Chat Mizzou sports with Dave Matter at 11 a.m. Thursday
Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Mizzou beat writer Dave Matter in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
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I picked Mizzou seventh in the SEC before the season. (Maybe sixth but I'm pretty sure seventh.) Right now MU is in seventh place and in position to make the NCAA Tournament. I figured that was close to the ceiling for this team. At this point, the team has still overachieved based on the vast majority of people's expectations. Now, the problem is once you overachieve early in the season it's natural to raise the expectations/move the goalposts midseason. That's probably not fair, but that's what we do in sports. We change our expectations by the day and by the end of the season usually forget what we even thought about the team in the preseason. -
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Well at least there's always next next year.... Cuonzo is a mediocre coach who can only recruit mediocre talent and put together mediocre teams. This is why he hasn't lasted more than 3 years anywhere. Unfortunately our contract doesn't allow for us to fire him and next years team will be worse than this year, so I see him on the way out the door. BUH-BYE!
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They've got to make the Dance first. All depends on seeding and matchup. They've got the talent to win a game or two. I haven't forgotten those games against Illinois, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas. I was even at a few of them. They really happened. But we've obviously seen this team play poorly enough in stretches to lose to the likes of Georgia and Mississippi State. So, hard to predict an outcome without knowing the opponent.
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It all depends how the next two weeks go. As of today MU would be the seventh seed in the SEC tournament, which means a Thursday game against the 10 seed, which for right now is Mississippi State, a pretty bad team that played a great second half against MU last month.
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If they knew the answer why it probably wouldn't happen so often.I think you can point to the personality of this team. They don't have that alpha who will refuse to let the team take their foot off the gas. The last guy they had like that was Kasisus Robertson. He wasn't going to tolerate it. He'd get in your face and let you know it if your effort/focus isn't at its peak. Not many athletes are built that way, and I don't think this team has one of those. The coaches have to play that role, and that's not how it's supposed to work. Like Parker Braun said after Tuesday's game, Martin can't call timeout every possession to remind them what they're supposed to do. That has to happen on the floor. And with a veteran team, that shouldn't be a problem. But it appears to be sometimes.
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I assume Mizzou flew home from Athens Ga after Tuesday’s game and will fly back to Columbia SC for Saturday’s game. Why doesn’t the SEC schedule games in nearby sites so that teams can get the 2 games in in 3 days so the road team doesn’t have to fly back and forth like this. This assumes Mizzou did not stay over Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, missing 3 days of school. They could play one game on Saturday and thr 2nd game on Tuesday (or even better on Monday). Mizzou did that late January playing at Tennessee and at Auburn a couple of days later. It’s only a 164 mile bus ride from Athens to COSC.
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The SEC just can't dictate its schedule so that the one program that's not actually in the South can have a more convenient schedule. That's the price you pay for leaving your nearby opponents in the Big 12 so you can play against South Carolina, Florida, LSU, etc. Mizzou can't complain about travel in this conference. Nobody forced the school to leave the Big 12.Either way, most of these players take online classes. They're rarely on campus, especially in the time of COVID.
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Glad to hear coach Eli wants to push push push to win the SEC East. I’d like to see it to. I hope they’re not conceding the possiblity of winning the SEC championship. They’ve been in the Big12 and SEC championship games before, but have been unable to win once yet. I settle for a bowl game win which hasn’t happened since 2014. I’m not being critical of HCED’s first year record given all the issues that came up this season, but I hope he can build a team to beat the weaker teams in the league and be more competitive with Alabama, Georgia and Florida in the future than they were this season.
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You can't win the SEC if you don't win the SEC East. To win the SEC East you have to be the best team in the division for eight weeks. To win the SEC you have to be the better team for 60 minutes. The way I see it, it makes all the sense in the world to make winning the division the overarching goal. You put in all the work in the offseason to have a team that can go through the grind of the season and be the last team standing in that eight-game race so you can have a chance to play for the big prize.
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A couple of "Where are they now?" questions for you should you happen to know and are able to answer: would love to know what ever became of former Mizzou RB Devin West and what he's up to these days. Also, Michael Sam who I've always been concerned about ever since it was reveled the issues with severe depression he was dealing with after not being able to make it in professional football following his time at Mizzou.
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Devin lives down in the Springfield/Nixa area with his wife and kids. He's doing well. We keep in touch every so often.I haven't talked to Michael in a few years. I know he's been through some tough times personally. He's pretty active on Instagram and keeps himself busy.
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Despite his inconsistencies, I really like Xavier Pinson. His playing "moods" this year kind of remind me of Kim English's junior (?) year where he was inconsistent and somewhat frustrated, and he promptly flirted with an early exit to the pros. He came back, of course, and had a great senior year. Something switched and he became a leader, and as a result, a more consistent, focused player.
Do you (1) assume Pinson may test the NBA waters again but (2) ultimately come back, knowing he has not showed his best basketball self yet? I sure hope he comes back. (Heck, I hope a couple of the current seniors opt to use that extra year, too.) -
Interesting comparison. I would not think to compare those two guys in terms of personality.I would expect Pinson to request NBA feedback this year like he hoped to do last summer.I have no feel for whether he'd come back. That was a mystery all last summer, to the point the coaches weren't sure of his plans. I can't imagine he's done enough for the NBA to say he'll be drafted.
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I try to follow the various chats Monday-Friday. Different sports and different writers give readers varying viewpoints, which is good.
There's always the common theme that someone should be held accountable, or as we know it "fired." The GM, the AD, the HC, etc., etc. People were lining up the Cardinals GM for the firing squad until he traded for Arenado. HC CM was the MBB savior this year until a 3 game losing streak. Now it's off with his head. Fickle.
The AD hired CM with a lengthy contract because he was in touch with reality; the team was terrible. Let it play out. If next year is more like the ugliness of 5 or 6 years ago then maybe something gets changed. I'd much rather have a program that's above board for NCAA rules with a person of solid character and not like the HCs at Kansas or LSU. -
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Do you anticipate any players going to the NBA? I know Pinson and Tilmon want to go badly. However, it seems like after this season Pinson is even less likely to make a NBA roster. What do you think his next steps are? Will he return for another season if he can't go to the NBA?
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Do you see an NBA player on this roster? I don't. Tilmon has the size, but even most 6-10 players in the NBA have shooting range. He's never showed in a game that he does. He can make a lot of money playing basketball professionally for a long time somewhere in the world, but I'd be surprised if he's on an NBA roster this time next year. Same with Pinson.But I would be surprised if any of the current seniors come back for another senior year.
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He's only attempted 15 free throws in 19 games and made eight. That's not a good percentage, but they're not counting on him to score. He passes up far more open shots than he takes. His job is to get teammates involved, keep the offense flowing, push the ball in transition. He does that for the most part. I thought he played a real sound first half at Georgia.
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The numbers don't really match your premise.Mizzou is shooting more free throws this year, 22.3 per game compared to 19.7. They're making essentially the same number of FTs per game: 15.4 this year, compared to 15.4 last year.So they're clearly shooting a worse rate: 69.3% compared to 78.0 % last year.What's the difference? Mainly two guys: Tilmon and Brown are down significantly from last year in terms of FT percentage. All the other regulars are about the same or better.Dru Smith is down slightly but still shooting 83 percent.Pinson's percentage is nearly identical to last year at 81.8 percent. Very good.Pickett, Mark Smith, Mitchell Smith are all much better this year compared to last year.
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Hi Dave. You hit the nail on the head with no wins in the NCAA tournament since 2009. Basketball should be a revenue producing sport. Coach Martin has done zero on the recruiting trail that is going to get folks from KC and STL to drive to Columbia for a game. You say we cannot afford his $6M buyout but how much list revenue occurs over the next two years? Thanks
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I don't think fans really come to games from St. Louis and Kansas City to see players from their areas. I just don't. Did fans come to games in Frank Haith's first year because Mike Dixon and Marcus Denmon were from Kansas City or because the team was really good? Did they care that Kim English was from Baltimore or that Phil Pressey was from Texas?
Was the Hearnes sold out in the 1990s because Melvin Booker was from Mississippi or because Jevon Crudup was from Kansas City or because the team was really good?Having players from your area on the team can't hurt fan attendance and revenue, but it's not a driving force. -
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