That Ole Miss could make its deepest run ever into the postseason and still leave with a feeling of disappointment says a lot about the growth of the program under second-year coach Andy Kennedy.

The Rebels recovered from a loss to Georgia in the SEC tournament to win three games -- including one on the road -- to reach the semifinals of the NIT, where they fell behind early, rallied, but still lost 81-69 to Ohio State.

They finished with 24 victories, the second most in school history, despite being picked to finish last in the SEC Western Division.

The Rebels also got off to the best start in school history by winning their first 13 games and were 17-0 against nonconference foes before losing to the Buckeyes.

And they managed to do that despite having to replace three key contributors from last season's team that tied for the division title.

Overall, that makes for a very successful season even though the Rebels came up short in a bid to return to the NCAA Tournament, a hope raised by the early wins.

The Rebels face another rebuilding job entering 2008-09, but this time up front instead of in the backcourt. Seniors Dwayne Curtis, Kenny Williams and Jermey Parnell, who combined to power Ole Miss' inside game, all depart.

Competing to fill their spots will be 6-9 Malcolm White, who played in 26 games as a freshman, 6-9 Kevin Cantinol, who sat out the year as a redshirt, and a couple of freshman prospects led by Terrance Henry, a 6-9 forward out of Monroe, La.

But the Rebels had four freshmen and two sophomores in their regular rotation in the backcourt led by leading scorer Chris Warren, Eniel Polynice and David Huertas, giving Kennedy a solid nucleus to build around for next season.

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.