Most of the time, I think the "Mizzou is cursed" stuff is overblown. I think fans tend to exaggerate their own misfortunes and downplay others'. But go back to the football team losing five in a row, the sanctions being upheld, hoops losing two games in as many days and now this, the cherry on top, and I'll admit it's an all-time rough patch. I feel for you guys.
There's no sugar-coating it. This is an awful, awful loss. Charleston Southern entered Tuesday ranked No. 313 in the nation by KenPom. They lost to Furman by 44 points and Southern Utah (!) by 35. Using KenPom ranking at the time of tipoff, it's worse than any single loss in the Kim era. This loss alone does not disqualify Mizzou from making the tournament, but given how the past week has gone, any such talk is not based in reality.
There were a few fluky aspects to this one. Charleston Southern entered today ranked second-to-last in three-point shooting but made eight of 11 threes in the second half. Mizzou's fourth-year point guard fouled out (although this is not the first time he's gotten into foul trouble). But I think the most concerning part for me is that Mizzou made all the same mistakes it has made in its other losses this year. It started horribly slow, and no one seems to have an answer for how to fix that. It neglected Jeremiah Tilmon early, and then Tilmon got himself into foul trouble. It turned it over 16 times. Its "shooters" continue to take, and miss, a lot of threes. When it needs a bucket in key stretches, there's no one I have confidence in getting it. When all of that happens, it doesn't matter how good your defense is (and it wasn't good in the second half tonight, by the way), you put yourself in close games where if the other team hits a couple shots it's hard to overcome.
For the first time, I've seen a fair amount of talk about Cuonzo's job security tonight. I get it. But it's a waste of time. The school literally cannot fire him without cause until after next season, and even then, it would take a ton of money. Realistically, he's not going anywhere until after the 2021-22 season unless he gets caught up in some sort of scandal. It's absolutely fair to question some things about this team. Not one player who joined the roster since his first recruiting class, the Porter class, had a good game tonight. And as much as he loves defense, he clearly needs to try something to shake up the offense, especially at the start of games. But let's not devolve into Odom territory where all we do is argue whether he's going to be fired, because that would make for a long two and a half years. Mizzou's best interest is absolutely that he figures it out, gets some momentum going this year, finds a way to land some better talent and becomes the guy here long term. Root for that.
I'll have the and-one thing in the morning, then it's back to the coaching search.
There's no sugar-coating it. This is an awful, awful loss. Charleston Southern entered Tuesday ranked No. 313 in the nation by KenPom. They lost to Furman by 44 points and Southern Utah (!) by 35. Using KenPom ranking at the time of tipoff, it's worse than any single loss in the Kim era. This loss alone does not disqualify Mizzou from making the tournament, but given how the past week has gone, any such talk is not based in reality.
There were a few fluky aspects to this one. Charleston Southern entered today ranked second-to-last in three-point shooting but made eight of 11 threes in the second half. Mizzou's fourth-year point guard fouled out (although this is not the first time he's gotten into foul trouble). But I think the most concerning part for me is that Mizzou made all the same mistakes it has made in its other losses this year. It started horribly slow, and no one seems to have an answer for how to fix that. It neglected Jeremiah Tilmon early, and then Tilmon got himself into foul trouble. It turned it over 16 times. Its "shooters" continue to take, and miss, a lot of threes. When it needs a bucket in key stretches, there's no one I have confidence in getting it. When all of that happens, it doesn't matter how good your defense is (and it wasn't good in the second half tonight, by the way), you put yourself in close games where if the other team hits a couple shots it's hard to overcome.
For the first time, I've seen a fair amount of talk about Cuonzo's job security tonight. I get it. But it's a waste of time. The school literally cannot fire him without cause until after next season, and even then, it would take a ton of money. Realistically, he's not going anywhere until after the 2021-22 season unless he gets caught up in some sort of scandal. It's absolutely fair to question some things about this team. Not one player who joined the roster since his first recruiting class, the Porter class, had a good game tonight. And as much as he loves defense, he clearly needs to try something to shake up the offense, especially at the start of games. But let's not devolve into Odom territory where all we do is argue whether he's going to be fired, because that would make for a long two and a half years. Mizzou's best interest is absolutely that he figures it out, gets some momentum going this year, finds a way to land some better talent and becomes the guy here long term. Root for that.
I'll have the and-one thing in the morning, then it's back to the coaching search.
