Going broad strokes here after organizing some thoughts
1. It's great to have the tournament back. A little weird without fans, but wall to wall hoops is a great thing. Yesterday was especially great, for multiple reasons.
2. Game effectively was a matchup of each squad's 3 best. OU's group outperformed ours. Dru, Tilmon and Mark combined for 47 points, 18 boards, 4 steals, 4 assists to 3 turnovers. OU's trio put forth 58 points, 17 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals and 6 turnovers. Unless you're a team that rolls 10 guys in/out in waves in a pressure system, tourney time is pretty much a spotlight on your best players, and how they performed. The Sooners won that.
3. A continuing theme throughout much of this year was yes, the offense had in fact improved. Quite a bit as a matter of fact. Of the four main categories, Mizzou made nice jumps in 3. BUT...the defense regressed. A schedule without blood donors to be sure, but no matter, their numbers slid. And they continued to do so late in the season. Over the season's last ten games (everyone's last 10), Mizzou rated an incredibly underwhelming 109th in defensive efficiency. It wasn't terrible tonight allowing 1.09 points per possession, but a defense you would expect out of a "defensive minded squad" could've won you this game (and others that it didn't). You want to know why "the season turned?" In those 16 games, Mizzou held their opponent below 1.00 ppp on 10 occasions and only allowed over 1.10 twice. They were 10-0 in their sub 1.00 performances. 2-2 in the 1.00-1.10 range and 1-1 in the 1.10+ (the incredible shooting effort vs. TCU saved that one).
After?
Only 3 sub 1.00 defensive efforts (1-2)
1.00-1.10 (2-1)
1.10+ (0-4)
Twice as many "bad" defensive outings and no wins in those games.
That's disappointing. There were multiple times tonight when Mizzou had crawled back into the game only to allow OU to score on 3-4 consecutive trips immediately thereafter to extend the lead back out. Multiple breakdowns on dribble drive defense assignments. Getting hurt in the pick and pop.
4. On the other end there were three killer stretches:.
At the end of the first half: 4 straight possessions, 4 turnovers (though the last was the last second shot by Dru).
At the beginning of the second half: 6 straight possessions, 2 points (both FT) and 2 turnovers
Sandwiched around the under 4 timeout in the second half: 6 possessions, 2 points (both FT), 1 turnover
14 possessions combined, 4 points and 7 turnovers. They rallied after each, but it's too many wasted opportunities on a big stage.
5. If this is the last game that Dru and Tilmon suit up in a Mizzou uni, and I'm guessing it will be, they came to play.
Tilmon: 16 points, 12 boards, 1 assist, 1steal, 2 blocks, 1 TO on 6/11 shooting
Dru: 20 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, buoyed by 6/11 three point shooting.
6. Speaking of the seniors; hurts to see their (likely) final game end in this manner. There are worse ways, an empty arena in the NIT, a loss in the conf tourney etc. But it stings no matter. The group of five wasn't always perfect but they did give a combined 16 years to the alma mater and helped leave it in a better place than they found it. If only every senior class could say that. Or for Mizzou specifically, if we could have senior classes every year. No matter what happens going forward, they helped rescue an absolute garbage run of Mizzou basketball and make it something worth talking about. Hat tip.
7. If we ran it back to prior to the season, I was down on the trajectory of things a bit. Hopeful, but leery after what by all accounts was a disappointing 2020 effort. If you asked me, what the bare minimum of results were to make me feel like this thing was..back on track...or had a chance to work. It would've been in this neighborhood. The elite wins were plentiful and impressive, but there were certainly moments when you wondered whether things were going to fall apart. Mizzou doesn't live in the zip code where tournament appearances can be bad seasons. Especially of late. But so too are they not a program where disappointment can't set in with missed opportunities. And those existed this season. In the grand scheme, this was an important season to regain some legitimacy for the program. I hate that it's that way, I came of age in the late 80's and early 90's, but it's a fact. You can let a program fall into disrepair for so long without having to pay the price. Would love to have bypassed this process, but not to be. Feels similar in some ways (to me) with the Brad Smith upperclassmen years. That worked out pretty well because the building and progression continued there after, which the same will have to happen here for it to work...but in the moment itself...chances left on the table, not much to feel great about but still progress.
8. We'll see you next year. Then again, maybe not. Enjoy doing these but sometimes life gets in the way.
Peace,
MC
1. It's great to have the tournament back. A little weird without fans, but wall to wall hoops is a great thing. Yesterday was especially great, for multiple reasons.
2. Game effectively was a matchup of each squad's 3 best. OU's group outperformed ours. Dru, Tilmon and Mark combined for 47 points, 18 boards, 4 steals, 4 assists to 3 turnovers. OU's trio put forth 58 points, 17 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals and 6 turnovers. Unless you're a team that rolls 10 guys in/out in waves in a pressure system, tourney time is pretty much a spotlight on your best players, and how they performed. The Sooners won that.
3. A continuing theme throughout much of this year was yes, the offense had in fact improved. Quite a bit as a matter of fact. Of the four main categories, Mizzou made nice jumps in 3. BUT...the defense regressed. A schedule without blood donors to be sure, but no matter, their numbers slid. And they continued to do so late in the season. Over the season's last ten games (everyone's last 10), Mizzou rated an incredibly underwhelming 109th in defensive efficiency. It wasn't terrible tonight allowing 1.09 points per possession, but a defense you would expect out of a "defensive minded squad" could've won you this game (and others that it didn't). You want to know why "the season turned?" In those 16 games, Mizzou held their opponent below 1.00 ppp on 10 occasions and only allowed over 1.10 twice. They were 10-0 in their sub 1.00 performances. 2-2 in the 1.00-1.10 range and 1-1 in the 1.10+ (the incredible shooting effort vs. TCU saved that one).
After?
Only 3 sub 1.00 defensive efforts (1-2)
1.00-1.10 (2-1)
1.10+ (0-4)
Twice as many "bad" defensive outings and no wins in those games.
That's disappointing. There were multiple times tonight when Mizzou had crawled back into the game only to allow OU to score on 3-4 consecutive trips immediately thereafter to extend the lead back out. Multiple breakdowns on dribble drive defense assignments. Getting hurt in the pick and pop.
4. On the other end there were three killer stretches:.
At the end of the first half: 4 straight possessions, 4 turnovers (though the last was the last second shot by Dru).
At the beginning of the second half: 6 straight possessions, 2 points (both FT) and 2 turnovers
Sandwiched around the under 4 timeout in the second half: 6 possessions, 2 points (both FT), 1 turnover
14 possessions combined, 4 points and 7 turnovers. They rallied after each, but it's too many wasted opportunities on a big stage.
5. If this is the last game that Dru and Tilmon suit up in a Mizzou uni, and I'm guessing it will be, they came to play.
Tilmon: 16 points, 12 boards, 1 assist, 1steal, 2 blocks, 1 TO on 6/11 shooting
Dru: 20 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, buoyed by 6/11 three point shooting.
6. Speaking of the seniors; hurts to see their (likely) final game end in this manner. There are worse ways, an empty arena in the NIT, a loss in the conf tourney etc. But it stings no matter. The group of five wasn't always perfect but they did give a combined 16 years to the alma mater and helped leave it in a better place than they found it. If only every senior class could say that. Or for Mizzou specifically, if we could have senior classes every year. No matter what happens going forward, they helped rescue an absolute garbage run of Mizzou basketball and make it something worth talking about. Hat tip.
7. If we ran it back to prior to the season, I was down on the trajectory of things a bit. Hopeful, but leery after what by all accounts was a disappointing 2020 effort. If you asked me, what the bare minimum of results were to make me feel like this thing was..back on track...or had a chance to work. It would've been in this neighborhood. The elite wins were plentiful and impressive, but there were certainly moments when you wondered whether things were going to fall apart. Mizzou doesn't live in the zip code where tournament appearances can be bad seasons. Especially of late. But so too are they not a program where disappointment can't set in with missed opportunities. And those existed this season. In the grand scheme, this was an important season to regain some legitimacy for the program. I hate that it's that way, I came of age in the late 80's and early 90's, but it's a fact. You can let a program fall into disrepair for so long without having to pay the price. Would love to have bypassed this process, but not to be. Feels similar in some ways (to me) with the Brad Smith upperclassmen years. That worked out pretty well because the building and progression continued there after, which the same will have to happen here for it to work...but in the moment itself...chances left on the table, not much to feel great about but still progress.
8. We'll see you next year. Then again, maybe not. Enjoy doing these but sometimes life gets in the way.
Peace,
MC
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