Wrapping all of the games up as one bundle...Little less minutiae, little more big picture.
1. I would consider the showing a net success. I don't think our play in the first game was as good as a win would indicate, and I don't think the loss tonight was as bad as it looks on paper. The game against OSU was a big step forward. Not a great team, but a competent p5 with an all-league level player, and we controlled the vast majority of that game.
2. Ken Pomeroy has a stat that indicates experience level of contributing players by time seen. Mizzou sits at 266th (out of 353). For comparison purposes, KSU is 29th. They're at where I'm expecting this group of players to get us eventually. Of their top 7 players (guys getting more than 33% of available minutes:
3 Seniors
3 Juniors
1 Sophomore
Mizzou
2 Seniors
3 Sophomores
3 Freshmen
There's two good ways to build a program. One, rely on elite young talent. Mizzou isn't going to be a program that banks on that. Most programs aren't. Two, build from within, use quality players that excel as upperclassmen and supplement with transfers/high level individual talent. That requires some growing pains, but also mandates stability and player development. Something Mizzou has lacked since Mike Anderson's class with English, Denmon etc.
3. While Oregon State is not a great team, Kansas State might be. They certainly are the way they played tonight. Perhaps that was a bit on us (probably), but you won't convince me they wouldn't have done this against their prior teams if they could have. Hats off to their shooting exposition. I won't predict where they finish, but they played like a top 15 team tonight.
4. A concerning trend is not so much the shooting percentage, but the shot deficit. For example, tonight we took 7 less FG. That's generally going to be caused by losing the turnover battle, which we're making a habit of doing.
5. On the plus side, you can absolutely see the team feeling things out and getting a better idea of what their teammates are doing, what they're wanting to do and knowing what each other should/should not be doing. That's an important step (and one that Kim's teams never accomplished...only slightly joking).
Tigers had a chance to really change the dynamic of their season tonight, and that didn't happen...but that's ok. Still a lot of things to like from what we saw (Geist stepping up, Freshmen getting a LOT of exposure to quality basketball), and certainly some nagging concerns (turnovers, Tilmon's continued MIA, inconsistent play even in the same game).
First five games, 4 away from home. Managed to split.
Next five are at home, 3 are pretty quality teams. Let's see where we're at after that.
1. I would consider the showing a net success. I don't think our play in the first game was as good as a win would indicate, and I don't think the loss tonight was as bad as it looks on paper. The game against OSU was a big step forward. Not a great team, but a competent p5 with an all-league level player, and we controlled the vast majority of that game.
2. Ken Pomeroy has a stat that indicates experience level of contributing players by time seen. Mizzou sits at 266th (out of 353). For comparison purposes, KSU is 29th. They're at where I'm expecting this group of players to get us eventually. Of their top 7 players (guys getting more than 33% of available minutes:
3 Seniors
3 Juniors
1 Sophomore
Mizzou
2 Seniors
3 Sophomores
3 Freshmen
There's two good ways to build a program. One, rely on elite young talent. Mizzou isn't going to be a program that banks on that. Most programs aren't. Two, build from within, use quality players that excel as upperclassmen and supplement with transfers/high level individual talent. That requires some growing pains, but also mandates stability and player development. Something Mizzou has lacked since Mike Anderson's class with English, Denmon etc.
3. While Oregon State is not a great team, Kansas State might be. They certainly are the way they played tonight. Perhaps that was a bit on us (probably), but you won't convince me they wouldn't have done this against their prior teams if they could have. Hats off to their shooting exposition. I won't predict where they finish, but they played like a top 15 team tonight.
4. A concerning trend is not so much the shooting percentage, but the shot deficit. For example, tonight we took 7 less FG. That's generally going to be caused by losing the turnover battle, which we're making a habit of doing.
5. On the plus side, you can absolutely see the team feeling things out and getting a better idea of what their teammates are doing, what they're wanting to do and knowing what each other should/should not be doing. That's an important step (and one that Kim's teams never accomplished...only slightly joking).
Tigers had a chance to really change the dynamic of their season tonight, and that didn't happen...but that's ok. Still a lot of things to like from what we saw (Geist stepping up, Freshmen getting a LOT of exposure to quality basketball), and certainly some nagging concerns (turnovers, Tilmon's continued MIA, inconsistent play even in the same game).
First five games, 4 away from home. Managed to split.
Next five are at home, 3 are pretty quality teams. Let's see where we're at after that.
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