*For 36 minutes, this was flat ugly. It wasn't beautiful in the last four, but games last 40 minutes and Missouri was favored by 15 and won by 17. They didn't get there the way you wanted probably, but it's a lot better than the alternative. I don't think we can afford to be real picky with this team. Wins aren't going to be as frequent as you'd like. So take the ones you get and don't be too negative about them.
*Jordan Wilmore played better tonight than I ever thought I'd see him play in a Mizzou uniform. I'm not even overly enthused about the 11 points (on which he didn't take a shot more than a foot from the rim). It's the six rebounds and three blocks. If Missouri can get that out of him, I don't even care about the offensive output.
*Cuonzo Martin says this is a good shooting team. I'll trust him. But I need to see it at some point.
*Believe it or not, Missouri was the better offensive team in this one and it wasn't close. Northern Illinois. WOOF.
*Kobe Brown is just an all around solid player. 13 points, 12 boards, 6 assists, 4 blocks and a steal. That's Dru Smith like numbers. Actually it might be even more complete. He does everything for this team. As Cuonzo said, some others need to take the heat off of him so he doesn't have to do quite so much but it's good to see he can. The best thing? He only took one three. That's not his thing. Five trips to the line is good. You'd like to see him be a better free throw shooter going forward.
*The transfers better be good because I don't know whet they're going to get out of the freshman class. Yaya Keita played 3:31 and had two fouls. Anton Brookshire played 3:37 and missed his only shot. That's the extent of the contribution from the freshmen. You'll see more out of them on some nights and I expect they'll improve throughout they year, but I don't think any of them are ready to play as of today.
*You'd love to see this team go 1-1 this weekend in Jacksonville. I don't care which one they win. But you'd like to get one. The schedule gets significantly tougher starting next Friday against Wichita State. Pick up one in Jacksonville and define some roles for some guys and I think it's a successful trip.
*I picked this team 15-17 before the year. They're behind where I thought they'd be. I'd revise that down three or four wins as of today. I know everybody is saying "Where do you see 11 wins for this team?" There will be some. They'll shoot it well a few times. They'll run into some teams on bad nights. They'll get better. It's REALLY hard to win fewer than ten games in a college basketball season as a high major team (even though you guys have reason to believe it's a lot more common than it is). It's going to be a long winter where you're going to have to focus on development and reasons to hope for the future, but I really don't think it's going to be as bad as it feels like it's going to be right now.
Video and a notebook on the front page and Joel is working on another story from tonight. Talk to you tomorrow.
*Jordan Wilmore played better tonight than I ever thought I'd see him play in a Mizzou uniform. I'm not even overly enthused about the 11 points (on which he didn't take a shot more than a foot from the rim). It's the six rebounds and three blocks. If Missouri can get that out of him, I don't even care about the offensive output.
*Cuonzo Martin says this is a good shooting team. I'll trust him. But I need to see it at some point.
*Believe it or not, Missouri was the better offensive team in this one and it wasn't close. Northern Illinois. WOOF.
*Kobe Brown is just an all around solid player. 13 points, 12 boards, 6 assists, 4 blocks and a steal. That's Dru Smith like numbers. Actually it might be even more complete. He does everything for this team. As Cuonzo said, some others need to take the heat off of him so he doesn't have to do quite so much but it's good to see he can. The best thing? He only took one three. That's not his thing. Five trips to the line is good. You'd like to see him be a better free throw shooter going forward.
*The transfers better be good because I don't know whet they're going to get out of the freshman class. Yaya Keita played 3:31 and had two fouls. Anton Brookshire played 3:37 and missed his only shot. That's the extent of the contribution from the freshmen. You'll see more out of them on some nights and I expect they'll improve throughout they year, but I don't think any of them are ready to play as of today.
*You'd love to see this team go 1-1 this weekend in Jacksonville. I don't care which one they win. But you'd like to get one. The schedule gets significantly tougher starting next Friday against Wichita State. Pick up one in Jacksonville and define some roles for some guys and I think it's a successful trip.
*I picked this team 15-17 before the year. They're behind where I thought they'd be. I'd revise that down three or four wins as of today. I know everybody is saying "Where do you see 11 wins for this team?" There will be some. They'll shoot it well a few times. They'll run into some teams on bad nights. They'll get better. It's REALLY hard to win fewer than ten games in a college basketball season as a high major team (even though you guys have reason to believe it's a lot more common than it is). It's going to be a long winter where you're going to have to focus on development and reasons to hope for the future, but I really don't think it's going to be as bad as it feels like it's going to be right now.
Video and a notebook on the front page and Joel is working on another story from tonight. Talk to you tomorrow.
