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The Bad: Florida

The Bad:

No loss is good, but this is a particularly poor one, folks.

Florida is, at best, a middling team in a P5 conference this season, and despite getting out to a big jump early, our Tigers appeared to simply forget how to run a coherent offense. Coupled with not making any of the iso/hero-ball sets they "ran" during this one, and it was a one-way ticket to the land of "not even receiving votes" on Monday.

Worse, I hope it doesn't portend of future collapses and lacks of focus and execution. Because this feels like it very well could, given what I saw today.

A few random observations:

Kobe Brown, while a terrific player, is not particularly adept at creating his own shot and, far too frequently for my taste, tries to make something happen where there's nothing to be had.

Missouri isn't good enough for D'Moi Hodge to completely disappear -- as he has in the last couple of games.

Sean East...way, waaaay too nonchalant w/ cross-court passes.

We've all had questions this season about Isaiah Mosley, of course. But the fact that Aiden Shaw didn't see the court for even a second, while a-guy-who-struggled-at-the-mid-major-level-and-it-shows-why Mohamed Diarra got major clock, in a game where the Tigers were severely overmatched against ninth-year senior Colin Castleton ... well, I have questions.

Missouri simply cannot or will not defend the 3-point line. Now that we're halfway through January, this isn't a gelling issue anymore. They're just incapable until they prove otherwise.

The Ugly:

The chick sitting too close to the floor mic. And the A-1 in the truck not clipping it way, way earlier. Enough said.

Also, I'm not sure I know of any person or entity as poor at performing their assigned tasks than is the case with the SEC Network, particularly in the game and studio analysts' levels. Dave Hart is usually very good, and I've seen Dave Neal create some good shows.

But analysts?

Obviously, Sunny is the gold standard, bias or no. But the lot of them?

I've never learned anything rom Damyeon Fishback that one wouldn't already know by simply watching the game.

And this network has some weird obsession with putting Pat Bradley, whose accent makes him a more appropriate choice for getting a gig as an extra for the next inevitable Ben Affleck thriller based--stop me if you've heard this before--in Southy Boston-- than for analyzing games in The Southeastern Conference.

That would perhaps be overcome if he provided anything of note. Alas, that's always noticeably absent. On top of the lack of meaningful insight is the creepy thing he does where he stares down the 3-shot camera in the studio, all the while with the below "I know where the bodies are buried" smile, simultaneously seemingly ignoring the conversation going on directly beside him.

He's probably a great guy. But yikes, SEC. Less Pat, please.

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Epilogue:

All in all, I told a friend the other day that it felt like Missouri Basketball is playing with house money this season. And I still think that's right. Coming in, my hope (not even expectation) was to simply compete to win more games than they lost, and frankly, to stop embarrassing our alma mater.

Well, mission accomplished on that front. But all that said, this is a missed opportunity. And one that I fear we'll feel worse about as the season ticks closer to March.

NEW STORY POST-GAME THOUGHTS: FLORIDA 73, MIZZOU 64

*Let’s not be too complex about this: Florida went 10/23 from three-point range. Mizzou went 3/18. Ballgame. That’s it. Missouri’s not going to win a game like that against anybody decent. And Florida’s not great by any means, but it’s decent. Mizzou is now 10/49 from behind the arc in its last two games.

*The Gators had the best player on the floor. I’m not sure why it took them 20 minutes to figure it out, but once they did, Missouri had virtually no answer for Colin Castleton on either end. He dominated the game. To have any chance to slow him down, Missouri had to send two and three defenders at him. And that just left dudes wide open all over the floor. He didn’t score the most points of any Missouri opponent, but that was absolutely the best single-game performance of anyone Missouri has played this year.

*The play of the game came right after Kobe Brown had made a three to make it 59-55. Castleton was triple-teamed, fumbled the ball, but somehow got it to an open teammate for a three. Gators led by seven. Missouri never really had another chance.

*Dennis Gates tried. He threw Mo Diarra out there for a while, he tossed every defense he could think of at them, but with Aidan Shaw unavailable, I don’t know what he really could have done. More than anything, this was a combination of one guy being the best player on the floor and an absolute matchup nightmare for Missouri.

*Missouri got nothing from D’Moi Hodge (2/7, 6 points in 27 minutes). When that’s the case, it’s really tough to win. He had some good looks, he just didn’t make any of them.

*Nick Honor didn’t play particularly well either. It was the first time all year he looked a little hurried. Three turnovers isn’t terrible, but it is by the standard Honor has set this year. He also went 0/3 from three.

*Kobe Brown missed some shots he usually makes (21 points on 8/18 shooting), but there’s now no question he is the guy on this team. He’s the only star level player and Missouri is going to need him to play like one more often than not. Other than a good start by Tre Gomillion, he just really didn’t have any help at all today.

*When Missouri scores 70 points, it is undefeated this season. When it doesn’t, it’s 1-4. I didn’t think Florida’s defense was dominant in this game like I did with Texas A&M. Missouri just missed a lot of shots, both threes and layups.


*I’ll continue to say it: Missouri does a very good job getting turnovers. When it does not get turnovers, it is dreadful defensively. In the first half, Florida had 14 turnovers and scored only 28 points. In the second half, Florida had five turnovers and scored 45 points. If you can simply get a shot up, you have a pretty good chance of scoring against Missouri either on the initial shot or on an offensive rebound.

*The SEC is going to be an all out war this year. Vandy beat Arkansas. Kentucky won at Tennessee. Alabama is the best team in the league. I still think Tennessee is really good, but it’s not unbeatable. After that? Anything can happen. Mizzou lost two games this week to teams in that big old middle of the league. They’re gonna have to find a way to win one Wednesday night. I’m not going to call the season or anything if they don’t win the Arkansas game, but it feels really, really, really big.

*Drew King will have more from this one, we expect more football recruiting news this evening.

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BASKETBALL Mosley's teammates sing high praises!

What’s Mosley brought to the Tigers?

“Too much,” East said Wednesday before the Tigers tipped off practice at Mizzou Arena.

So what should concern opponents about the transfer’s game?
“Everything,” East added.

Care to elaborate?
“He’s as advertised — and he’s even more,” East said.

“Probably one of the best scorers that I’ve ever seen in person,” senior guard and co-captain Tre Gomillion said. “He’s so quick. ... He knows how to hold the line and get to the goal when he needs to. And it’s so hard to guard him because he’s such a good shooter. He’s got the best of both worlds.”

As Mizzou’s longest-tenured player, Brown has seen his share of high-level SEC guards over the years. Where does Mosley’s skills rate against the best he’s played against in the SEC?

“If not at that level then better,” Brown said. “I remember I was talking to him one day, he said early on he started off as a forward, like (playing) with his back to the basket. It’s just crazy how he went from that to where he is now.”

FULL ARTICLE: https://www.stltoday.com/sports/col...cle_948ae1ab-fa44-5fff-9bf0-74e68952a278.html

BASKETBALL Postgame please

@GabeD I really wish you guys would post the Gates and Drink postgame press conferences in their entirety or link to it if it exists somewhere else.

Maybe the only thing I can point to that was better during the pandemic was the Postgame Drink. Loved the live discussion, post game comments from Drink and questions from listeners. Would pay more for the subscription if there was an option to do so. Please bring this back for football and basketball!!

BASKETBALL Just back home from teh Game (60 Mi Drive)

No answer for the 7 Footer - he is athletic, good shooter and smart. Great game - would have been better had we won but Florida hit their wide open 3s and we didn't. Wild atmosphere- Noise like Hearnes back in the day when the meter hit 100. Coach did a great job - was all over the Refs. and did as well as he could - substituting many, many times. We just got beat by a better Team today in their house. - don't give up. I got my money's worth.
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