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1) It's pretty much officially the worst season in Mizzou basketball history. Theoretically, the men or the women (or both, I guess) could make a miracle run at the conference tournament and change that. But we live in reality where that's not going to happen. The two teams have combined for 27 consecutive losses in league play. The combined record is 19-39 overall and 2-30 in SEC play. Both are going to be the 14 seeds in the conference tournament; the women start Wednesday against Florida, the men next Wednesday, most likely against Georgia or Arkansas.
What's more stunning than the sheer awfulness of the records is how similarly they've gotten here. Both had a bad non-conference loss (Jackson State for the men, Kent State for the women) but offered signs of hope (Pitt and Minnesota for the men, Illinois for the women). They finished the non-conference season with records that nobody's writing home about, but weren't terrible (8-5 for the men, 9-4 for the women). And then they just fell off a cliff. The men haven't won since beating Central Arkansas on December 30. The women haven't won since beating Georgia on January 19. That's six full weeks and 23 tries without a win.
The most recent loss for both crystallized everything. The men fell behind Ole Miss early, trailed by as much as 21, staged a furious rally to make it a one-point game and then fell apart down the stretch, losing 84-78. That game included a 20-3 Ole Miss run to take command. The women led Mississippi State after 53-50 with 5:45 left in the third quarter. The rest of that quarter saw the Bulldogs outscore the Tigers 17-2. MSU led by 12 after three and won 90-75. It's like watching the same terrible movie time after time. You know the monster is hiding in the basement and yet you still open the door and walk down the stairs into the dark thinking just maybe this time it won't be there. Spoiler alert: It's still there. Every time.
2) Maybe Missouri should just petition to not have to play the Mississippi schools in basketball. Here are the records for the Tigers against both teams since joining the SEC:
Men vs Ole Miss: 8-17
Men vs Mississippi State: 4-13
Women vs Ole Miss: 13-3
Women vs Mississippi State: 5-11
Overall: 30-44
3) Basketball is one of the sports Missouri was expected to do well at in the SEC. Especially on the men's side. How bad has it been?
Since joining the SEC the men's basketball team is a combined 74-138 in conference games. The average conference finish is 10th. The Tigers will play on the first day of the conference tournament (only the bottom four teams play) for the seventh time in 12 seasons. They've finished better than 6th just once. Even taking out the three Kim Anderson years, Mizzou is 66-86 in league games.
On the women's side, it's better. Marginally. The women are 84-106 for an average finish of 8.7 in the league. They've had one top four finish and three bottom four finishes.
4) Here's where we get to the difference in the two programs. One coach is certainly safe to come back for next season. The other, we don't know. Robin Pingeton will finish her 14th season at Mizzou this week. She is a combined 246-199 over those 14 seasons. She has made four NCAA Tournament appearances (all with Sophie Cunningham, who finished her Mizzou career 92-40). The Tigers haven't been to the tournament in five years. Without Cunningham, Pingeton's career record is 154-159 in ten seasons. If there hadn't been a change in athletic directors two weeks ago, I'd be telling you here that Pingeton's career at Mizzou would end after her next loss. It still very well might. But it could also be the ultimate saved by the bell moment. Sure, it's possible that Missouri fires her under interim AD Marcy Girton. Maybe they even go out and make the replacement hire before a new AD is in place. It would be unorthodox. But if there's one thing Missouri basketball has been in the last 12 years, it's unorthodox.
