it is not butler and pierce's fault the team went 0-19, though, right? nobody was expecting them to be major contributors, and their lack of contribution is only amplified by how much the guys we needed to be players were actually terrible or injured.
If you have to say bye to either one for a Mark Mitchell type you do it and don’t think twice
No it’s not their fault entirely but it’s okay to wonder why they didn’t really contribute much on a team that was that bad. If Mizzou was 7-11 and they didn’t contribute it would be less concerning than that they didn’t contribute to the team Mizzou had last year. Again I’m not saying give up on everything but concern is absolutely warranted
Exactly. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Our program got punched in the mouth this year. 6 and 13 in conference and everybody's talking about" rebuild after losing two NBA players"....."growth is rarely linear" etc. but not panicky. That is all gone...dramatic improvement is needed.
Have you thought about the fact that you don’t know what the whole puzzle looks like and just trying to decide based off one piece probably doesn’t make sense?
20 ppg and 4 time all conference is meh
But not at all surprising.
I’m sure he’s trying his best. He’s just not very good.
They're big men. Are they supposed to create off the dribble? Which guard got them the ball in a good position to score? What offensive sets were designed to create opportunities? I'm not saying they're going to be great. But they've been given no chance to succeed so far. The upperclassmen and the transfers were utter failures. Those are the ones that should be gone.
I'm not one of the doom-and-gloomers around here, so keep in mind that I'm not writing Pierce off at all. He's a super skinny FR who has plenty of time still to develop in college.
This is where I'm at
I’m not sure how you can make a definitive assessment on Trent Pierce (more so than Butler). Dude got all of 6.5 minutes per game. The question of “why didn’t they contribute” is pretty easily explained. They weren’t given a true opportunity to. The real question is, were they not given more playing time because they simply weren’t good enough? I find it hard to believe they were much worse than the upperclassmen that were consistently run out there for 20+ minutes a game.
Revisionist history is an incredible thing. We’re a few weeks from Mizzou’s last game, and it’s already happening. Pierce played enough to see that it was bad. He had no business stepping foot on a college court last year. Doesn’t mean he can’t improve but don’t act like we can’t label his play as awful last year
If he averages 7 as a backup to Bates that’s a win
Exactly. It's nothing against either kid. Yes, at some point you have to develop kids. But right now, you have to win games. And if there are guys out there that move the needle, and you have to trim the scholarship fat, so be it.
We’ve had rosters full of guys that need to be strictly coming off the bench PLENTY of times in the past decade. Forgive people for not getting too excited about landing more 10-15 minute/game type guys from the portal when we have legitimately 4 starting spots up for grabs.
Nobody is arguing against depth, nobody…they are simply lacking excitement when the primary needs this roster need are yet to be met. This kids only a depth piece of the kid in front of him is actually better .You will see the excitement you want when/if those pieces start coming on board. There should be room for all the skepticism in the world after last spring’s debacle
You're just looking at it differently. You're looking at it through a lens assuming that they'll land a better player at some point. But it's fair to point out that until that actually happens, that's the optimistic/hopeful viewpoint.
He sucked in the portal coming off a 25 win season to be fair.
This year was far worse than any year Kim ever had. I know it’s hard for some to deal with but it’s an absolute fact.
