*First things first, props to the student section. If it's not 100% full, it's pretty close. People have been begging for them to show up for years. They did. The rest of the arena is probably closer to 20% full. I'm not going to make this an attendance thing other than to say it ain't fair to blame the kids, at least tonight.
*I want to believe that Jordan Wilmore started tonight because Missouri was short on guys and only had three that had ever been part of a high major basketball game and maybe it was a matchup thing. I want to believe it because the alternative is that despite everything Cuonzo Martin says, if he has a tall guy on his roster, he simply can't resist playing him. There were plenty of lineups without either Wilmore or Keita on the floor so I'm willing to give it more than a one game sample size before I freak out.
*I'm not sure how to live in a world where we're talking about offensively aggressive Javon Pickett, but damn was he in the first half. Attacking the rim non-stop, all kinds of drives and a game-high 13 points.
*Of the newcomers, Ronnie DeGray and Amari Davis were the ones that jumped out. DeGray was active on both ends, not afraid to shoot or take it to the rim and scored seven points. Davis isn't a guy you want to see spotting up and shooting threes a lot, but he's athletic and he's a really active defender. Davis had 12 in the first half.
*The concern with this team will be outside shooting. They missed their first six but finished the first half 7/17 thanks to Boogie Coleman hitting all three of his attempts. But I don't think the three-point shot will necessarily be a strength. They have more guys that can get to the rim than any team Cuonzo has coached here, but I've got to see them be able to do it against somebody better than Central Michigan to know they can rely on it night in and night out. Still, Mizzou was 10/14 from two-point range and got a lot of good looks.
*Kobe Brown only had one point, but Cuonzo's gonna give him the game ball for any game in which he has seven rebounds in a half.
*Bless an officiating crew that allowed us to see 20 minutes of basketball where neither team reached the bonus until 6.5 seconds remained.
*Cuonzo's gonna love this team if it plays as hard as it did tonight every night. Multiple guys diving on the floor for loose balls, everybody running the floor on breaks. Again, it's 20 minutes out of 1200 for the season, but if it's an indicator of the way they play, I think fans can get behind this group even if it doesn't win quite as many games as you might hope.
*I want to believe that Jordan Wilmore started tonight because Missouri was short on guys and only had three that had ever been part of a high major basketball game and maybe it was a matchup thing. I want to believe it because the alternative is that despite everything Cuonzo Martin says, if he has a tall guy on his roster, he simply can't resist playing him. There were plenty of lineups without either Wilmore or Keita on the floor so I'm willing to give it more than a one game sample size before I freak out.
*I'm not sure how to live in a world where we're talking about offensively aggressive Javon Pickett, but damn was he in the first half. Attacking the rim non-stop, all kinds of drives and a game-high 13 points.
*Of the newcomers, Ronnie DeGray and Amari Davis were the ones that jumped out. DeGray was active on both ends, not afraid to shoot or take it to the rim and scored seven points. Davis isn't a guy you want to see spotting up and shooting threes a lot, but he's athletic and he's a really active defender. Davis had 12 in the first half.
*The concern with this team will be outside shooting. They missed their first six but finished the first half 7/17 thanks to Boogie Coleman hitting all three of his attempts. But I don't think the three-point shot will necessarily be a strength. They have more guys that can get to the rim than any team Cuonzo has coached here, but I've got to see them be able to do it against somebody better than Central Michigan to know they can rely on it night in and night out. Still, Mizzou was 10/14 from two-point range and got a lot of good looks.
*Kobe Brown only had one point, but Cuonzo's gonna give him the game ball for any game in which he has seven rebounds in a half.
*Bless an officiating crew that allowed us to see 20 minutes of basketball where neither team reached the bonus until 6.5 seconds remained.
*Cuonzo's gonna love this team if it plays as hard as it did tonight every night. Multiple guys diving on the floor for loose balls, everybody running the floor on breaks. Again, it's 20 minutes out of 1200 for the season, but if it's an indicator of the way they play, I think fans can get behind this group even if it doesn't win quite as many games as you might hope.
