Ole Miss basketball hustling in NCAA Transfer Portal, aiming to land three or four players to facilitate bounce-back effort

The firm date for college basketball players to get into the NCAA Transfer Portal is May 1.

Ole Miss, however, isn’t waiting around to see who all becomes available. 

Sources indicate the plan, for now, is for no more than six current Rebels to return next season. Now-fifth-year head coach Kermit Davis told the Ole Miss Spirit earlier this week he would be surprised if guards Daeshun Ruffin and Matthew Murrell aren’t back, though they would undoubtedly attract significant portal interest. Injured veteran forward Robert Allen is a roster lock, as is forward Jaemyn Brakefield, formerly of Duke. 

Jarkel Joiner is feeling out the NBA Draft evaluation process but has the option of a sixth and final collegiate season. Tye Fagan had knee surgery on Wednesday. Eric Van Der Heijden and Grant Slatten have already announced their intention to transfer.

“With what’s going on in college basketball and the SEC, the time of really developing young guys for a couple of years, that’s changing a little bit,” Davis said. “Just being patient and knowing exactly what you’re looking for (in the portal). Toughness and character also matters, along with talent, and just getting the right fit of guys that are really trying to come here and fit into a really good team.”

Ole Miss has reached out to double-digit transfers. 

Among the targets: Guards Dylan Penn (Bellarmine), Will Richard (Belmont), Desmond (Nevada) and Devan (Auburn) Cambridge, Erick Stevenson (South Carolina) and Quincy McGriff (JUCO), as well as forwards Jaylan Gainey (Brown), Jason Roche (Citadel), Fardaws Aimaq (Utah Valley), Jalen Graham (Arizona State), Noah Carter (Northern Iowa), Will Richard (Belmont) and Alex Tchikou (Alabama). 

Penn was Bellarmine’s leading scorer last season. Richard shot 47 percent from the field and averaged 12 points, six rebounds and two assists. Aimaq was one of the nation’s top rebounders and had 24 double-doubles. Carter was a second-team All-MVC selection. Desmond and Devan Cambridge are brothers seeking to play together. Stevenson totaled 11.6 points and 4.7 rebounds.

“We may go after one really good, long guard/wing,” Davis said. “Just attacking it. It’s competitive. I’d say (we need) a combination of one of the best defensive bigs out there — shot-blocking ability, rim-rolling — but we’ve got to have a skilled big that can stretch the floor, play-make, athletic. I go back to a couple of my guys that we had at Middle (Tennessee). Don’t have to be 6-10, but 6-8, tough and can make a three. Move.”

The question, of course, is if Ole Miss has the financial resources to hang around in the most heated recruiting battles for top transfers. 

An example, Ole Miss, on Monday, was one of 13 schools to hold a Zoom call with Gainey, the two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. He’s also heard from Duke, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Florida State and Georgetown, to list a handful. Arkansas and Duke are in the Elite Eight. He’s visiting Florida State this weekend. 

Rebel football utilized new NCAA rules for NIL (name, image and likeness) to sign one of, if not the top, transfer classes in the country earlier this year. But NIL didn’t really factor in all that much in Ole Miss basketball’s additions of Brakefield, Fagan and Nysier Brooks last season.

“Does it come up in most conversations? It sure does, the NIL,” Davis said. “Ole Miss is making really good progress. Like a lot of schools around the country, we’ve got to stay competitive. I know the Ole Miss people will. We feel good about it.”

In the end, Davis believes one of the biggest keys in turning the program around following a 13-19 season is getting Ruffin back healthy. 

Ruffin, the dynamic true freshman guard and one-time highest-ranked signee in school history, went down with a torn ACL in February. Ruffin had already missed eight games after breaking his right hand in the season opener. 

He was averaging 12.6 points, 3.4 assists and a team-high 2.3 steals per game. Ruffin was the first McDonald’s All-American to sign with the Rebels.

“He had three injuries,” Davis said. “Completely healthy, he’s as good or better than Kennedy Chandler at Tennessee (a projected first-round pick in this summer’s NBA Draft). He came back and he wasn’t himself and we won three out of four. He was just rounding into shape and comfortable off his hand injury. He had another knee injury before that. Getting him healthy, and Matt Murrell can be as good as any off-guard in our league.”

Ole Miss is bringing in four high-schoolers. 

The Rebels signed forward Malique Ewin and guards TJ Caldwell and Robert Cowherd in the fall. Guard Amaree Abram committed March 5. Abram and Ewin are ranked as Top 100 players by the On3 Consensus — a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Caldwell is No. 117.

Sources indicate Ole Miss intends to sign “three or four” in the portal.