Look, if you would have told me we'd make a tournament in the first three years of his tenure, I woulda said, "eh... maybe." The fact that it came in season one and doesn't appear to be coming in season three is a bit of a red flag, I suppose, but compared to the Kim era, we are still in a different part of the atmosphere than we were.
No, the goal shouldn't be to only be better than Kim's teams. As long as most of your players are breathing, they're going to be better than Kim's teams.
However, I think because of the success in year one, we lose sight of the fact that Cuonzo took over at a time when Mizzou basketball needed to rebuilt from the ground up. To me, it looked like a four-year project, at a minimum.
I'm not happy with how things are going this season. but I still hold out hope that Cuonzo is going to get us on firmer ground going forward. The glaring weakness of this team is its lack of a go-to scorer (and the puzzlingly disproportionate drop in our 3PT% compared to the rest of the country and how they've adapted to the new line). The lack of development on the part of Tilmon is also not reassuring, as I would have hoped he'd be the all-SEC caliber player by now that Cuonzo said he was prior to the season.
That said, Cuonzo needs a recruiting victory, and soon. If he puts all his eggs in the Josh Christopher basket and misses out without having a backup plan, that's a problem. I sincerely hope we're combing JUCO players and potential grad transfers to find a legit #1 scorer for 2020-21. If we don't, and 20-21 plays out similar to the last two seasons, I'll join the growing chorus of those wanting to light a fire under his seat.
So, I guess I'm saying I'm still on the train, even though the crowd around me is beginning to thin out. I still think he's a quality coach, and if he can land a player that will boost the offense, we can be good again as early as next season. He's going to have to land a player or two for next season, though.
No, the goal shouldn't be to only be better than Kim's teams. As long as most of your players are breathing, they're going to be better than Kim's teams.
However, I think because of the success in year one, we lose sight of the fact that Cuonzo took over at a time when Mizzou basketball needed to rebuilt from the ground up. To me, it looked like a four-year project, at a minimum.
I'm not happy with how things are going this season. but I still hold out hope that Cuonzo is going to get us on firmer ground going forward. The glaring weakness of this team is its lack of a go-to scorer (and the puzzlingly disproportionate drop in our 3PT% compared to the rest of the country and how they've adapted to the new line). The lack of development on the part of Tilmon is also not reassuring, as I would have hoped he'd be the all-SEC caliber player by now that Cuonzo said he was prior to the season.
That said, Cuonzo needs a recruiting victory, and soon. If he puts all his eggs in the Josh Christopher basket and misses out without having a backup plan, that's a problem. I sincerely hope we're combing JUCO players and potential grad transfers to find a legit #1 scorer for 2020-21. If we don't, and 20-21 plays out similar to the last two seasons, I'll join the growing chorus of those wanting to light a fire under his seat.
So, I guess I'm saying I'm still on the train, even though the crowd around me is beginning to thin out. I still think he's a quality coach, and if he can land a player that will boost the offense, we can be good again as early as next season. He's going to have to land a player or two for next season, though.
