Ole Miss HC Chris Beard has high hopes for NBA draft after possible Final Four appearance in the NCAA tournament

Chris Beard, the head coach of the No.6 seed Ole Miss Rebels (25-11), led his team to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament on Monday.

Following his team's qualification, the 52-year-old joined reporter Jon Rothstein on his podcast on Wednesday. CBSsportsCBB shared the post on Instagram with the caption:

"Chris Beard told Jon Rothstein that making deep runs in the NCAA Tournament can “change players’ lives.”

In the video, Chris Beard spoke about seeing some of his players making it to the NBA draft if his team made it to the final four of the NCAA tournament.

"Certainly, the Final Four changes people's lives. Like I think we have players on our team right now. If we make a Final Four, you'll see their names on draft boards. But the reality is today, that path hasn't opened yet. So, we all know what the Final Four does for players, for coaches, for fan bases, for programs, for administrations, for collectives.

"And so to be 80 minutes away from that is an ultimate goal of ours. We don't spend any time talking about that with our program. We just go next game up. We've got a 4 tournament in Atlanta, the biggest games, the first game in the tournament. But to answer the question, I mean, it's why we all do this. You want to win a national championship. There's no way to get the Monday night if you're not in the Final Four."

Chris Beard's team, the Rebels, defeated the No.3 seed Iowa State Cyclones (25-11) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They secured a 91-78 victory over their opponents, dominating both halves (40-29, 51-49).

NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament - Second Round - Milwaukee - Source: Getty

Chris Beard opens up on how being called a fraud has helped his team

Chris Beard appeared as a guest on the Infinity Sports Network with host Zach Gelb on Wednesday to discuss the recent attention he has been receiving, both positive and negative.

"Anybody who’s talking about you, whether they’re talking good or bad, it is good, because people don’t talk about people aren’t [relevant]. So for people to have critical things to say about us, I don’t know, they’re talking about Ole Miss. For people to have some positive things to say about us, thank you. I think we’ve earned the right to have some positive, as well. But that’s fuel. All the great competitors know how to find their fuel.”

“That’s one of the fun things about the NCAA Tournament: we don’t spend a lot of time, or really much time at all, talking about those,” Beard added. “But the whole "fraud" deal, that did reach our locker room. And we’ve enjoyed competing through that.

"If we don’t do our part of the bargain, and if we don’t make it to the Sweet 16, then maybe that’s valid. But, I think at this point, to be one of the 16 teams left in college basketball, I think you can say a lot of things about our team like you can other teams, but I don’t think you can say Ole Miss Basketball is a fraud."

The Rebels will face No. 2 seed Michigan State (29-6) on Friday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, hoping to qualify for the final eight of the NCAA Tournament.