Cotie McMahon wandered through the campus in Oxford, Mississippi, taking in the surroundings, staring at classrooms that all looked the same. The Ohio State transfer already knew it was where she wanted to be, so she asked if they could cut right to the point.

"Just show me the gym and the weight room."

Head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin remembered those words vividly. The future Rebel hadn’t been interested in the bells and whistles of a typical recruiting visit. Still, McPhee-McCuin insisted she go through with the full experience.

"She committed before she came on the visit," McPhee-McCuin said. "I said, 'No, you need to come see this first. I don't need you changing your mind.'"

And so she did. McMahon saw her lone priority —the basketball facilities.

True to her word, after seeing what she needed to see, McMahon solidified her commitment. She stuck with her decision and pledged to play for the Rebels.

It was the "easiest" recruitment process the head coach dealt with.

McMahon, who averaged 16.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game at Ohio State, became one of several key transfers Ole Miss landed this offseason.

"At Ole Miss, we don't really replace, we kind of try to reload," McPhee-McCuin said.

This year, nine newcomers make up most of the roster. In this day and age, that's become the new normal.

McPhee-McCuin has done it over and over again. What coaches used to fear has now become just a process.

"We lost Shakira Austin," she said. "Everyone said, 'How do we replace her?' The next year we go to the Sweet 16."

The Rebels will look to do it once again this year. On top of McMahon, they added Latasha Lattimore (Virginia), Tianna Thompson (Georgia Tech) and Debreasha Poe (Mississippi State), among many others.

It's a roster full of talent. One that doesn't have a hard time getting along.

"We literally do something every day," McMahon said. "If it's not every day, it's every other day. Every weekend, we're all together. We really do mesh well. We all bought in and realized we're new here. It happened instantly."

That bond isn’t accidental — it’s by design. McPhee-McCuin is deliberate about the kind of players she brings in.

This season, that selectiveness has a theme. The word the head coach chose for the year is “give.”

“Usually I kind of let it manifest naturally. I did with this word this year. Last year was 'joy,' and I felt like we needed that,” McPhee-McCuin said. “This year, as we look at the landscape of athletics right now… While we want to be pro prep, these are still young people. They’re students. They go to class. They cry. They learn. They have shortcomings. I’m here to mentor them.”

While the outside world may treat college basketball like the pros, McPhee-McCuin says her program is about much more than wins and numbers.

“I think real leaders give. Real leaders are servants. They have to want to give because they always receive,” she said. “I don’t want any student-athlete to leave Ole Miss thinking that they're just going to receive without giving.”

To her, the word ‘give’ means giving 100% — in the classroom, on the court, and to each other. That’s the foundation for everything Ole Miss is building.

That’s exactly the environment that appealed to McMahon.

"She not only recruits great players, but great people," McMahon said.

That’s exactly what drew the talented forward away from Columbus, Ohio, and toward Oxford, Mississippi.

"The way they cared about me beyond being a player made me realize this was the right place for me," the Preseason All-SEC Second-Team selection said.

She didn’t need the full tour to understand what she was stepping into. It wasn’t just a basketball decision, it was a personal one.

From the moment she started looking for a new home, it was always going to be Ole Miss.