New Ole Miss basketball coach Kermit Davis will compete in the Big12/SEC Challenge in January, but before that, our Tea Lizard dad wants a piece of the conference in November. The Rebels will face off against the Baylor Bears in Florida in this year’s edition of the Emerald Coast Classic, held on campus at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Fla.

ANNOUNCEMENT | We will play @BaylorMBB in the semifinal round of the @EmeraldCClassic. #BasketballOnTheBeach



Nov. 23

8:30 p.m. CT tip

@CBSSportsNet



The rest of the non-conference schedule is coming soon! #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/1UDvvkDrBp — Ole Miss Basketball (@OleMissMBB) May 22, 2018

Ole Miss, as you know, is coming off their worst season in over a decade, finishing 12-20 and just 5-13 in conference play. Now, with newly-hired Kermit Davis at the helm, the Rebels look to get back to their tier 1 ways and have a bounce back season. And they will be starting off the season in Florida against a less-than formidable opponent in the Baylor Bears who limped to the finish, competing in the NIT and losing in the second round. Scott Drew’s club ended the season at 19-15 and 8-10 in the Big 12.

The last meeting between the two was a doozy though. And ironically enough, it was in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Rebs had the No. 5 Bears on the ropes but couldn’t close it out at The Pavilion, losing 78-75 in a barn burner of a contest.

For reasons that we won’t go into detail here on this forum, I think I speak for everyone on this web site that we hope our Tea Lizard gets a statement win against a consistenly competitive Power 5 program early on in his tenure. And by statement win, I mean I want them to fucking boat race these fake ass Bears.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Big 12 announced next year’s field on Thursday so here we are. Back at it again.