their own terms spend time with each other. 

I think we had a really good first week with guys’ willingness to do that. I noticed the simple things like when we meet as a team is it always the same guys sitting at the same table? Do we have some variety, some diversity [with] who guys are hanging out with? We’ve seen that. Again, I give those four returning players a lot of credit. They’ve tried to help their teammates get comfortable in Oxford. 

BEARD: The new guys have come in here with a lot of courage.

This is not a team where a transfer can just come in and kind of fit in. This is a team where literally Dia and Klafke played minutes last year. Other than that, everybody’s new. The first week felt good. We had a lot of energy around the program. I think we got better in our three team practices. We’ve got some guys already making some strides in the weight room, trying to take some weight off. A few guys trying to put some weight on. 

A few guys academically off to a good start. About half our team in academic classes the first session of summer. We set the same goal that we’ve had since 1999. We’re trying to make all As and Bs as a program. From time to time you’ve got to fight for a C, but the effort is where we have a standard around here. Week one felt good. We’ve got this week and then next week [followed by] July 4th. We’re going to take a few days off. 

We’re just fighting time more than anything. Just trying to get as much done as we can every day. But, again, also letting the guys enjoy Oxford. This is a great college town. It’s summertime. We all know what’s ahead here in a few months. It’s a fine line, for sure. 

ON STUDYING TOM BRADY

BEARD: I don’t think I’ve met Tom Brady. I might have shook his hand at some event, but I’ve never met him in terms of quality conversation or anything. But one thing I’ve always done is each off-season I’ll try to study winning. It doesn’t always have to happen in the form of basketball. Doesn’t always even have to be athletic-minded. But just trying to kind of study successful people and try to kind of learn what [makes them] tick. 

Certainly with Brady what he did in football kind of speaks for itself. I think retirement this past year or so. He’s been pretty vocal and does an interview from time to time. Always really interested in a guy that really talks not all the fluff. That’s one of the cool thing about today’s world with some of these podcasts and stuff. It seems like some of these winners, elite people will talk a little bit more freely than they used to back in the day. 

BEARD: Back in the day when I was with coach [Bobby] Knight the only way people could really get access to coach is watch his postgame press conference or maybe he did a live with Larry King or something from time to time.

You just starve for information of these people. But now it’s like people just talk on a daily basis. Just the access to information, you kind of weed it out. You can kind of tell that was kind of fluffy, but, I mean, that’s who he is. 

If you listen to a guy long enough and you study about him or her you can kid of understand what makes him tick. With Brady it’s the ultimate chip on the shoulder. Wasn’t supposed to play in college, ends up being the best player. Wasn’t supposed to be a draft pick, ends up being the best player. All of his teams won. His relationship with his teammates, relationships with his organization — coaches, owners, the whole deal. I really enjoyed trying to learn as much as I could about him.

ON THE FUTURE OF BEARD FIRESIDE CHATS

BEARD: It’s been good to us over the years — direct communication with the students, and then other people enjoy just watching it. So, yeah, we definitely need to do that. We’re looking forward to year three. Our relationship with our students has grown so much from the first season to the last season. It’s just really an important relationship to us, so we’ve been waiting, meeting on all things marketing and stuff like that on a weekly basis.

Since the Michigan State game we’ve added some new people to the team here. We’re looking forward to doing the best job we can to kind of have that relationship with the students. The fireside chat is definitely something we should bring back.