Strange: Ole Miss playing like can't miss

At Thanksgiving, a February road trip to Ole Miss didn't seem terribly daunting. Tennessee was a top-10 team and the Rebels were shorthanded.

By Christmas, Tennessee had lost a little shine but Ole Miss had lost another player, its best one. If there was a lock of an SEC road win, it seemed to lie in Oxford.

Oops. The scenario has changed considerably now that UT's visit to Ole Miss is at hand tonight.

"Andy (Kennedy) has done a great job with this team,'' UT coach Bruce Pearl said, "to have lost three guards and be playing as competitively as they are.''

Kennedy's third season at Ole Miss has added even more polish to his rep as a good young coach.

He won 21 and 24 games, respectively, in his first two seasons. That put him in exclusive company with Pearl, Eddie Sutton and Tubby Smith as the only SEC coaches to win 45 games in their first two seasons in the league.

When leading scorer Chris Warren suffered a season-ending injury in late December, he became the third Ole Miss guard lost for the season. The Rebels thus launched into SEC play with only two of the top six scorers from last season.

Tonight, they return only seven points off the team that lost 83-81 in Knoxville last season.

Despite all that, Ole Miss is 13-11, 4-6 SEC, and a dangerous 10-2 at home in Tad Smith Coliseum.

One of those home wins was against Kentucky. Most recently, the Rebels led into the final minutes at LSU before yielding 73-66.

"Our effort was fantastic,'' Kennedy said.

That's pretty much goes for the entire SEC season, during which the Rebels are relying on junior David Huertas and a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.

I don't recall Ole Miss' recruiting garnering accolades the past couple of years but these guys will steal your lunch if you don't watch out.

"It's a real testament to their ability to recruit,'' said Pearl of Ole Miss' surprising resiliency. "Their 10th, 11th and 12th guys were ready to come in the SEC and be starters.''

If not for the Jodie Meeks explosion, Huertas would have a case as the SEC's most improved player. He's averaging 19.3 points and ranks second to Meeks in 3-point baskets with 65.

It'll be interesting to see if there are any lingering effects from the painful hip bruise Huertas suffered late in the LSU game.

Guard Power: Rivals.com compiles a weekly power ranking of the top 25 players in the nation at each of the five positions.

One way of looking at it, the Vols have faced a murderer's row of guards. Or, maybe Tennessee gave these guys a boost up the chart.

UT has faced four of the top five shooting guards on this week's chart. Here are the players and their scoring against the Vols:

1. Jodie Meeks, UK (54, 15-of-22); 2. Jerel McNeal, Marquette (10, 4-of-7); 4. Lester Hudson, UT Martin (20, 7-of-22); 5. Marcus Thornton, LSU (29, 9-of-16). Also, No. 11 Dionte Christmas, Temple (35, 12-of-22).

Tennessee also has faced four of the top 15 point guards:

4. Nick Calathes, Florida (21 points, 4 assists); 7. Devan Downey, South Carolina (19, 6); 9. Tyreke Evans, Memphis (17, 2); 15. Sherron Collins, Kansas (26, 9).

The only Vols ranked are Tyler Smith (No. 7 small forward) and Wayne Chism (No. 17 power forward).

More Meeks: LSU's Tasmin Mitchell scored 61 points last week but that wasn't enough to claim SEC player of the week honors. Meeks countered by beating Florida with a clutch 3-pointer then dumping 45 on Arkansas.

"It's nice to see him killing somebody other than just the Vols,'' said Pearl. "If he's seeing it, he's making it.''

Added Florida's Billy Donovan, "Certain guys can really will the ball in the basket and you can (even) play good defense. (Chris) Lofton had a lot of that in him over the past couple of years. I think (Devan) Downey's got that, and Meeks.''

Mister Ed: Hats off to Ed Conroy, the former Buzz Peterson assistant at UT.

Conroy took over his alma mater, The Citadel, a perennial loser, in 2006. In his third season, the Bulldogs are 17-10, 12-4 in the Southern Conference, and riding a nine-game winning streak as they play Davidson tonight.

An 18th win would be a first since 1985. This will be only the Bulldogs' fourth winning season in the past 20 years.

Two of Conroy's assistants have UT ties. Andy Fox was a graduate assistant under Peterson and Pearl. Doug Novak played tennis at UT 1987-90 and broke into coaching hoops at Roane State.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strangem@knoxnews.com.