NCAA Basketball: 10 sleeper teams to watch heading into 2023-24 season

Ole Miss Rebels

After a steep fall from grace after the Rebels made the NCAA Tournament in 2019, the Ole Miss AD Keith Carter decided to pull the plug on Kermit Davis and hire ex-Texas coach Chris Beard.

Beard, who was arrested in December of 2022 on a third-degree felony domestic violence charge, had his charge dropped in February — promptly giving AD Keith Carter the window to hire one of college basketball’s talented coaches to resurrect a program in need of revitalization.

Revitalization indeed.

The Rebels brought in a plethora of transfers, including the likes of Brandon Murray* (LSU/Georgetown), Austin Nunez (Arizona State), Moussa Cisse* (Memphis/Oklahoma State), 7’5 giant Jamarion Sharpe (Western Kentucky), Jaylen Murray (Saint Peter’s) and Allen Flannigan (Auburn). (* = waiver needed).

In addition, the Rebels have a solid core of returning players including last year’s leading scorer Matthew Murrell — who withdrew from the NBA draft — alongside stretch-forward Jaemyn Brakefield and TJ Caldwell.

The Rebels will have one of the best interior defenses in the nation (pending Cisse’s waiver). They will be deep, experienced and will display that stingy, no-middle, cutthroat defense Chris Beard has used to his rise in the college basketball coaching ranks. On paper, this is a squad that can undoubtedly get a single-digit seed in March.