BYU Basketball Reportedly Set to Play Ole Miss in Rady Children's Invitational

The Cougars will travel to San Diego to play Ole Miss in the first round of the Rady Children's Invitational

Mar 21, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Brigham Young Cougars guard Dallin Hall (30) looks to drive against Duquesne Dukes guard Jake DiMichele (44) in the second half during the first round of the NCAA Tournament at CHI Health Center Omaha. / Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

BYU basketball will take on Ole Miss in the first round of the Rady Children's Invitational, according to a report from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. Purdue and NC State will face off in the first round on the opposite side of the bracket. The winner of BYU-Ole Miss will advance to play the winner of Purdue-NC State in the championship game. The losers of those games will play each other in a third place game.

Ole Miss finished 86th in KenPom last year with a 20-12 overall record. The Rebels missed the NCAA Tournament after losing to Texas A&M in the SEC tournament.

The Rady Children's Invitational is new - this will be just the second year it has been played. The second annual tournament will take place November 28-29 inside LionTree Arena on the campus of UC San Diego.

BYU and Purdue

BYU and Purdue don't have a lot of history on the court, but there has been some history off the court in recent seasons. If those two teams end up playing each other in San Diego, there will be various storylines to follow, primarily surrounding BYU true freshman Kanon Catchings.

Catchings signed with Purdue before asking to be released from his NLI and signing with BYU. After Catchings' decision, Painter took to the media to take a shot at Catchings, claiming he was concerned about his role.

“Not at all dissappointed," Painter said when asked how disappointed about the Catchings situation. "We want people that want to be here...He was concerned about his role and just wanted out of his letter."

Painter continued, insinuating that it was Purdue that made the decision to part ways after Catchings raised his concern. "[Catchings] went back the next day and said everything was good and it was just like, nah, it’s probably better if we part ways. If you're questioning things before things start, it's kind of the uncertainty that every freshman that comes in has those certain thoughts. You compete and earn your way into a role. I can't anoint a role to somebody out of thin air. You walk in and you compete...if anything it's just the happiness of your players and the happiness of your team. It's competition and it's difficult, but if right away you've sensed that you're starting off on the wrong foot and someone wants out of their letter, it's probably best that you go your separate ways. We wish him good luck and hope everything works for him.”

Kanon's Mom, Tauja, responded to Painter's comments via the Indy Star. “Kanon’s goal when he committed to Purdue was just to play college basketball,” Tauja Catchings told the IndyStar. “His goal now is to play in the NBA. Purdue has been more of a traditional program, which I like. ... But I think Kanon was probably looking for a program that can support his timeline.”