It's the final day of the transfer portal, and everyone in Oxford is still waiting for at least a few transfer commits to head to the Sip. That's classic Chris Beard for you.
Although Beard takes his sweet time in playing his hand in the transfer portal by waiting till the very end, his strategy works every single time.
Chris Beard locks in JMU fdorward Christian Brown
Just hours before the portal window slams shut, Beard locked in his fifth commitment of the cycle in JMU forward Christian Brown.
The addition shows just how strategic Beard is for this portal cycle. He's filling out roster holes, and with Brown, he gets elite rim protection. The 6'8", 233-pound forward averaged 1.5 blocks per game in just 13.4 minutes.
Ole Miss basketball roster tracker: Who's staying, leaving, and joining the Rebels
Losing Malik Dia and James Scott created this urgent need to lock in a defensive rim protector. Brown could exactly be that replacement. Since he comes in with decent playing time from JMU, Beard can play a gamble on the sophomore as a starter.
For the record, Brown recorded a record-breaking 49 blocks in his freshman season at JMU, surpassing the previous JMU freshman block leader, Andre Nation (47). He also snatched 13 rebounds against Troy, a personal career-high feat.
Brown comes in as the fifth piece in Beard's roster rebuilding through the portal, following Roman Suilepa, ND Okafor, Adam Clark, and Daniel Patton. All the commits strategically fill out the vulnerable spots on the Rebels' roster.
With that, it would hardly be a surprise if Brown is not the only commit for Ole Miss today. Beard specializes in locking in commits till the final minute, and he still has hours left before the portal shuts down.
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