As the calendar shifts to 2024, we give you, as we always do, dates for the year that should be significant to the overall picture of Ole Miss athletics.
Ole Miss football is coming off an 11-win season and Peach Bowl victory to go with the nation's top transfer portal class, while Ole Miss basketball is undefeated and defying expectations in the first year of a new era. With those things in mind, we focus most of our dates on those two sports and how they shape the overall athletics program.
Here's the list for 2024.
Date: January 2. 2024
Significance: Yes, tomorrow. The first transfer portal window closes at the end of January 2, halting players from entering the portal until April. That's most relevant to players who have already transferred once in their careers, with Jaxson Dart the main reason for this note.
Dart, who came to Ole Miss from USC following the 2021 season, is expected to remain a Rebel, but it's a story with the starting quarterback until he announces that. A recent court ruling allows players who have already transferred to do so again without penalty as long as they enroll at their new schools during this academic year.
That means, in its current interpretation, that a second-time transfer would need to be in the portal in January and enroll somewhere else for the spring semester. An April portal entry wouldn't allow enrollment to be in the same academic year. Could the timeframe become more lenient? Sure, the NCAA isn't winning a lot of cases right now. But, as it stands, tomorrow is noteworthy for any current Rebels considering the portal. Retention is as important as new players.
Date: January 24, 2024
Significance: Chris Beard has quickly transformed the Ole Miss basketball program, and the Rebels are 13-0 and nationally ranked heading into league play. I almost went with the SEC home opener on January 10 against Florida, but this is an ESPN2 8 p.m. tip against Arkansas.
It's the sixth SEC contest and comes after back-to-back road games. The students will be fully back in town, and it should be a raucous environment that signals another step in Ole Miss' accession under Beard. The non-league crowds have been excellent in recent weeks, and this feels like a tournament team that mostly protects home floor.
Date: March 17, 2024
Significance: This one is pretty self-explanatory. Ole Miss has put itself in position to expect to make the NCAA Tournament in Beard's first season. This is Selection Sunday. Ole Miss likely needs at least a .500 record in its 18 conference games, and with the way they are improving in real time, it seems doable.
The Rebels have their full roster available with the additions of Moussa Cisse and Brandon Murray, and Beard has given new life to Matthew Murrell and Jaemyn Brakefield. The program seems poised for bigger things than just making the tournament eventually, but this would be what seemed like a pipe dream when he took the job. Ole Miss went 3-15 in the SEC last season.
Date: May 1, 2024
Significance: This is the last day basketball players can get in the transfer portal, and even though players won't have to choose the new school until classes for the fall, we'll have a good idea of Beard's plan and success through that avenue by this date. It'll also be a good time to see what the high school recruiting situation is with basketball.
Ole Miss is getting significant contributions from five different transfers this season, and its program exposure should only help with that moving forward. It'll also be a time to get some idea of the basketball program's NIL abilities relative to its competitors.
Date: May 27, 2024
Significance: Ole Miss needs to make the NCAA Tournament in baseball following last season's 25-29 overall record and 6-24 mark in the SEC. The Rebels won the national title two years ago, but they were the last team selected into the field. Regular season consistency was once Mike Bianco's trademark, but it's been absent for two years.
Ole Miss hit the portal hard in the offseason, so some success in a sure-to-be-loaded SEC would also signal the Rebels are a player in this NIL era. Ole Miss retooled offensively and is counting on a mixture of returners and newcomers on the mound. This date is Memorial Day and when the 64-team bracket will announced for the baseball postseason.
Date: July 25, 2024
Significance: I picked this date last year, and it seems as good as any to know exactly what the roster is going to be for the season. Players can get in portal in May and take their time choosing schools until classes start or preseason camp begins. Ole Miss will begin preparations in earnest in early August, so surely the roster will be pretty much set by this date.
With the high-level additions joining the Rebels, there could be some depth players who make decisions about what to do following spring practice. Down-stream roster moves could be the story through the summer -- in and out.
Date: October 12, 2024
Significance: A trip to Baton Rouge starts the back half of the 2024 football schedule. Ole Miss has four nonconference games -- three buy games and a trip to Wake Forest -- in the first four weeks and then a home date with Kentucky and a trip to South Carolina. Ole Miss will be favored in all six of those games, and in the top five in the country, if things go chalk those six weeks. Ole Miss needs to get to this point relatively healthy and without drama.
From a preseason lines standpoint, Ole Miss may be underdogs only twice, and this is one of them. A home date with Georgia will almost certainly have the Bulldogs favored when lines open this summer. LSU doesn't have a Heisman quarterback, and the Rebels can put a big step toward the playoff with a win in Baton Rouge.
Date: October 26, 2024
Significance: You were probably expecting that Georgia game to be next on the list, but this is the home date with Oklahoma a week after an open week and two weeks after the LSU game. If Ole Miss holds up the first six weeks and beats LSU, this would be one to win and then have some margin for error and a clear path to the 12-team tournament, setting up a bit of a free shot against Georgia to do really big regular season things.
If Ole Miss loses in Baton Rouge or anywhere else before now, this would feel like a must-win against another team that might be in the race for one of those spots. It's the first game with Oklahoma as a conference opponents, and it's in a place Ole Miss has won 20 of its last 22 games.
Date: December 1, 2024
Significance: Ole Miss is no doubt all-in for the 2024 football season, but that means the momentum must continue for their not to be a fall off heading into 2025. Donors large and small have given to the Grove Collective generously, and the results are tangible and evident.
With the portal opening up again in early December and with a plethora of key players departing the roster, the Grove Collective and portal recruiting will again take centerstage. The football season's results will be a major part of what the budget look like for that next free agency period.
Date: December 20-21, 2024
Significance: Will the stadium above be one of the four host sites for college football playoff games those two days? The expectations for Ole Miss football in 2024 are to make the 12-team playoff, and that means this date is about whether the Rebels are playing this weekend or awaiting an opponent in the quarterfinals.
On the heels of an 11-win season and Peach Bowl victory, a lot of talk has shifted toward next season. Anything less but Ole Miss still being alive for a title a few days before Christmas will be a disappointment.
