Chris Beard Shouts Out CBS Analyst Who Called Ole Miss 'Frauds' After Punching Ticket To Sweet Sixteen
Ole Miss didn't necessarily need any bulletin board material as a six-seed in the NCAA Tournament, but the Rebels and head coach Chris Beard will take it where they can get it.
Just minutes after the NCAA Tournament bracket was released, CBS college basketball analyst Tim Doyle labeled Ole Miss a "fraud" and predicted that the Rebels would lose their first-round matchup against either North Carolina or San Diego State.
"Ole Miss gets a lot of love because they played in a great conference. They had a lot of opportunities. Eyeball test. That is a fraud," Doyle said in part.
Ole Miss proved Doyle wrong by beating the Tar Heels 71-64 in the opening round, and then proved him wrong again with a dominant 91-78 win over Iowa State on Sunday to punch its ticket to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2001.
"I think a lot of things could be said about our team, both good and bad," Beard said when asked about Doyle's comments ahead of the Rebels' matchup against the Tar Heels. "But fraud would not be a word that I would think about when I think of this year's Ole Miss team."
While Beard essentially brushed off Doyle's comments originally, he couldn't help but have some fun with them after Ole Miss' upset over Iowa State.
After the celebration calmed down in the locker room with some of his players speaking with media members, Beard sarcastically looked around and asked "Where's Tim Doyle?"
Some will say that Beard shouldn't have stooped down to Doyle's level given that all the analyst was out to do with his original comments was stir the pot and get people talking about him. Congratulations to Doyle. Mission accomplished, but anyone talking about him is also laughing at him.
Beard is human, and he's coaching young men who will take any form of outside motivation they can get. His quick shot at Doyle in an informal setting was both justified and fair.
Ole Miss has a Friday date with two-seed Michigan State, and an upset win over the Spartans would result in Doyle eating not some crow, but all the crow.