What plan did Kermit Davis present to Keith Carter last March?
Because the one from the press release isn't working
Ole Miss hasn’t won an SEC basketball game on its home court since January 24, 2022.
Let that sink in.
The Rebels have lost 10 straight home conference games in the last 365 days.
If you’re one of the season ticket holders that dragged yourself to the Pavilion for all 10 of those - I’m sorry.
The losing continued last night as the Rebels dropped one to Mizzou 89-77.
It almost wasn’t fair. With leading scorer Matt Murrell on the bench, Ole Miss found a way to score 77 points, which would have been enough to win on most nights. But not this night, as the Tigers were on absolute fire from three-point range, hitting 16 of 30 (53%!) from outside the arc.
We could get into the minutia of whether the Rebels were playing good defense or allowing too many opportunities off of turnovers, but at this point nobody cares about that. We all just want to see a win, and it’s not happening.
Ole Miss is 9-11 (1-7 SEC) in a year that was supposed to be an NCAA or bust year for Kermit Davis.
At least that’s the way I read Keith Carter’s press release last March when Ole Miss finished 13-19 (4-14 SEC).
The Ole Miss athletics director said that Davis, “has presented to me a plan to regain the momentum that took our program to the NCAA Tournament just a few years ago. Additionally, we are committed to providing him support and resources in order to make the changes necessary to compete for championships. We believe in Kermit’s vision for Ole Miss Basketball and look forward to seeing it translate to NCAA Tournament success.”
Davis also joined in the press release:
“Our players and staff are looking straight ahead with great enthusiasm to get Ole Miss Basketball back to NCAA Tournaments and our third postseason in five years,” Davis said. “This past season was one of the most uniquely challenging years pertaining to injuries I have ever endured as a head coach. We have a great nucleus coming back with four of our top five scorers returning and getting Daeshun [Ruffin], Robert [Allen] and Jarkel [Joiner] 100 percent healthy for the 2022-23 season.”
It’s safe to say that Joiner was part of “the Plan,” but he scored 28 points for North Carolina State last night.
A healthy Allen was probably part of the Plan, but he is averaging 12 minutes and 3.5 points per game.
Ruffin (9.5 ppg) was also integral, but he hasn’t returned to pre-injury form yet (although he did score 18 points for the Rebs against Mizzou).
Presumably, the plan Davis presented to Carter was also to add players from the Transfer Portal.
“We will have a top-25 recruiting class with four high school players that will immediately impact our program, and we will attack the portal as aggressively as any team in America,” Davis said. “I believe in our process but am not satisfied with our progress. And I assure you we will not be satisfied until we achieve what we have set out to do: win NCAA Tournament games."
Barring a miraculous run through the SEC Tournament, the post-season isn’t happening.
From the Top 25 recruiting class, freshmen Amaree Abram (8 ppg) and TJ Caldwell (4.7 ppg) are definitely contributing, but the impact hasn’t been really been felt.
And last, but not least, the aggressive attack of the Transfer Portal has been disastrous.
The Portal gaveth:
Myles Burns: 6.3 ppg
Jayveous McKinnis: 5.2 ppg (4.3 reb)
Josh Mballa: 3.6 ppg (2.5 reb)
Theo Akwuba: 2.8 ppg
Of those, only Burns is playing more than 18 minutes per game. Mballa and Akwuba are playing about 10 minutes a contest.
I don’t know what all was included in “the Plan” that Davis presented to Carter last March, but if it was immediate contributions form the Top 25 class as the Transfer Portal it’s safe to say things aren’t going according to plan.
Now let’s take a look at the players Davis has lost to the Transfer Portal in his tenure:
Austin Crowley (USM) 17.6 ppg
Jarkel Joiner (NC St) 16.3 ppg
Blake Hinson (Pitt) 15.8 ppg
Luis Rodriguez (UNLV) 12 ppg
KJ Buffen (UAB) 10 ppg
Could the current Ole Miss team beat that starting five?
When you consider that Ole Miss only has one player averaging double digits in scoring (Murrell 14.9 ppg) it’s almost mind blowing that Davis let all five of those guys get away.
Davis and his staff may have attacked the Transfer Portal “as aggressive as any team in America,” but it bit them back and swallowed them whole.
On a positive note the easiest bet in college basketball continues to pay off. DraftKings had Ole Miss as a 1.5 favorite on Tuesday morning, and I hope you got rich.
Should have released Kermit last year but they didn't. He was praised for doing such a good job with his two best players injured but now they're back and was 9-10 and lost his best player this year. He's got raw talent on the bench but just can't coach. Its really that simple. Players realized it last year and hit the portal and are doing really well with other teams. Time to get a real coach and not go the cheap route.