The Mississippi Rebels men's basketball represents the University of Mississippi in intercollegiate men's basketball. They have participated in the National Invitation Tournament in 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1989, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012. In 2008 and 2010, they made it to the National Invitation Tournament Semifinals at Madison Square Garden. The Rebels have won the SEC Western Division in 1997, 1998, 2001, 2007, and 2010. From 1999-2006, Rod Barnes coached the Rebels basketball team, and compiled a record of 141-109 during his tenure.
In 2007, Ole Miss hired Andy Kennedy, and the Rebs tied for first place in the SEC West during the 2006–2007 season. Led by the senior trio of Clarence Sanders, Bam Doyne, and Todd Abernethy, the Ole Miss men finished the year with a 21-13 record, including a 16-1 record at home inside Tad Smith Coliseum. They advanced to the second round of the National Invitation Tournament, before falling at Clemson University. In his debut season with the Rebels, Kennedy was named the 2007 SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press after guiding Ole Miss, a preseason last-place pick in the SEC West, to its first division title and most wins since 2001.
In the 2012-2013 season Ole Miss won just their second SEC Tournament title ever, and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002. Ole Miss also set a team record for most SEC wins in a season.
Famous quotes containing the words ole, rebels, men and/or basketball:
“I had crossed de line of which I had so long been dreaming. I was free; but dere was no one to welcome me to de land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land, and my home after all was down in de old cabin quarter, wid de ole folks, and my brudders and sisters. But to dis solemn resolution I came; I was free, and dey should be free also; I would make a home for dem in de North, and de Lord helping me, I would bring dem all dere.”
—Harriet Tubman (c. 1820–1913)
“He that rebels against reason is a real rebel, but he that in defence of reason rebels against tyranny has a better title to “Defender of the Faith,” than George the Third.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Perhaps basketball and poetry have just a few things in common, but the most important is the possibility of transcendence. The opposite is labor. In writing, every writer knows when he or she is laboring to achieve an effect. You want to get from here to there, but find yourself willing it, forcing it. The equivalent in basketball is aiming your shot, a kind of strained and usually ineffective purposefulness. What you want is to be in some kind of flow, each next moment a discovery.”
—Stephen Dunn (b. 1939)