Losing Jimmy Bell in and of itself is not that big a deal. Getting him would have been good because he's the latest guy the staff wanted so if they wanted him, I'll assume they thought he could play. That they didn't get him, as an isolated incident, is far from disastrous (after all, who among us would want to leave Starkville, Mississippi after 48 measly hours?)
That said, I understand those who are a bit negative/concerned/upset/fill in the blank. It's been a tough run on the recruiting trail.
There are a good number of pieces on this roster. But the only ones above 6-6 are completely unproven. As of now you're counting on Aidan Shaw to take a leap, Jesus Carralero to translate to high major basketball and Jordan Butler and/or Trent Pierce to be ready to contribute at least at the level Shaw did last season and maybe a little bit above that. If Kobe Brown stays in the draft (as of today, I'd lean toward that happening based on everything we're hearing on his NBA stock), it's 100% fair to question exactly who is going to get a rebound for this team. It was one of the worst rebounding teams in the country WITH Kobe Brown. Now they're without him and Mo Diarra and without much proven in their place.
Gates talked a lot this year about how rebounding wasn't an issue. If they did enough other things well enough, they could make up for it. To a degree, he's right. You don't have to win the rebounding battle. But being consistentlly outrebounded by double digits isn't a recipe for long term success. Regardless of what he says, they've got to be better on the boards than they were. Losing by six, cool. Losing by 16, not so much.
To me, a bigger concern would be defensively. I'm not saying you need a guy blocking four shots a game in there, but as of today you're either asking Aidan Shaw (or someone of similar build) to put on 20 pounds and gain a lot of strength to be able to defend the paint or you're asking Noah Carter to do it at 6-6. We saw plenty of examples of what happens when you have a power forward as your main interior defender in this league the last couple of years. It landed Kobe Brown on the bench with two fouls in the first ten minutes WAY too often. Carter is going to be one of this team's main offensive weapons and it's just not fair to ask him to be guarding guys who have him by four inches and 40 pounds consistently. Here and there it's fine. Not 30 minutes a game.
I would assume Mizzou will now pivot and look for another big man out of the portal. And there are plenty there so I assume they'll get one (and there are still 33.5 hours to enter). I do not have an idea who that might be at this point or whether it will be someone that gets people excited. But I assume they'll take one.
I am not hitting any panic buttons right now because as I've said and will continue to say, Gates took an incomplete and underappreciated roster to one hell of a season last year and he very well might be capable of doing it again. Maybe he's that good. It's at least a possibility until he proves he isn't. But I do understand why some are a little bit down on things right now.
*On the bigger picture, is this an NIL issue? I have no idea. I mean, in some regard, I have an idea in that I'm pretty sure Matthew Cleveland and Caleb Love got paid more than Missouri would have paid them. I don't know if that's because Missouri couldn't pay them that or if it's because Missouri wouldn't pay them that. Those are two separate issues. If it's a matter of Missouri wouldn't pay them what they got somewhere else, you either trust your coach or you don't. I choose to for the time being. If you choose not to, that's your prerogative too. If Missouri couldn't pay them that's a bit of a concern. Everyone I talk to around Mizzou and around NIL tell me the NIL is just fine. No, they don't have John Ruiz and no they aren't gonna spend like Kentucky in basketball or Texas A&M in football, but everybody tells me they're in a strong position and able to compete relative to their peers. I don't have any proof they're not being truthful so I'll believe them (This is part of the issue with NIL is just that we have no idea how much is available or how any of it is being spent; I'm not necessarily saying we have the right to know that, but the fact that we don't leads to a lot of speculation and worrying that might be accurate and warranted and might not be).
I don't know if NIL was a factor with Kadin Shedrick (like it or not he went to a better program both currently and historically even if it is under a new coach). I haven't had anyone tell me it was with Jimmy Bell, but common sense says he had a visit scheduled here and everything everyone was hearing was positive and then he didn't take it so it's not the biggest of leaps to assume NIL played a part. I'm not going to convince anyone that wants to go all gloom and doom on Mizzou's NIL efforts and I'm not really trying to. Without any access to the books, all I can do is tell you what I'm told, which has all along been that Missouri's in fine shape and doing better than a lot of people give them credit for. If you're skeptical of that after the last couple of weeks, I get it, but there's simply no way for any of us on this side of it to know.
TL;DR version: Tough couple of weeks on the hoops recruiting trail. There's a hole on the roster that needs to be filled. I assume they'll fill it. If you're predisposed to panic, that's what you're going to do. I'll hold off and see what the roster looks like and what Dennis Gates can do with it.
That said, I understand those who are a bit negative/concerned/upset/fill in the blank. It's been a tough run on the recruiting trail.
There are a good number of pieces on this roster. But the only ones above 6-6 are completely unproven. As of now you're counting on Aidan Shaw to take a leap, Jesus Carralero to translate to high major basketball and Jordan Butler and/or Trent Pierce to be ready to contribute at least at the level Shaw did last season and maybe a little bit above that. If Kobe Brown stays in the draft (as of today, I'd lean toward that happening based on everything we're hearing on his NBA stock), it's 100% fair to question exactly who is going to get a rebound for this team. It was one of the worst rebounding teams in the country WITH Kobe Brown. Now they're without him and Mo Diarra and without much proven in their place.
Gates talked a lot this year about how rebounding wasn't an issue. If they did enough other things well enough, they could make up for it. To a degree, he's right. You don't have to win the rebounding battle. But being consistentlly outrebounded by double digits isn't a recipe for long term success. Regardless of what he says, they've got to be better on the boards than they were. Losing by six, cool. Losing by 16, not so much.
To me, a bigger concern would be defensively. I'm not saying you need a guy blocking four shots a game in there, but as of today you're either asking Aidan Shaw (or someone of similar build) to put on 20 pounds and gain a lot of strength to be able to defend the paint or you're asking Noah Carter to do it at 6-6. We saw plenty of examples of what happens when you have a power forward as your main interior defender in this league the last couple of years. It landed Kobe Brown on the bench with two fouls in the first ten minutes WAY too often. Carter is going to be one of this team's main offensive weapons and it's just not fair to ask him to be guarding guys who have him by four inches and 40 pounds consistently. Here and there it's fine. Not 30 minutes a game.
I would assume Mizzou will now pivot and look for another big man out of the portal. And there are plenty there so I assume they'll get one (and there are still 33.5 hours to enter). I do not have an idea who that might be at this point or whether it will be someone that gets people excited. But I assume they'll take one.
I am not hitting any panic buttons right now because as I've said and will continue to say, Gates took an incomplete and underappreciated roster to one hell of a season last year and he very well might be capable of doing it again. Maybe he's that good. It's at least a possibility until he proves he isn't. But I do understand why some are a little bit down on things right now.
*On the bigger picture, is this an NIL issue? I have no idea. I mean, in some regard, I have an idea in that I'm pretty sure Matthew Cleveland and Caleb Love got paid more than Missouri would have paid them. I don't know if that's because Missouri couldn't pay them that or if it's because Missouri wouldn't pay them that. Those are two separate issues. If it's a matter of Missouri wouldn't pay them what they got somewhere else, you either trust your coach or you don't. I choose to for the time being. If you choose not to, that's your prerogative too. If Missouri couldn't pay them that's a bit of a concern. Everyone I talk to around Mizzou and around NIL tell me the NIL is just fine. No, they don't have John Ruiz and no they aren't gonna spend like Kentucky in basketball or Texas A&M in football, but everybody tells me they're in a strong position and able to compete relative to their peers. I don't have any proof they're not being truthful so I'll believe them (This is part of the issue with NIL is just that we have no idea how much is available or how any of it is being spent; I'm not necessarily saying we have the right to know that, but the fact that we don't leads to a lot of speculation and worrying that might be accurate and warranted and might not be).
I don't know if NIL was a factor with Kadin Shedrick (like it or not he went to a better program both currently and historically even if it is under a new coach). I haven't had anyone tell me it was with Jimmy Bell, but common sense says he had a visit scheduled here and everything everyone was hearing was positive and then he didn't take it so it's not the biggest of leaps to assume NIL played a part. I'm not going to convince anyone that wants to go all gloom and doom on Mizzou's NIL efforts and I'm not really trying to. Without any access to the books, all I can do is tell you what I'm told, which has all along been that Missouri's in fine shape and doing better than a lot of people give them credit for. If you're skeptical of that after the last couple of weeks, I get it, but there's simply no way for any of us on this side of it to know.
TL;DR version: Tough couple of weeks on the hoops recruiting trail. There's a hole on the roster that needs to be filled. I assume they'll fill it. If you're predisposed to panic, that's what you're going to do. I'll hold off and see what the roster looks like and what Dennis Gates can do with it.
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