Ole Miss basketball fans have seen a few weeks of tumbleweeds regarding transfer portal work—the early additions of Corey Chest. Aj Storr and Koren Johnson had the Rebels starting strong, then nothing for a while. However, Ilias Kamardine, Augusto Cassia, and Travis Perry have been added in the past week, making it a much stronger roster.
It's a competitive team, but it still may be a little off what head coach Chris Beard had last year. The program has tried adding top players but has been losing out on some of its top targets. There are still one or two high-end players available, with the Rebels looking at Louisville's James Scott and USC's Desmond Claude.
Ole Miss is reportedly in a good position for one, which is Scott, a big forward who Beard would love to add to the team. He averaged 6.1 rebounds per game for the Cardinals this past season and led the team with 30 blocks. Auburn was competing with Ole Miss, but On3's Ben Garrett reported that Beard and his team lead in Scott's commitment.
Claude is a USC transfer who is attracting the attention of the Rebels and Florida, Gonzaga, Duke, Virginia, and others. It has been reported that the 2025 NCAA Champions, the Gators, are out of the race, which could give Ole Miss a more significant chance of convincing Claude that Oxford is the place to come.
The junior averaged 15.8 points, 4.2 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game for the Trojans last season after transferring from Xavier. Claude has not ruled out a return to USC, but college basketball analyst Travis Branham rates it as a 0% chance. There is no concrete evidence on where he will end up, with Ole Miss joining his recruitment much later than others.
Scott seems more likely than Claude to transfer to Beard's team, but as we have seen, anything can happen until a commitment is announced.