Stefan Moody is gone. The Rebels lost three of their top five rebounders, their best three passers (in terms of assists) and five of their top eight scorers to either transfer or graduation. That team was bounced in the second round of the SEC tournament and did not appear in postseason play. But senior star and current SEC-leading rebounder Sebastian Saiz said he believes in his squad.
“This (2016-2017) team is the best I’ve been on in the past four years I’ve been here,” said Saiz. “We all play together; we all contribute to the game. There is no one-man show, you know. We all score; we all rebound. We got a bunch of people doing a bunch of jobs.”
It’s hard to read that and not immediately think of last year’s SEC-leading scorer Stefan Moody. Moody commanded much of the offense last year, averaging 23.6 points per game, which translates roughly to one-third of the team’s points.
Relatively speaking, he was the one-man show on the offensive end of the floor. Saiz understands that with Moody out of the picture, he must take on a new and improved role on the team.
The 6-foot-9-inch forward flashed his range in Sunday’s scrimmage against Little Rock, splashing two three-point shots.
“I like it,” Saiz said. “You know, I have to step it up. If I want this team to play good, I must play good.”
The new-look Rebels won’t only need added range from Saiz: they’ll need big contributions from new acquisitions Cullen Neal, Deandre Burnett and Lithuanian forward Justas Furmanavicius if they want to succeed in today’s pace and space style of basketball.
Neal, a transfer from New Mexico State, and Burnett, a transfer from Miami, are both expected to contribute heavily in their first year in Oxford. Although Coach Andy Kennedy has not specified who his starters will be come Nov. 11, Saiz believes Neal and Burnett will fill out the backcourt. In the front court, the Rebels added the aforementioned Furmanavicius, Polish center Dominik Olejniczak, a 6-foot-11-inch freshman Karlis Silins, and another freshman, 6-foot-9-inch forward Nate Morris. They give the Rebels some much needed depth in a front court that was exceptionally thin a year ago.
“I think we’re pretty physical. I think the quality of our depth is better. There’s not a big separation between No. 1 and No. 8,” Kennedy said.
He echoed Saiz’s remarks in that they realize there are large shoes to fill and no one guy can take it on by himself.
This team enters the season a little under the radar. Ranked ninth by the media at SEC Media Days and without a player on any of the preseason all-SEC teams, they feel as if they have something to prove. Armed with some bigger bodies on the interior, length on the perimeter and the “Dean of SEC Basketball” in Kennedy, who is the longest tenured coach in the league, this Ole Miss team looks like one eager to make some noise. After only one trip to the NCAA tournament in the last three years, the Rebels are hungry. Saiz is primed and ready to lead his troops to March.
“We’re ready,” Saiz said. “I don’t care what we’ve got to do to win. We’re going down fighting.”
