Ole Miss knows its first SEC Tournament opponent but this week is about getting itself right
Kicking off the second day of the Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament in Nashville will be Ole Miss taking on Arkansas for the right to play 1 Seed Auburn in Friday’s quarterfinal.
Having a bye from Wednesday’s first round action inside Bridgestone Arena the 8 Seed Rebels (21-10) had to wait and see which team they would take on between the 9 Seed Razorbacks and 15 Seed South Carolina.
Turns out Chris Beard will face John Calipari for the second time this season after Arkansas (20-12) held off a late-surging South Carolina for the 72-68 win, keeping their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
Postseason NCAA rules allow for in-person scouting so Beard and his staff took in Wednesday’s contest. This is the first time he has watched Arkansas since the two teams met over two months ago in Fayetteville. Ole Miss left with the 73-66 victory as part of its 4-0 start to SEC play.
Thursday brings to the two teams back together. One is just trying to better its seeding for next week’s NCAA Tournament while the other it just trying to make sure it stays in the Field of 68.
While Beard did do some personal scouting he also is not completely sold on how much that does for preparation in the postseason.
“What are you really picking up this time of year? Not much,” Beard said when talking with media on Tuesday before heading to Nashville. “Most coaches will make a couple adjustments for postseason play. Hopefully we’ll be able to see those in our own eyes.”
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As of the latest ‘Bracketlology’ update on Wednesday from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi the Rebels were still the 7 Seed in the West Region (San Francisco) while Arkansas was one of the Last Four Bye teams as a 10 seed in the East Region (Newark).
For Ole Miss the week is focused more on themselves and trying to stick around Nashville as long as possible.
Of course that means winning the next game in front of them and the Rebels will prepare for Arkansas. But with the NCAA Tournament at-large bid wrapped up, seemingly, it is trying to take advantage of the extra day off.
Beard noted his team would use Wednesday as much as a day for practicing as they would for resting up one more day before the grind starts.
“With our team it’s just kind of putting the week together with one extra day,” Beard added. “Valuing practice and rest. Is the bye ideal? That’s a question. …What’s more important? Momentum and having a chance to play the night before or (is it) more important to rest? That’s a coin flip. Everybody’s got a different opinion on that one.”
Ole Miss and Arkansas will play at Noon CT on Thursday and the game will air on SEC Network.
