Jeff Borzello ranked the top 80 newcomers (regardless of class) in college basketball:
www.espn.com
The SEC has 20 of them. Missouri has none.
Now, your counter is "but Missouri has the most experience coming back in the SEC." And that is true.
I know this isn't groundbreaking, but every time I see talk about the season I come back to the same thing: The premise for hope for this season is based on returning players simply being better than they were a year ago.
Can that happen? Absolutely. It can happen due to coaching, due to a scheme change or due to players simply performing better than they did a year ago. But I think too often we just ASSUME players are going to be better every year. And that's almost never the case. The argument last year was that the returning guys would be better and you were adding Dru Smith. Other than Pinson and Nikko, the returning guys were not better. They were the same or worse. And that's pretty normal. I'd say maybe half your guys get better and half your guys don't as a general rule.
That leads to the bigger picture. Let's say most of the guys do get better. What's the upside for the season? I'd say best case scenario you could see Mizzou finishing 4th/5th in the SEC and playing its way into about a six seed. And the outlook next year is less rosy than that because I think it's a safe assumption Dru Smith, Pinson and Tilmon at least are gone.
I guess my point is this: I can see the path to improvement over what they've been the last few years. But I've got a hard time seeing the path to what most people over the age of 30 think this program can or should be. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm more than happy to wait and see and have them prove me wrong. I'd love to cover exciting and meaningful basketball in February and March again. But things like the story I linked make me less than optimistic.
Anyway, this should give you all something to discuss until we talk to Drinkwitz this afternoon.
Newcomer Impact Rankings: Which freshmen, transfers will determine team fortunes?
Several college basketball programs' fortunes will rise or fall on the play of new faces in 2020-21. Here are the players most under the microscope.
The SEC has 20 of them. Missouri has none.
Now, your counter is "but Missouri has the most experience coming back in the SEC." And that is true.
I know this isn't groundbreaking, but every time I see talk about the season I come back to the same thing: The premise for hope for this season is based on returning players simply being better than they were a year ago.
Can that happen? Absolutely. It can happen due to coaching, due to a scheme change or due to players simply performing better than they did a year ago. But I think too often we just ASSUME players are going to be better every year. And that's almost never the case. The argument last year was that the returning guys would be better and you were adding Dru Smith. Other than Pinson and Nikko, the returning guys were not better. They were the same or worse. And that's pretty normal. I'd say maybe half your guys get better and half your guys don't as a general rule.
That leads to the bigger picture. Let's say most of the guys do get better. What's the upside for the season? I'd say best case scenario you could see Mizzou finishing 4th/5th in the SEC and playing its way into about a six seed. And the outlook next year is less rosy than that because I think it's a safe assumption Dru Smith, Pinson and Tilmon at least are gone.
I guess my point is this: I can see the path to improvement over what they've been the last few years. But I've got a hard time seeing the path to what most people over the age of 30 think this program can or should be. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm more than happy to wait and see and have them prove me wrong. I'd love to cover exciting and meaningful basketball in February and March again. But things like the story I linked make me less than optimistic.
Anyway, this should give you all something to discuss until we talk to Drinkwitz this afternoon.
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