In case you have not been paying attention, the Missouri basketball program has again joined the ranks of Division 1. While being on hiatus since the arrival and departure of Quin Snyder and the mess he left, the Tigers are back. They cracked the top 10 polls this week, climbing nine spots. Now, before you start booking your reservations for the Final Four there are a few things you should know.
Mike Anderson and his staff have done a masterful job in bringing the program back. It’s no surprise that he is not getting the credit though. You see he is doing it with his players.
While we fell prey to previous regimes that felt you could win with the pride of Knob Noster, Missouri or some other obscure places within the state, only to fall short late in the season when Mizzou would be outclassed, Anderson did it with kids from around the country with one common trait: they will not get outworked.
Anderson also made it fun for the players to play his style. What style is that? How about working hard on defense and having fun on offense? And fun is something the Tigers are having a lot of these days. I know they have had some ugly spurts this season (see Illinois or the first half against Kansas), but overall they have made their opponents pay for not having enough players who were conditioned and willing to run you out of any gym in America.
The detractors have come up with lame reasons not to support the efforts of Anderson and his staff. Everything from “these kids are not from Missouri” to the “run, shoot and holler style is not basketball.”
Let’s be clear on a couple of matters. Few nationally-ranked teams have a whole team of homegrown products. This is a nationwide game. No more of having a collection of high school Mr. Basketballs from Missouri and that is supposed to scare someone. It doesn’t. If they are willing to go to class, stay out of trouble and can actually play, who cares where they came from? It could even motivate some of the homegrown talent to get with the program, or should I say coaches.
Mizzou has been built into a top 10 team gradually. I have been critical of some of the softies on the non-conference schedule in the past, but now it seems to be paying off. Only time will tell. I still think it’s time to put Saint Louis University on the schedule. I would much rather see the money stay in the state than to go back to You Who State or some of the also-rans that have come in to take the pay check and a good whoopin’ to boot.
The next question will be when will Mizzou ensure that Mike Anderson sticks around for a while. As usual when a coach builds a program like Anderson, someone is looking to throw more money at him and hire him. The Missouri brass should have learned a lesson by how they dealt with Quin Snyder.
Every time someone looked at his name or he stood in the mirror to comb his hair, Mizzou was ready to give him a pay raise to keep him around. As we witnessed, it was not the best idea.
In Anderson’s case, why not wait? If he continues down this path. then he should be considered. It’s not he is going anywhere tomorrow, but it’s not a bad idea to look at the calendar.
As for the tournament, let’s just get there and see what happens. There are not a lot of powerhouse teams out there this year, so anything can happen. Getting there is one thing. Doing something when you get there is another.
We have seen too many times that Mizzou did not know what to do when they got there in the past. Hopefully, this will be a more fun experience with Mike Anderson at the helm.
