Can Sean Pedulla, New-Look Ole Miss Rebels Challenge For SEC Basketball Crown?

The Ole Miss Rebels goals exceed a top three finish in the Southeastern Conference.

Feb 17, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Chris Beard reacts during a time out during the second half against the Missouri Tigers at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

The Ole Miss Rebels are building some large expectations in men's basketball, and with five days until tip-off, the Rebs are finishing up their preseason fine tuning.

Coming off a 20-12 record in the 2023-2024 season, the Rebels got even better.

The addition of Sean Pedulla has seemed to work great so far, as in their charity match last Sunday, he was their main ball handler up the court. He recorded seven points on an off shooting day, but he made up for it in his playmaking, going for eight assists and only one turnover.

"I mean eight assists one turnover, there'll be a lot of happy moments in this room if we can get that kind of assist-to-turnover ratio from our guard play," head coach Chris Beard said postgame. "But Sean's a competitor. I thought he had the right mindset."

Beard also spoke very highly of Pedulla's ability to play past the collegiate level and the veteran leadership he brings to the table.

"This guy scored 17, 18 points a game in the ACC," Beard said. "He's a bucket. Sean has some aspirations to play after college. I see that vision. I believe in that vision."

Beard did not just praise the unselfishness from Pedulla, but also the entire team as they recorded 25 assists on Sunday.

"We set this team up so we'll have to have some unselfishness," Beard said, "and we obviously did today. Twenty-five assists, not a lot of basketball games like that, so that shows you where our guys were mentally and where there hearts are sharing the ball."

This season has continued to grow in excitement. It started with the Rebs earning their first preseason top 25 ranking in 26 years and grew even heavier when fans showed up to their Sunday morning charity matchup where they put on a show, starting 5-for-5 from the floor and never relinquishing their lead against a respected Big Ten team.

The feel of this Rebels team has featured a mentality of working hard and believing in their coaching staff and also confidence in knowing they deserve to be in the top 25...maybe even higher.

Some of the guys they look to use this season include Jaylen Murray, Malik Dia, Sean Pedulla and Matthew Murrell. While Murray and Murrell were on the team last year, all of these players averaged over 13 points a game last year and look to build chemistry to increase those numbers this year.

As for the end of the season, we are far from it, but the floating expectation around Oxford is top 3 finish in the SEC and possibly even winning the conference. Can the Rebels reach that pinnacle or, at the very least, return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019?

The season is rapidly approaching, and Ole Miss is finishing up its last-minute preparations as it looks ahead to playing Long Island in its season opener on Monday at the SJB Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. CT.