Matthew Murrell’s final Ole Miss supporting cast is new, but familiar. It’s also in flux.

Ole Miss’ Matthew Murrell is the rare kind of multi-year, one-school veteran in the now-transfer-dominated culture of college athletics. 

Sure, he’s tested the NBA Draft waters in each of the last two off-seasons, and sources indicate myriad competing schools the last four portal cycles made (lucrative) overtures in attempts to pull him away from Ole Miss.

And, yet, here Murrell is, still an Ole Miss Rebel and finally surrounded by a supporting cast suitable to his next-level talent. The Rebels, under first-year head coach Chris Beard, signed an acclaimed transfer class, headlined by, among others, former Top 20 national prospect Moussa Cisse. 

Murrell and Cisse came up together as developmental hoopers in Memphis. Both were top-ranked recruits in the 2020 class.

“Half the guys I’ve already known just throughout the years playing with them,” Murrell said recently, in a sit-down interview with the Ole Miss Spirit. “I’ve been playing against Al (Flanigan) the past couple of years while he was at Auburn. Brandon Murray, played against him when he was at LSU, (and) played against him in high school. Played against Moussa in high school. Austin (Nunez), same thing.

“Moussa’s one of the best shot-blockers in the country. Brandon, dynamic scorer. Austin’s really crafty with the ball. (Jamarion) Sharp’s one of the best shot-blockers. 

“They all bring something to the team that we all can build off of.”

Unfortunately, Murrell doesn’t yet know who he’ll actually be playing with in 2023-24.

The Rebels are waiting on waivers from the NCAA for final years of eligibility for both Cisse and Murray. Their eligibility is otherwise maxed-out. 

The problem, of course, is Ole Miss, on Monday, opened preseason practices. Not to mention the Rebels’ season opener is November 6 against Alabama State. The clock is quite literally ticking.

Not that that’s ever hurried along the snail-paced NCAA.

“No update,” Beard said. “Not sure what to say on that. Not really sure of the timeframe and stuff. We get a little bit of feedback from the SEC office about potential timeframes and what to expect. I know there’s a lot of players in college basketball, not just our two guys, that are in the middle of this. But no real update. 

“No any update.”

Ole Miss’ season-long outlook would obviously be dramatically impacted if Cisse and Murray are denied their waivers. 

Cisse is a former five-star prospect with previous college stops at Memphis and Oklahoma State. He was the nation’s No. 17 player in his recruiting class, as well as the No. 2 center nationally and the No. 2 player in Tennessee. He averaged 6.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game for Oklahoma State last season.

Murray, a wing, is formerly of LSU and Georgetown. He put up 13.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists for the Hoyas last season.

“Just being really transparent with our players,” Beard said, when asked how he’s handling the uncertainty. “There are different ways our roster could go this season. We don’t spend a lot of time talking about it or thinking about it. Each day, we just try to get our team better, but we also don’t hide from it. We understand our roster can go one of two different ways this year. 

“We’re just waiting on these waivers.”

Waiting, of course, for a positive outcome.

“I grew up with a lot of these guys,” said Murrell, who, last week, was named second team, preseason All-SEC by College Basketball Almanac. “It’s good to finally have a chance to play with them.

“It’s always an easy transition when you already know guys for a long time. All of them are dynamic players. Al (from Auburn, and son of now-Ole Miss assistant Wes Flanigan), you can stick Al in with any team and he’ll be an impact, inside-out.”