Yes, I know the second half wasn't real good. It was relatively ugly for most of it. And you can save your "there are no moral victories" and "we shouldn't be happy with crap like this" for another thread. Because you can wish in one hand and drop a deuce in the other and see which one fills up first. And as much as you much wish Missouri basketball didn't enter this season where it did and as much as you might want to holler about how it shouldn't be that way, that's where it is. So what you think it should be doesn't much matter right now.
So with that out of the way, I see more reasons to be encouraged tonight than to moan about how this team isn't improved at all. Let's start with those improvements:
*There's a lot to like about this freshman class. I might argue that Kevin Puryear and KJ Walton are the two best players on the roster. Right now.
*They got some pretty darn good shots in the first 20-25 minutes. They just didn't make enough of them, especially from three point range. From the 18 minute mark of the second half to about the 8 minute mark, they didn't get very many good shots. And they didn't make those either.
*Cullen VanLeer can shoot it when he settles down and gets in a rhythm.
*I think Kim Anderson is starting to hone in on a rotation a little bit. He won't play 10-11 guys all year. It will probably be more like eight. We're starting to get an idea which eight are gonna get more time I think.
*Wes Clark can be a guy who leads this team. He needs to be a little more consistent and probably a little better at knowing when to shoot and when to pull it down but on a very young team, he's the only non-freshman I see with the personality and the ability to lead.
*I didn't feel like Missouri was out of this game until about the three minute mark. They were down, but they were fighting and I thought they were a big shot or two away from making a game of it. They just didn't make that shot.
So let's get to what wasn't so good:
*The officiating. They were consistent. But they made the game virtually unwatchable from the start.
*Jakeenan Gant has to be better than this for Missouri to win. Especially if Ryan Rosburg and Russell Woods are non-factors, which they were tonight.
*The zone is still a problem. Missouri had a few possessions where the ball never got inside the three point line. Maybe that is related to the post above. This team's only big man right now is a 6-7 freshman. I'd like to see more of Tramaine Isabell and KJ Walton when the other team goes zone (and really all the time).
*Terrence Phillips is going to have better games than tonight. Thanks in large part to two early fouls, he never got in the flow.
In summation, what you saw tonight is what happens when a tough, veteran, battle tested team faces a team full of young kids that has never been in a game like this. I can understand why people would be disappointed about the result, but not why anyone would be surprised. Missouri traded punches for 20 minutes. The goal is to improve enough that late in the year, or early next year, you can trade punches with a team like that for 40 minutes. Personally, what I've seen in the first three games indicates some signs to me that they're going in that direction. Gonna need to win one in KC next week and then see how things go.
For what it's worth, my starting five going forward would be Isabell, Clark, Walton, Puryear, Wright. Is it small? Absolutely. But I think those are the five best players. Go with Phillips, Gant, VanLeer and whichever of Rosburg/Allen/Woods can give you something that night.
So with that out of the way, I see more reasons to be encouraged tonight than to moan about how this team isn't improved at all. Let's start with those improvements:
*There's a lot to like about this freshman class. I might argue that Kevin Puryear and KJ Walton are the two best players on the roster. Right now.
*They got some pretty darn good shots in the first 20-25 minutes. They just didn't make enough of them, especially from three point range. From the 18 minute mark of the second half to about the 8 minute mark, they didn't get very many good shots. And they didn't make those either.
*Cullen VanLeer can shoot it when he settles down and gets in a rhythm.
*I think Kim Anderson is starting to hone in on a rotation a little bit. He won't play 10-11 guys all year. It will probably be more like eight. We're starting to get an idea which eight are gonna get more time I think.
*Wes Clark can be a guy who leads this team. He needs to be a little more consistent and probably a little better at knowing when to shoot and when to pull it down but on a very young team, he's the only non-freshman I see with the personality and the ability to lead.
*I didn't feel like Missouri was out of this game until about the three minute mark. They were down, but they were fighting and I thought they were a big shot or two away from making a game of it. They just didn't make that shot.
So let's get to what wasn't so good:
*The officiating. They were consistent. But they made the game virtually unwatchable from the start.
*Jakeenan Gant has to be better than this for Missouri to win. Especially if Ryan Rosburg and Russell Woods are non-factors, which they were tonight.
*The zone is still a problem. Missouri had a few possessions where the ball never got inside the three point line. Maybe that is related to the post above. This team's only big man right now is a 6-7 freshman. I'd like to see more of Tramaine Isabell and KJ Walton when the other team goes zone (and really all the time).
*Terrence Phillips is going to have better games than tonight. Thanks in large part to two early fouls, he never got in the flow.
In summation, what you saw tonight is what happens when a tough, veteran, battle tested team faces a team full of young kids that has never been in a game like this. I can understand why people would be disappointed about the result, but not why anyone would be surprised. Missouri traded punches for 20 minutes. The goal is to improve enough that late in the year, or early next year, you can trade punches with a team like that for 40 minutes. Personally, what I've seen in the first three games indicates some signs to me that they're going in that direction. Gonna need to win one in KC next week and then see how things go.
For what it's worth, my starting five going forward would be Isabell, Clark, Walton, Puryear, Wright. Is it small? Absolutely. But I think those are the five best players. Go with Phillips, Gant, VanLeer and whichever of Rosburg/Allen/Woods can give you something that night.
