‘Not easy to play at Ole Miss’: Everything Chris Beard said in his final summer presser

Third-year Ole Miss head basketball coach Chris Beard on Thursday held his final press conference of the summer.

Beard was joined by players Malik Dia and AJ Storr. Dia started all 36 games in his debut as a Rebel last season, posting 10.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He averaged 24.3 minutes in Ole Miss’ three NCAA Tournament games, including a high of 11 against Michigan State. 

Ole Miss reached the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history.

Storr started his career at St. John’s. Last season at Kansas he averaged 6.1 points after putting up 16.8 as a sophomore at Wisconsin. The addition of Storr helps off-set the scoring lost following the departures of Sean Pedulla, Matthew Murrell, Dre Davis and others.

Beard touched on Dia, Ole Miss’ SEC schedule and more in his 10-minute-plus sit-down with local media. Here’s everything he had to say.

ON IF OLE MISS IS WHERE HE WANTS THEM TO BE

Beard: No. Never where I want it to be. I think, overall, John Raybon, trainer, did a great job this summer. Above and beyond. Had some guys banged up. What he did with Koren [Johnson, Louisville transfer] was really impressive. 

But a lot of things in that training room. Young guys get here and they’ve just got to adjust. Like all teams, we’ve got some nickel and dime stuff, but that was impressive this summer. Raybon asks a lot of them. He basically runs an NBA training room philosophy. So, that was a victory. 

I mean, the summer is [Ole Miss strength and conditioning coach] John Reilly time. That’s the priority. We kind of set it, your master calendar, kind of in the fall. The academic piece is always a priority ‘cause class times. Guys got to take that class to graduate. That class is at 11 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s where it always kind of starts. 

Then you start getting into, obviously, games, practice times [and] this and that off the court. 

Beard: But in the summer, it’s John Reilly time. 

It’s what we call it. Remember those Miller time commercials? This is John Reilly time, so he’s the priority, and we try to get the guys as fresh as we possibly can before we play the intrasquads. But other than that, it’s John. 

He doesn’t sacrifice anything in the strength and conditioning in terms of when the next practice is. It’s OK if we’re sore from time to time — shooting or film study or something like that. So, John Reilly, I thought he did a really good summer. We took some weight off some guys. We put some weight on some guys. We’ve changed some mental habits. We’ve changed some nutritional habits. 

So, that’s where it always kind of starts from a player development standpoint — the training room, the weight room and the conditioning. Had a good summer academically. Made all As and Bs as a group except for one class. We didn’t get it done, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. Basketball-wise, just a work in progress.

Beard: The way we coach is we’ve got 15 players and we’ve got a plan for those 15 guys. 

We talk about it, we stress it, we focus on it [and] we’re really obsessed with it on a daily basis. These 15 guys getting better, executing a plan, constant evaluation, accountability. That’s really where it kind of starts. In theory, if all 15 guys are playing as well as they can, our team’s probably going to be OK. At the same time, we’re always thinking about the offensive side of the ball. It’s always ball security, spacing, balance. Don’t talk a lot about scoring or points per game or nothing like that, especially in the summer. But we made some strides. We’re getting some things done. 

It’s a new way to play for some guys. I think we did well. Defensively, you know, that’s the bread and butter. That’s where we invest most of our time in the summer. It starts by just simple coaching. If I had a chance to coach a team in the Peach Jam and only had five minutes with them in the parking lot before the game I would probably identify that we got to get back on defense. We’ve got to finish possessions with blockouts. Those are what we call the bookends.

Beard: Nothing’s more important all the way to the last game of the season. 

You take care of the bookends, you’re going to be in the game. You don’t take care of the bookends, that’s going to be a hard 40-minute deal for you. In between the bookends, you know, obviously ball-screen defense, our punches, our adjustments, our post defense. Are we going to deny? Are we going to be in the gaps? There’s a lot of things in between those bookends.

Summertime, not so much. More quality over quantity, but we spend a lot of time on those bookends — trying to get back and trying to get a rebound. Third thing would just be our culture. Just trying to figure out who we are and making sure the guys understand the non-negotiables. I can sit around and talk to these guys about a lot of things. I’ll even consider their point of view from time to time, especially the older guys. But there’s a few things in our program that are just non-negotiables. There’s nothing to talk about; this is what we’re going to do. 

Certainly the relationship piece. Today’s a great day. Just spending all day with the players. We’re going to end tonight on Sardis Lake. 

Beard: So, yeah, good summer. Met my expectations? No. Pleased? I don’t know. 

It’s just the urgency involved. Every day, just on a good day, you just want to stack it. And on a day that came up a little bit short, you’ll never get it back. But, overall, very appreciative of the guys’ buy-in this summer — their time, their investment. 

It’s not easy to play at Ole Miss. We tell recruits that all the time, but it’s not easy to win. It’s not easy to win in life. It’s not easy. This is not an easy life. It’s not the way deals set up if you want to be elite. So, I’ve always recognized, especially as I get a little bit older each year, we ask our guys to do a lot physically and mentally in the summer. It’s the biggest gift I can give them, ‘cause you want to advance to the NCAA Tournament and you want those guys when it’s all over to thank you. I’ve never had a player really thank me after a disappointing deal. But you’re going to get those thank yous when you win, and winning is not easy.

ON BEARD CHALLENGING OLE MISS STAR MALIK DIA

Beard:It’s time for these lights to come on. I respect Dia’s heart. I respect his intelligence, the way he goes about it and the way he lives his life. But it’s a bottom-line deal. The guy has extremely high expectations. He set his goals; I haven’t set them for him. 

When you’re a grown man and you’re playing your fourth or fifth year in college basketball, and when you tell your coach and teammates you want to play in the NBA, you know how hard it is to do that. So, when you say that, do you really mean it? And then when you really mean it, OK, what are you going to do to back it up? 

Dia does a lot of the things that are involved in backing that up, but there’s this thing called production. And there’s this thing called consistency. So, you know, 5.8 rebounds isn’t going to get it done for Dia, for us, our team, his future, my future, our future. That ain’t gonna get it done. I was talking to him the other day, like, last year, I don’t know what his stats were. Was it 5.8 rebounds? 

Beard: I don’t know, if Malik Dia would have averaged 10 rebounds, would he even be in college anymore? 

I don’t know. What’s the difference between six and 10? That’s two rebounds in the first half and two rebounds in the second half. On one end that’s how kind of close he is. But on the other end, it’s worlds away. 

So, it gets down to individual possessions, moments, when he’s got to be disciplined. He’s got to do what he says he’s going to do. This isn’t harping on Dia. He’s a guy that really cares, and I care for him. I want what’s best for him. So, it’s production time. It’s time to do it. It’s time to do it possession after possession. That’s where he is. 

Do I love Dia? Do I believe in Dia? Yes. Do I enjoy coaching him? Yes. But is he a finished product? No. He’s got to find another level of discipline, and I think if he does that, he could be a special player. 

ON THE NEXT OLE MISS THROWBACK GAME AT THE TAD PAD

Beard: Hasn’t been 100 percent approved yet, but I would like it to be the fourth game of the season. I would like it to be that Friday night game where [former Ole Miss head] coach [Rod] Barnes comes back. So, you guys understand [Bob] Weltlich we honored. We honored coach [Rob] Evans and then coach Barnes. 

I hope we can play that in the ‘Tad Pad’ game. It’d be awesome, and then we look forward to future years, whether it be [Andy Kennedy] or certainly my good friend Kermit [Davis]. I think we keep building this program and recognize those before us, which I think is really important. We wouldn’t be here today [without] those guys and all those players before us. 

That ‘Tad Pad’ game’s been good to us. It’s the game, it’s the arena, the coliseum, but it’s also bringing those coaches, players, eras of Ole Miss basketball back. So, my hope is it’s the fourth game of the year, but it hasn’t been 100 percent confirmed yet.

ON OLE MISS’ SEC SCHEDULE

Beard:I haven’t even looked at it. I did see we had two games at home before classes start, so that’s a challenge. Got to have great home-court advantages. We need sellouts. We need great environments that night. So, from a coaching standpoint, that’s one of the first things I always look at.

We’re going to put a marketing plan together sooner than later and try to sell those seats that are normally the student section and try to create an environment there. But those are those unique games in college basketball that conference play starts and college basketball is about the students and stuff, but just the way the calendars, the academic calendars, set up and stuff, I know that’s going to be a challenge.