Ole Miss’ Chris Beard feels right at home in Atlanta for Sweet 16

“Growing up in Marietta, we didn’t go to Morton’s in Atlanta, we went to the Varsity.”

Beard, with his No. 6-seeded Rebels a 3.5-point underdog to No. 2-seed Michigan State in the 7:09 p.m. tip Friday (TV: CBS) in the first of two South Regional games, was decidedly loose and glib.

“I think the Varsity hot dog is arguably the best, in my opinion,” Beard said, perhaps sensing his conversation was holding entertainment value. “It’s James Coney Island, it’s the Varsity, and then it’s the old baseball game hot dog.”

The baseball hot dogs, Beard explained, were better than other sports because they are “served in tin foil, that’s the key — not a big fan of the hot dog where they pull it with the tongues right off the grill and drop it in water.”

And, speaking of Dogs, Beard revealed he once was a Georgia fan.

“I had a Bulldog T-shirt,” Beard said. “I used to watch football on Saturdays with my grandfather.”

Back on the Atlanta food front, Beard took time to explain why he passed on his usual salad order when the Ole Miss team went to Morton’s for dinner Wednesday night.

“They got the shrimp cocktails on the table and the crab cake,” Beard continued, sounding more like a food critic than a basketball coach. “I guess you call them balls with a little stick in it — it’s hard to get fired up about the salad knowing what’s coming down the line.”

Beard, 52, is on his 14th coaching stop since launching his career at his alma mater, Texas, as a graduate assistant in 1991.

Perhaps somewhat amazingly — considering the sheer volume of jobs he has held — none have been back in his native Georgia.

Beard’s memories of the Peach State, however, were fresh enough in his mind that he went out of his way to include them, unsolicited.

Beard reflected on his family drives into Atlanta from Marietta when asked how many Ole Miss fans he expected to travel for the Rebels’ South Regional game against Michigan State.

“I remember those days vividly, too, coming from Marietta to Georgia, because we didn’t have cellphones or iPads back in the day,” Beard said. “We had a radio, and it wasn’t my music. We’re going to listen to what my dad wants to listen to.

“He would always say, son, when you turn 16 and you drive one day, listen to whatever you want. Until then, we’re going to listen to what I want.”

Beard did choose to talk about some basketball on Thursday, paying tribute to a Tom Izzo-coached team that figures to challenge the physicality and grit that has led Ole Miss into the Sweet 16.

“So many clips we’ve showed our team this week in preparation aren’t the Xs and Os of the games — it’s the clips in between the games — it’s the 50-50 balls, it’s the bench energy, it’s the helping the teammate up off the floor,” said Beard, a protégé of Big Ten legend Bobby Knight, serving as associated head coach during Knight’s tenure leading the Red Raiders from 2001-08.

“We know what we’re getting into. … We’re playing one of the best teams in the country, one of the most connected teams in the country with a Hall of Fame coach, and we’ll have to play our best 40 minutes of the season to this point to have a chance to be successful tomorrow night.”