Matthew Murrell earns Preseason All-SEC honor; Ole Miss picked to finish ninth in the conference
The college basketball season is a little over a half a month from getting officially started and Ole Miss picked up a preseason honor for one of its veteran players.
Matthew Murrell, who was not expected to be playing in an Ole Miss uniform again after this past March, was voted Second Team Preseason All-SEC by members of the media, The league office announced on Monday.
Grant Nelson of Alabama, Jonas Aidoo and Johnell Davis of Arkansas, and Josh Hubbard of Mississippi State joined Murrell on the All-SEC Second Team.
This marks the third straight year Murrell has earned a preseason All-SEC honor. Murrrell led Ole Miss in in scoring for the third-straight season, averaging 16.2 points per contest while shooting 46.4 percent from the field. The shooting percentage was eighth-best in the SEC last season.
Back in March Murrell gave a blunt answer that those games would be his last in an Ole Miss uniform.
In late May Murrell made the announcement he would return for a final season with the Rebels. This came after spending the previous two months going through the NBA Draft process, deciding another season in college was the best route for him.
“I liked Matt’s answer (in March). That’s where he was mentally,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said last month. “That’s what I thought, too. …In my opinion if Ole Miss would’ve played in the Sweet 16 last year right now. There’s a relationship between winning and success.
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“I’ve been asked that question before. I know no other way for Matt to have answered that question that day, as a competitor. Matt did really well in the draft process. He had a real decision to make. He didn’t come back to college because he had to.”
As a whole team Ole Miss is predicted to finish in the middle of the SEC pack this season.
Along with the Preseason All-SEC honors came the predicted order of finish by the media, placing the Rebels in ninth out of 16 teams.
This comes on the same day Ole Miss was ranked No. 24 in the preseason Associated Press Poll, marking the highest preseason ranking for the Rebels in 27 years.
With six transfers spending preseason camp meshign with Murrell and the other core returners Jaemyn Brakefield and Jaylen ‘JuJu’ Murray, the early-season expectations are high.
Beard is in his second season at Ole Miss, working to get the Rebels back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
Full Predicted SEC Order of Finish:
- Alabama
- Auburn
- Tennessee
- Arkansas
- Texas A&M
- Florida
- Texas
- Kentucky
- Ole Miss
- Mississippi State
- South Carolina
- Georgia
- Missouri
- LSU
- Oklahoma
- Vanderbilt
