I don't often put weight in moral victories, but for an extremely young team looking for cohesion among numerous newcomers, I think hanging with a very talented ku team fits the bill. This team's legit.
A few points of concern:
- Coach Martin now knows he has two options at the five against legit post players: Tilmon and Jontay. The game started to fall away when both players were on the bench. This means Tilmon will need to control his fouling, I'm unsure if he played extra aggressive with two extra fouls, or he just a a proclivity for picking them up, but he's going to be way to important to this team to be in foul trouble often. Definitely should be a point of emphasis.
- Blake Harris needs to spend extra time at the free throw line before and after every practice. You can't have your point guard be that sort of liability at the line.
- MPJ, as great as he obviously is and will be, seems to be transitioning to a higher level of basketball. There were a few moments where he felt he was pressing in the second half, forcing low percentage shots. A more patient approach will serve him well.
- Defense was a concern across the board, especially with Phillips. TP's obviously going to play every game this year, so hopefully he'll have good rim protection backing him up. I couldn't tell from today's game, but Tilmon seems to be the most adept rim protector on the team. Maybe syncing their minutes would be helpful.
Bright spots:
- This team hung with kansas for most of the game, and when it looked like ku might make it a twenty point blowout, they hung tough with MPJ on the bench. That's moxie you hope a team has by the end of the year, and they've already got it. That takes away the slight worry I had about this team perhaps being similar to LSU and UW from the past two years. They showed more life today than either of those teams ever did.
- Robertson's a special shooter, the kind of guy with a perpetual green light. Even better, he seems to know when to take his shots; I can't think of a single moment he seemed to force it today.
- Barnett played poised, collected basketball. He and Robertson will be huge, providing experience on this insanely young team. Every great CBB team has a couple guys in their early twenties helping things along, and Mizzou seems as if it could have their duo.
- MPJ didn't play his best game, but he's the kind of guy who will give you at least fifteen on his worst days. Mizzou hasn't had a player like that since Denmon, and that's a hell of a foundation to build a team around. He's going to average twenty-plus points this year. If you can't see the talent, you're choosing not to.
- Good God Tilmon looked great, fouls notwithstanding. Crazily athletic, plays with great energy, tall, long, and most surprisingly, looked adept as a passer. He made multiple impressive passes in the first half. And of course, those putbacks were things of beauty.
- Mizzou has great, old school bully ball potential. I haven't seen a Tigers bball team dominate another team physically on the boards like that in a long, long time. I think this team has potential to be a NCAA version of the 2016 OKC Thunder, who just overwhelmed opponents with length, rebounding, and rim protection. I'm interested to see a lineup of Robertson/Barnett/Porter/Porter/Tilmon out there, though I'd understand if Martin'd be concerned about both Jontay and Tilmon being exposed to fouls simultaneously. Initiating the offense would be tricky, but I find that level of size, length, and physicality together on the floor intriguing.
It's going to be a good year, gals and gents. I'm expecting a top three finish in the conference, a top twenty-five finish nationally, and a run in march.
Cuonzo has righted the ship, and it's mind boggling how quickly it's happened. November 10 can't get here soon enough!
A few points of concern:
- Coach Martin now knows he has two options at the five against legit post players: Tilmon and Jontay. The game started to fall away when both players were on the bench. This means Tilmon will need to control his fouling, I'm unsure if he played extra aggressive with two extra fouls, or he just a a proclivity for picking them up, but he's going to be way to important to this team to be in foul trouble often. Definitely should be a point of emphasis.
- Blake Harris needs to spend extra time at the free throw line before and after every practice. You can't have your point guard be that sort of liability at the line.
- MPJ, as great as he obviously is and will be, seems to be transitioning to a higher level of basketball. There were a few moments where he felt he was pressing in the second half, forcing low percentage shots. A more patient approach will serve him well.
- Defense was a concern across the board, especially with Phillips. TP's obviously going to play every game this year, so hopefully he'll have good rim protection backing him up. I couldn't tell from today's game, but Tilmon seems to be the most adept rim protector on the team. Maybe syncing their minutes would be helpful.
Bright spots:
- This team hung with kansas for most of the game, and when it looked like ku might make it a twenty point blowout, they hung tough with MPJ on the bench. That's moxie you hope a team has by the end of the year, and they've already got it. That takes away the slight worry I had about this team perhaps being similar to LSU and UW from the past two years. They showed more life today than either of those teams ever did.
- Robertson's a special shooter, the kind of guy with a perpetual green light. Even better, he seems to know when to take his shots; I can't think of a single moment he seemed to force it today.
- Barnett played poised, collected basketball. He and Robertson will be huge, providing experience on this insanely young team. Every great CBB team has a couple guys in their early twenties helping things along, and Mizzou seems as if it could have their duo.
- MPJ didn't play his best game, but he's the kind of guy who will give you at least fifteen on his worst days. Mizzou hasn't had a player like that since Denmon, and that's a hell of a foundation to build a team around. He's going to average twenty-plus points this year. If you can't see the talent, you're choosing not to.
- Good God Tilmon looked great, fouls notwithstanding. Crazily athletic, plays with great energy, tall, long, and most surprisingly, looked adept as a passer. He made multiple impressive passes in the first half. And of course, those putbacks were things of beauty.
- Mizzou has great, old school bully ball potential. I haven't seen a Tigers bball team dominate another team physically on the boards like that in a long, long time. I think this team has potential to be a NCAA version of the 2016 OKC Thunder, who just overwhelmed opponents with length, rebounding, and rim protection. I'm interested to see a lineup of Robertson/Barnett/Porter/Porter/Tilmon out there, though I'd understand if Martin'd be concerned about both Jontay and Tilmon being exposed to fouls simultaneously. Initiating the offense would be tricky, but I find that level of size, length, and physicality together on the floor intriguing.
It's going to be a good year, gals and gents. I'm expecting a top three finish in the conference, a top twenty-five finish nationally, and a run in march.
Cuonzo has righted the ship, and it's mind boggling how quickly it's happened. November 10 can't get here soon enough!
