Although Ole Miss basketball made SEC history on Sunday, that's the end goal for head coach Chris Beard. His end goal? Winning the national championship.

Following the Rebels 91-79 win over Iowa State, he explained his role as the head coach of the program.

“This is not about me,” Beard said via Brad Logan of 247 Sports on X (formerly Twitter).”It's about the players. We felt the pressure and wanted to be a team to win the tournament. Plausible? No. Possible? Yeah.”

“If I didn't believe this team could win this tournament I wouldn't be doing my job.”

Six other SEC teams are competing for a spot in the national championship game. However, the beauty of March is that anything can happen.

For Ole Miss basketball, they took care of business in two consecutive rounds. The North Carolina game had a closer score than it truly was. Then against the Cyclones, the Rebels did what they needed to do.

Moving onto the Sweet 16 means likely seeing a conference opponent. That alone can provide more juice to the team, and Beard himself.

Chris Beard sees Ole Miss basketball winning it all

While Beard fired back at critics for Ole Miss's performance against North Carolina, there might not be any critics right now. They made quick work in the second round and seem to be locked into the Sweet 16.

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They went 10-8 in a loaded SEC conference that has two No. 1 seeds and two No. 2 seeds. All of which are still in the NCAA tournament.

As the sixth seed, they are set to take on the two-seeded Michigan State on Friday. Both teams are quite the opposite. Michigan State loves to play slow and in the half-court.

Simultaneously, Ole Miss basketball and Beard run a high-octane offense. After all, Beard helped Texas Tech reach the Final Four in 2019.

He understands what it will take to make it to the big dance. As he put it, his job is to get his team to the national championship game. Those are lofty expectations but they are Beard's standards for his team and the program.

At the end of the day, establishing the culture and standard has been a priority for Beard and it shows. His fearlessness and locked-in approach have the Rebels dancing.

If they were to eliminate Michigan State from the tournament, they'd inch their way closer to the ultimate prize. Along the way though might be some more SEC foes to possibly slay.