The Low and High Times of Missouri Basketball

The last time I wrote about Missouri Tigers basketball, was twice in a couple weeks span in 2014, with an end of season review and then with the news of the Kim Anderson era happening after Frank Haith's escaping the posse out of town. Then between starting college classes and not having the free days off  I used to have from work, my overall blogging slipped and well, Missouri basketball under Kim Anderson didn't exact inspire much to write about....The last three seasons of Missouri basketball produced less than 30 wins combined. As many point out, Frank Haith won that many in his first year at Missouri...

Then the official word, what many of us fans expected sooner, happened after the final regular season game of the season, was that Kim Anderson wasn't coming back for next season. I had decent hopes for Kim Anderson at Mizzou, but he was in over his head, inheriting not the best of situations; a young inexperienced team, as well as a horrendous APR score and the beginnings of an NCAA investigation, that Anderson didn't even get told about until the took the job.

But it wasn't as horrible a situation as his defenders made it out to be. He had quite a bit of talent on his first roster with Jonathan Williams III(who's now starting for the possible NCAA Champion Gonzaga Bulldogs) and several other four stars, recruiting and rerecruiting  some back on board. The biggest knock on Anderson was that people didn't think he'd be able to recruit at a Division I Power 5 conference level, but he'd be good with the x's and o's and developing his players.

Except it turned out to be more the opposite. His first season he had a talented young roster, that seemed on the cusp of getting over their humps, but an injury to their best scorer, Montaque Gill-Caesar , derailed what progress was being made on a team that struggled to make 60 points. And then the transfers started, with multiple players leaving on a yearly basis. This wasn't what people meant by bringing back the years of Norm, specifically the mid-90s version of Norm.

And there seemed to be no progress among players, no continuity, no development and no sense that things were going to get better. Many felt he was lucky to get a third year. His tenure started with an embarrassing home loss to UMKC and this season featured three more home losses to low majors at home that probably sealed his fate for good.

As the lows started to wear off, with the excitement of a coaching search(which happens too frequently with MU for my tastes), things seemed to be on the right track. Early signs seemed to be that Tom Crean, who was running out of favor, with a cutthroat fan base at Indiana that's stuck in the 1980s, was the man for the job. I was totally on board for this. He's a great coach that's proven he can build up a major conference team, take a team to the Final Four and bring in major talent. Hell, he's recruited Missouri better than Missouri has.

Alas the behind the scenes wrangling didn't pan out and it was soon announced that Cuonzo Martin was offered the job and sources early on indicated he was going to take it. I'd rather have still had Tom Crean, but Martin has shown he can recruit high level talent and build decent teams, where down years are NIT years. The biggest concern is whether he can get over the hump of hovering around 20 wins and not be perceived as a job jumper. I really think he'd still be at Tennessee if not for sort of being Frank Haithed out of town. We want a guy that wants to be here for the long haul and at least in the press conference that's what Martin alluded to too. 

Of course that same day or the day after, it was announced that Washington was parting ways with Lorenzo Romar, for six straight years of missing the NCAA Tournament, while having stellar talent and recruiting classes. And he happened to have the number one recruit by many services coming in, whose father happened to be an assistant coach for Romar. When that axe fell, Michael Porter Sr. started making plans and rumors of a job offer to be an assistant at Missouri, where he previously coached on the women's team(His sister-in-law is the coach) started swirling.

When that became official, it was pretty clear that Michael Porter Jr. was coming to the Tigers. The number one player in the country was coming back home and going to play for Ol' Mizzou. For a MU fan, the 180° turnaround in a matter of weeks has been something out of our wildest dreams. Good things don't happent ot Missouri.  Martin has gotten interest drummed up, all while he's still not even done recruiting  and not even coached a game for us yet!

All I know, is that I'm ready for next fall.

A 2016 Collegiate Men's Olympic Basketball Team

Has it really been four years, since I first did this during the 2012 Olympics? Why, yes it has. I did manage to go back and fill in all of the other years Olympics team with college stars and wanted to for the World Championship teams as well, but life and wasting time have taken hold.

So, while I intended to get to this a while back, I figured I'd better get to it now. And I'll continue the trend of picking the guys that were in college last year, even if they've signed pro contracts and played in the Summer League or whatever it's called.
My coach this time out, is the great(I have to grudgingly admit this as a MU fan. Oh what could have been in 1999...) Bill Self, the head coach of Kansas.

Starters

• PF/C Brice Johnson (North Carolina)
• PF Perry Ellis (Kansas)
• SF/SG Denzel Valentine (Michigan State) 
• SG Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia)
• PG Tyler Ulis (Kentucky)

Bench

• C A.J. Hammons (Purdue)
• C Kaleb Tarczewski (Arizona) 
• F Georges Niang (Iowa State)
• F Brandon Ingram (Duke)
• SG/SF Wayne Selden (Kansas)
• SG Grayson Allen (Duke) 
• PG Frank Mason III (Kansas) 

 Similar to what he did, by taking his whole KU team for the World University Games in 2015, I think Self takes at least three of his Jayhawks. Even though he likes to play with two point guards on the floor, I think he only chooses two true point guards, due to the amazing Denzel Valentine, as well as Grayson Allen who did a lot of the running the show for Duke in 2015-16.
Overall I think the team is pretty versatile. I probably picked one too many big guys, instead of another guard(Marcus Paige, Kris Dunn, Ron Baker, Fred Van Vleet), but having extra size and height is always a good thing. The forwards are the same way, being leaner and more athletic, which helps match the style du jour of the Golden State Warriors. Again, there were several that probably should be on this team (Nigel Hayes, Alex Poythress come to mind) from that spot. There were just a lot of of talented and upperclass players which made these choices hard.

 Now, maybe I'll get to filling in the teams for the World Championships....

A 2014 USA Basketball World Championship Team Made Up of College Players

With the World Basketball Championship, okay the World Cup of Basketball, going on, it got me to thinking again of what a team made up of college players would look like. NBCSports, College Basketball Talk did a similar feature and brought up the point of not even using up drafted players from this recent draft. I'd never really thought of that angle, in that the recently drafted would be considered pros even if they haven't played a single minute of professional ball. That would have effected the rosters I've made up when I did the Olympic Basketball teams being made up of college players.
But I'll stick with recently drafted still being eligible as "amateurs." I think the coach for this team would be John Beilein, the head coach of the University of Michigan, based on his recent successes and his ability at coaching through many different levels of college ball.


Starters

• PF Julius Randle (Kentucky)
• F Doug McDermott (Creighton)
• SF Jabari Parker (Duke)
• G Russ Smith (Louisville)
• PG Shabazz Napier (UConn)

 Bench

• C Frank Kaminksy (Wisconsin)
• PF/C Adreian Payne (Michigan State)
• F Cleanthony Early (Wichita St.)
• SF Glenn Robinson III (Michigan)
• SF/SG Rodney Hood (Duke)
• G Xavier Thames (San Diego St.) 
• PG Marcus Paige (North Carolina)
  

Most of my roster is indeed playing in the NBA this year. And it seems like an odd mixture, of lacking a true swingman and maybe needing another guy with height. I would have Mitch McGary, but I believe he was injured at the time. I think the strength of this team would be the depth at forward, to make up for its smaller guards. With Parker and McDermott, along with Hood, Robinson and Early, there is strong combination of scoring, versatility and athleticism to make up deficiencies. 

And like before, given the the time I'll go back starting with 1994 and playing around with what other World Championship teams would look like through the years.

Enter the Kim Anderson Era

A little over a month ago, I wrote my thoughts on the Missouri Tigers men's basketball 2013-14 season and a look toward the future. None of us had any idea the future would be changed like it has in the past two weeks. Frank Haith pulled a Richard Nixon, leaving before he would get fired and we ended up with a "true son" of Missouri and Missouri basketball at the helm, in Kim Anderson.
My take on Frank Haith, started to erode more and more over the past two seasons, like a lot of other fans. He could recruit but could not coach. We had talent and pieces the last two years, but the teams overall lacked a finished product. I felt more frustrated than anything.
Overall, Frank Haith, left with a stellar winning percentage here(granted a lot of it was inherited thanks to his 2011-12 team). I don't know what kind of ultimatums and expectations he was given for his future, but the fact that he runs off without any kind of trying says a lot about his character. He either didn't think he had the ability to right the ship well enough, with pretty stellar talent or he just took the chicken shit way and left knowing he could get another secure job for a few more years. He might be doing the same thing three or four years later after Tulsa. The respect I had for him and what he accomplished here dissipated.  
Of course this was a win for Mike Alden. Frank Haith was never a popular hire and with a struggling basketball team it put more emphasis on Alden's hiring decision. Haith, turning tail saved Alden from potentially having to fire Haith and let him try to find a better option.
I would have been happy with Ben Howland too. The only thing Howland could have brought over Anderson, was name recognition and a pedigree of success at U.C.L.A and bringing in major five-star talent. Gregg Marshall, on the other hand, who seemed to be every fan's pipe dream candidate, to me seemed just hot rising star candidate that we hear about every year when a mid-major team overachieves.

I like the Kim Anderson hire. He's what Missouri has needed, even after getting passed over and not even considered the last two times. Quinn Snyder was a good hire at the time, he just made one bad recruiting class and getting Ricky Clemons, which derailed his successes. Mike Anderson was as well, proven in his ability to right the ship in three years. Frank Haith was not so much, but after the first two years, it looked like another genius move on Alden's part. Now all of the know-it-all Tiger hipster douches, at Rock M Nation, held a level of scorn at even the possibility of Anderson being a serious candidate. It's been accepted positively a lot more, since they probably finally realized their wet-dream candidate Marshall wasn't coming.

Why Anderson? Because he wants to be here. A native son of Sedalia and a former player and assistant under Norm Stewart, this is his dream job. We don't have to worry about him wanting to step up the ladder to a bigger program or bigger payday. He wants to succeed at Missouri. He proved his chops at the Division II level at Central Missouri State, coming off a Division II championship.
The biggest pratfalls with his hiring were his age and his ability to recruit major names. I admit we'll be lucky to get ten years from him, compared to somebody younger who could build up the program and become the next Norm. But like Norm Stewart, Kim Anderson is a Missourian and Missouri Tiger, who bleeds black and gold. Anderson doesn't have the fiery, charismatic  and larger than life personality that Stewart does, but he brings a more professional and good-natured style to the Missouri bench. I don't see him berating the refs and other coaches.
Recruiting wise was the biggest hurdle. When he was Stewart's assistant, he couldn't bring in the big name in state guys. Derek Hood, Jahadi White, Cookie Belcher, Ryan Robertson, Chris Carrawell, Loren Woods, Jaron Rush, all went elsewhere, at a time in the mid 90s when Missouri was still a strong program. So how would he change the fact that we still can't get in-state stars. In the 2011 class, we couldn't even nab one out of the four, of Ben McLemore, Bradley Beal, B.J. Young or Otto Porter and again Missouri was on a pretty strong high of tournament appearances and producing talent(A lot of this has to do with Mike Anderson spending more time looking at other jobs than recruiting too).
The biggest step he made in the right direction in this area, was keeping associate head coach Tim Fuller to be on his staff. Fuller, like Haith is a pretty strong recruiter and by staying on, four star recruit JaKeenan Gant is keeping his letter of intent. The ability to keep talent and bring them in every year is huge part of keeping a good program. In addition he is keeping on Director of Basketball Operations Bryan Tibaldi, another good move in keeping continuity.  Anderson is regarded as good at X's and O's and having teams that can play defense, which we haven't had or seen in a while. Hopefully its a good meshing of styles and skills, that can produce victories on the court and in the classroom.

I feel really good about the future of Tiger basketball. I know that there is the fear of having expectations start to exceed realities. We'll have a young team, with no real experienced scorers or leaders. As of right now, the team is short in the backcourt, with only two point guards and a two guard. Plus we won't have a true small forward until Cameron Biedscheid is eligible at Winter Break.
I like Wes Clark stepping up to be the point guard, Johnathan Williams III has a lot of potential, Gant could be that deadly combo forward who could give match up problems and Biedscheid could be the scorer we need. Like I said there is a lot of talent and a lot of potential. The biggest thing for next year is not to have too high of expectations. As long as we have a NIT team, that shows competitiveness and improvement throughout the year, I'll still be optimistic about the future of Missouri basketball. 

You Can't Win 3 on 5; Review of the 2013-14 Missouri Tigers Basketball Season

 Another disappointing year for Tiger basketball, has become a theme for the Frank Haith era.  I honestly don't think Frank Haith, will have too many more years at the helm in Columbia. The last two coaches, Quinn Snyder and Mike Anderson took the team in their third year to the Elite Eight. Haith led the Tigers into the second round of the N.I.T. and couldn't even pull out a home win then.
I know, I know, different players, different philosophies, yeah, yeah. But Haith like Snyder, inherited a talented club, but Snyder was able to bring in more talented recruits, Kareem Rush, Ricky Paulding, Arthur Johnson and Travon Bryant, in addition to the talent already at the school. Anderson by contrast had to build up a team, dealing with the leftovers of Quinn Snyder's lackadaisical last two teams and recruiting classes.
Yes, I know Anderson left the cupboard bare recruiting wise, but Haith inherited a senior laden talented team. He's managed to fill gaps with transfers the past three years, but these past two years have seen an almost regression throughout the season.

This year started off well  record wise. Even with Haith suspended, the Tigers almost made out perfect through the non-conference season, but once SEC play hit, the team seemed to hit a brick wall, coughing up right off the bat to Georgia at home and losing other road games against very sub-par performers in a weak SEC.
The lack of scoring production inside was the biggest problem. Johnathan Williams III showed a lot of promise and could be a monster rebounder, even with more of a small forward frame and fellow Freshman Torren Jones, showed lots of potential, but came across as, well, a Freshman. Ryan Rosburg is more of a work horse, rarely contributing scoring and frequently coming up with less rebounds than the starting guards many nights.
No inside production led to over 70 percent of the scoring being done from the trio of Jordan Clarkson, Jabari Brown and Earnest Ross for good and bad. Mostly bad. You're not going to win a lot playing essentially three on five. These guys were the most talented and did what they had to win, but it felt too much like they trying to improve their NBA draft stock by February, rather than building a winner.

Like last year with the ghost of Michael Dixon, hampering the team, this year it was the ghost of Phil Pressey that hurt the team. Pressey left early and left Haith without an experienced point guard. While there were two Freshmen in Wesley Clark and Shane Rector, the starting job and majority of the ball handling went to Clarkson. Clarkson is a good ball handler, but not adept at running the point. He had too much of a scoring mentality, which was evidenced down the stretch of games, when it was him trying to do everything. It just leaves me to wondering how good a back court of Pressey and Clarkson would have been this year...

As for next year, there is the promise, but what will the reality be? Clarkson and Brown seem to both be likely bolting for the N.B.A. Experience wise it will hurt, like Pressey leaving last year. Last year I thought it would foster a better team mentality. Except, only two guys stepped up their game.
And it would leave Ryan Rosburg as the most experienced Tiger upper-classman. Keanau Post with a monster body, only really produced in one game. So leadership and experience might be the biggest hurdles.
In addition to Wes Clark, showing improvement handling the point and Williams and Jones at the forward spots, there are at least five newcomers coming in. Four star recruits in forward JaKeenan Grant and shooting guard Namon Wright. Plus transfers, David Price,( a former four star recruit) a 6'10 center from Louisville, 6'4 Deuce Bello from Baylor and eligible after first semester 6'7 Cameron Biedscheid, a St. Louis native arriving from Notre Dame.
The talent or at least the potential is there for a decent team, that should be better in March than it is in November, but that's no guarantee. One of Haith's biggest faults, is that he is a great recruiter, but not that great of a coach. There's a lot of though that after he lost Ernie Nestor, who was regarded as his X's and )'s man, after his first season in Columbia, is where a lot of the offensive troubles have come from.
If Haith can put it together, and at least show us that this is a program on the rise, he should be safe. But with a first round NCAA Tournament loss to a 15 seed in his first year, an uneven second year with lots of talent  and an par year three, his seat might be getting a little bit warm.

A 2008 Collegiate Men's Olympic Basketball Team

And this is the final installment of playing make believe with the USA Men's Olympic Basketball team, if they always made of college players. I left off with a 2004 team, that would have seemed a little short on talent compared to the other Olympic years. But this 2008 team would have a little more fire and star power. The implement of the "one and done" rule for the NBA surely helps out, in making the most talented players go to college for a year.
I think the coach would have been Ben Howland for leading UCLA back from being a solid program, to an elite program fighting for Final Four berths. And I think a lot of the talent for this team would have been on display at the 2008 Final Four and I don't doubt Howland would have brought a good number of his Bruins.


Starters 

• C/PF Kevin Love (UCLA)
• PF Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina)
• SF/SG Brandon Rush (Kansas)
• G Derrick Rose (Memphis)
• PG Darren Collison (UCLA)

Bench

• C Roy Hibbert (Georgetown)
• PF D.J. White (Indiana)
• F Michael Beasley (Kansas State)
• SF Chase Budinger (Arizona) 
• SG/SF Shan Foster (Vanderbilt)
• SG Stephen Curry (Davidson)
• G Russell Westbrook (UCLA)

 This team and the talent pool to choose from would have made for a very strong team. This group here has a good combination of talent and versatility. And there is depth and strength at every position, height and size wise. There is also a good number of upperclassmen to go with young phenoms. I even left off a couple of the Freshman stars that year in O. J. Mayo and Blake Griffin and a couple of First Team All Americans, to fill in a few role spots.
Making up these rosters were fun, whenever I found the time and got around to it. Looking at various All-American and NBA Draft lists, as well as Olympic practice teams gave me an idea of who were the players around for each year.
The biggest fault I know is that its star player heavy like the Olympic teams since they allowed professionals to play. Looking at the actual collegiate Olympic rosters of the past, many times there were a handful of stars, a few skilled role players for certain spots and a lot more mid major talent. And even throughout the history of USA Men's Olympic Basketball, there was even chances stars wouldn't turn out, like Alcindor and Walton and the other UCLA players in 1968 and 1972. Or even like Pete Maravich and others who didn't make the cut for the 1968 team.
And there is no way to know who would have been announced as coach a year or two before and what type of team they would try to build up before the the Olympics even got close.
But it's been fun and I guess I can do it again in three years...

A 2004 Collegiate Men's Olympic Basketball Team

Continuing where I left off, I've moved on to making an US Men's Olympic basketball team made up of college players. And this would 2004, a year of infamy in US Olympic Basketball, in which for the first time a team of professional players failed to win the gold medal(and lose three times in the process).
I think it would have been Roy Williams as the coach, if he wouldn't have already been before in his remarkably consistent career at Kansas and before returning North Carolina to national prominence. And I think he would have been the ideal coach for this team.


Starters

• C Emeka Okafor (Connecticut)
• PF Wayne Simien  (Kansas)
• SF Josh Childress (Stanford)
• SG Ben Gordon (Connecticut)
• PG Jameer Nelson (St. Joseph's)

Bench

• PF/C Sean May (North Carolina)
• PF Hakim Warrick (Syracuse)
• PF Lawrence Roberts (Mississippi State) 
• SF Luke Jackson (Oregon)
• SG J.J. Redick (Duke)
• G Blake Stepp (Gonzaga)
• PG Chris Paul (Wake Forrest) 

 Maybe I wasn't paying attention as much during this season of college hoops(Mizzou had probably the most disappointing season in their history with the talent they had.) but apart from a few marquee names, the group of players just doesn't jump out at you. The previous Olympic years I've done all had at least a couple guys with that potential that make you think it would be a dominant talented team. This year's group of players would have made 2004 still seem like it was going to be a struggle for the US.
But there are a few stars, Okafor and Nelson, plus Paul who was only a Freshman here. But skipping college had become the norm for major talent. Actual 2004 team members, LeBron James, would have been a Freshman,  Carmelo Anthony, skipped out in 2003 after his Freshman year and Dwyane Wade, left early as well in 2003, all would have been marquee talent.
And all three are that mid size athletic guy or an athletic forward, which going over the All-American lists and other rosters for 2004, which seemed to be lacking. This roster reflects that, in that the guards are all smaller and the big guys tall, height wise. I'm sure in real life it would have been balanced a little more, but it just seemed like all the talent that year were smaller guards, with a handful of bigs.
But the thing is, Roy Williams could probably work it to his advantage. Quite a few of his later Kansas teams were built on three smaller guys and two bigs. As much as I despised him for coaching KU and now Carolina, I've got to admit he's a hell of a recruiter and able to harvest that talent into a unit. With this roster he has talented point guards, solid shooters and quality big guys with various strengths. This team might have stood a better chance that the real 2004 team...
Though maybe we're just destined to lose every 16 years. 1972 to 1988 to 2004, which puts 2020 as the next year. And that will be the first Games after which Coach K won't be coach after righting the US ship following the 2004 debacle...

A 2000 Collegiate Men's Olympic Basketball Team

Continuing from my previous work of making up Olympic teams made up of college players, I'm now up to 2000. The group of eligible players wouldn't have been as stout from top to bottom as the 1992 and 1996 teams would have probably looked. By now skipping college altogether was becoming more common(Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal would have been seniors in 2000) and early entrants were as well.
But looking at the top college players here, I think this group would probably be a better "team" from top to bottom rather than a collection of stars. I think Coach K would have again been the coach, after getting Duke back to prominence from a lull in the mid-90s and he likely would have again brought several of his guys to enhance the team setting.

Starters

• C Brendan Haywood (North Carolina)
  
• PF Troy Murphy (Notre Dame)
  
• F Shane Battier (Duke)
  
• SG/SF Chris Carrawell (Duke)
• PG Mateen Cleaves (Michigan State)
  

Bench

• C Chris Mihm (Texas)
• PF/C Kenyon Martin (Cincinnati) *
• PF Marcus Fizer (Iowa State)
• SF Morris Peterson (Michigan State)
  
• SF/SG Tayshaun Prince (Kentucky)
• SG/SF Courtney Alexander (Fresno State)
• PG Jason Williams (Duke)
• PG Speedy Claxton (Hofstra)

This would definitely have been an athletic team, with forwards with size, speed and agility. The only downside is there isn't that many true shooting guards besides Carrawell, but the versatile forwards like Prince and Battier, make up for it. And there quite a few good point guard candidates that didn't make the roster, A.J. Guyton and Scoonie Penn, were both first team All-Americans, plus there was Ed Cota and Khalid El-Amin too...
And I realize my teams are more star and All-American heavy that historical college Olympic teams. Quite a few of the stars wouldn't want to play, some guys wouldn't make it due to needing various role spots(Height, shooters, mid size defensive stopper, etc.) and there likely have been a couple true two guards. But I also figure that as the game became more international, kids would want that exposure for the future and its a combination of taking as many of the best players and filling roles.
No matter who would have made up the roster( if it were made up of college players), I think this group of players(as well as the options available in 1992 and 1996) would have continued USA Basketball's winning way in Olympic play. But 2004 might be a different story..

*- I'm assuming Kenyon Martin wouldn't have been able to make the team after breaking his leg during the Conference USA Tournament, but as the player of the year in college basketball, he would have definitely been a starter.

A 1996 Collegiate Men's Olympic Basketball Team

Continuing where I started with the 2012 and 1992 teams, brings us to 1996. 1992 would have been a tough year to narrow down players( I think I would up leaving off Rodney Rogers and Harold Miner among others) and 1996 would have been even tougher. The 1996 NBA Draft produced one of the best collection of rookies which meant there were a lot of good players out there.
The coach in my mind would have been Rick Pitino, for his work of turning the Kentucky program back around the 1990s and fresh off a championship in the 1995-96 season with a deep roster of stars, would have been perfect in leading this team.


Starters

• C Tim Duncan (Wake Forest)
• PF/C Marcus Camby (Massachusetts)
• F John Wallace (Syracuse)
• SG/SF Ray Allen (Connecticut)
• PG Allen Iverson (Georgetown) 

Bench

• C Erick Dampier (Mississippi State)
• PF Walter McCarty (Kentucky)
• F Keith Van Horn (Utah)
• F Antoine Walker (Kentucky) 
• SG/SF Kerry Kittles (Villanova)
• G Tony Delk (Kentucky)
• PG Jacque Vaughn (Kansas)  

 I think Pitino would have taken several of his guys with him like I had Coach K do for the 1992 team and like Dean Smith did do for the 1976 Games. But this team would have been talented and been able to play big or small, with talented athletic NBA forwards. This would have been another team to rival that of the fabled 1960 Olympic Team too.
The scary thing is how many didn't make the cut.  Stephon Marbury, Raef LaFrentz, Danny Fortson and Lorenzen Wright off the top of my head.
While I know I load them more heavy with stars  and All-Americans than most college Olympic teams actually had, I think even without the Dream Team and eligibility of professionals, the bigger name guys would have played more. And too, the early to mid 1990s just featured a lot of great players, before Kevin Garnett led the trend of skipping college all together and players were jumping to the pros even earlier. 

The Ghost of Mike Dixon and the Missouri Tigers 2012-13 Season and Beyond

Last year, I wrote about Frank Haith's successful first season, albeit with a disappointing finish and wondering if 2011-12 was going to be as good as it got for Haith. He had a tight knit senior laden club with the talent to make it to the Final Four and would lose all but two of players from that team.
But with the news that former UConn Center Alex Oriakhi was coming to Mizzou, joining a super backcourt of Phil Pressey and Michael Dixon and fifth year senior Lawrence Bowers back after an injury, things started looking up. We were getting three impact transfers, in addition to Oriakhi, and going to the SEC, where the basketball waters aren't as tough and aside from Florida and Kentucky, the conference was even weaker than normal. Missouri did end up having a great season, with really only a couple of bad losses, at Florida and to Louisville(the likely national champion as I write this before the Final Four) in the Bahamas. Realistically Missouri should have could have won every other game they lost in the regular season. This team was good but...
They could have been so much more. The first couple of months the team looked like a contender, playing the way the prognosticators across the country thought they could be. And that was without Michael Dixon, who was was suspended for undisclosed reasons, as well as Jabari Brown, a former five star wing player who transferred from Oregon, who was eligible in the second semester. It looked like they had the mentality of a winner and knew they could be so much more when they got Dixon, but...
We all know what happened, when Dixon was booted off the team and the university for multiple sexual assaults, which he seemed to have had to remorse about. And after that the team started to lose its mojo as the season went on. They still won some big games, didn't lose at home, but at the same time couldn't pull out wins on the road they should have. And they were never fully able to show the confidence needed to make a decent run in the NCAA tourney. Where the ghost of Michael Dixon hurt the team on the court was a lack of a backup point guard to spell Pressey. Negus Webster-Chan a 6'7 swingman was used early in the season in the role and Keion Bell a 6'3 shooting guard, settled in the role, but never looked comfortable. And Pressey wound up playing 35 plus minutes a night. Dixon would have been able to spell Pressey for breaks, having the size to run the offense and help defensively on smaller guards. In the most ironicof ironies, the 2013 team was too big, where the 2012 team was Mini-Mizzou with not enough tall and big bodies.
And most importantly, Dixon would have been the choice for late game shots instead of Pressey. Pressey's mistakes late in the game, cost the team four or five chances at wins. Was it too much pressure of trying to do to much to carry the team?

And how much of it was Coach Haith, not trying to do something different? After three or four times, you figure they would try to do something different or put it in someone elses hands. Personally, I think a lot falls on Haith, who's a better recruiter than a coach. He lost his offensive scheme guru Ernie Nestor and the team this year seemed to show Nestor's role was huge last season. I don't this years teams was able to run things from half court sets, hence problems at the end of games and the Haith's Stall Ball Offensive that let teams creep back. I always said Pressey is most effective going to coast-to-coast being able to change speeds. Run your regular offense at the end of games, even if it only takes ten seconds off the clock and take your chances on defense.
It goes back to my questions from last year, where does Haith go from here? Can he continue to build on these successes? Does Phil Pressey come back?
Looking into my crystal ball, I think Pressey comes back for his senior season, but if he doesn't I think the team is in decent shape guard wise. Pressey, Brown and Earnest Ross should fill out the perimeter spots with experience.
And if Pressey doesn't come back, it could be a good thing. It would force other players into action and larger roles, and might get a better team cohesion of not having a go-to-guy or a star.
The biggest problem area will be the front court and points scored in the paint. Tony Criswell is the only player returning from the rotation, with Sophomores to be, Ryan Rosburg and Stefan Jankovic, whose potential is very intriguing, likely fighting for spot in the rotation if not starting.
And newcomers likely will play some big roles. Tulsa transfer Jordan Clarkson, is a big guard who can handle the ball, will likely find a spot as well. Top 100 freshmen, Wes Clark, a 6'0 point guard and Johnathan Williams, an athletic 6'8 forward give Haith, more options and talent to develop, in addition to Junior College transfer Keanau Post, a 6'11 center with potential as well.
I like a rotation of Pressey-Brown-Ross-Criswell-Rosburg starting, with Clark-Clarkson-Williams off the bench. The front court will be up in the air, depending on who can do what, primarily be an offensive threat. That's why I think Williams has a shot to start if he can do that. Heck he could play small forward and Ross, with his bulk act as power forward, providing mismatches for other teams. But I'm not sure how much Haith trusts Freshmen though. Short handed last year, especially in the height department Kadeem Green couldn't even get minutes in big games and this season save for Rosburg, minutes for Freshman were again hard to come by, barring injuries, after conference play started up...
Ultimately it comes down to the coaching ability of Haith or his assistants. I've got a lot of questions and doubts on that ability from what I've seen. There's no doubt the man can recruit. Look at what the kids who recruited to Miami did this year. Heck, he's landed some good talent for 2014, not to mention the transfers he's brought in. 
It will come down to winning and losing after a point. The more talent you have the more is expected. Getting into the tournament is a no-brainer, but early exit and after early exit won't be tolerated year after year. Ask Tubby Smith and Ben Howland. I just wonder how much the ghost of Mike Dixon will haunt Haith and Missouri basketball...

A 1992 Collegiate Men's Olympic Basketball Team

I made a roster earlier this year of who I thought would be an Olympic basketball team if it were still made up of college players. And I talked about making retro teams as well, and well' here I am eight months later, finally getting down to it.
Coach K would have been the coach, based on his strong run of being the dominant and consistent program in college basketball in the late 80s and early 90s.

Starters

• C Shaquille O'Neal (Louisiana State)
• PF Christian Laettner (Duke)
• SF/SG Calbert Cheaney (Indiana)
• SG Jim Jackson (Ohio State)
• PG Bobby Hurley (Duke)

Bench

• C Alonzo Mourning (Georgetown)
• PF Chris Webber (Michigan)
• F Jamal Mashburn (Kentucky)
• SF/G Grant Hill (Duke)
• G/SF Anfernee Hardaway (Memphis) 
• SG Allan Houston (Tennessee) 
• G Anthony Peeler (Missouri)

 This was pretty hard and straight forward at the same time. There was a lot of talent, but likely not all of these stars would have wanted to play for Team USA, to pick from, but pretty easy to figure out the best of the best, plus a few to fill in roles.
Laettner was the easiest choice(he was already on the Dream Team. Hahaha!). There's a good balance of guards, forwards and centers and a lot of overall mid height athletic guys. Though, like the roster I made for a 2012 team, not a lot whole lot of true point guards, but quite a few capable of running the point. But the Dream Team itself only had one true point guard.
I think if Collegians would have still been playing in 1992 they would have had one of the stronger teams in USA history. With the athletes and talent pool, whoever they had, they would have been right there with the 1960 and 1984 teams.

A 2012 Collegiate Men's Olympic Basketball Team Roster

With the Olympics coming up this summer and being in the wake of the NCAA Tournament, I got to thinking about who would be on the roster if the team was still made up of amateurs? I think the Coach would still be Coach K. Going on guesstimations, with using only college players I think it would have been Coack K in 1992, Rick Pitino in 1996, Coach K again in 2000, Roy Williams in 2004 and Ben Howland in 2008. As for the team?

Starters

• C Anthony Davis (Kentucky)
  
• PF Thomas Robinson (Kansas)
• SF Draymond Green (Michigan State)
  
• G Tyshawn Taylor (Kansas)
• PG Kendall Marshall (North Carolina)

Bench

• C Tyler Zeller (North Carolina)
• PF/C Mason Plumlee (Duke)
• PF Jared Sullinger (Ohio State)
• SF Robbie Hummel (Purdue)
  
• SF Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Kentucky)
• SG Marcus Denmon (Missouri)
• SG Michael Snaer (Florida State)

The year in college basketball was ruled by the big men and this roster reflects that. Marshall and Taylor would be the only point guards and at times their probably would only be one guard on the floor. And as a Mizzou fan I'm of course biased in picking Marcus Denmon, but he's a sharp shooting senior as well as an All-American.

The big men are all self-explanatory, with the awards and accolades they've racked up this season. And with Coach K being the coach, one Duke player has to make the roster, though Ryan Kelly might be a stronger choice in a team setting, is why I have Plumlee on here.

Kidd-Gilchrist is a lock down defender and Hummel, along with Denmon, is a major shooting threat, at the small forward spots.

I might do the same for the other years since 1992, figuring out possible rosters. The hard part is that the bigger stars didn't always join the Olympic team (Alcindor, Walton) or get selected. But this is just part of the fun, of putting a roster together.

As Good As It Gets For Frank Haith?

Naturally, I'm still reeling from the loss to a 15th seed yesterday. This shit isn't supposed to happen. Especially to a senior laden team with a lot of talent(though with a lack of height). I'm just glad I had to work, otherwise I probably would have a broken tv or a hole in the wall...
But my mind is already looking to future, combined with this catastrophic disappointment. Is this as good as its going to get at Missouri for Frank Haith?

Haith came into the job inheriting a wealth of talent and seniors, Marcus Denmon, Phil Pressey, Michael Dixon, Kim English and Laurence Bowers. And when the latter had a season ending knee injury, leaving the team with little front court depth and little depth overall,with the fact of Rickey Kreklow transferring and that between Haith and Mike Anderson there were no recruits, all seemed lost for 2011-12.
But Haith did a masterful job of putting these guys in an actual system of offense and playing controlled defense, not the 40 minutes of Hell that Anderson played that likely wore out the team by March.
The 30-5 record in itself was astounding. Aside from Norfolk State, the loss at Oklahoma State was the only other "bad" loss on the season. And we should have beat Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse...

But now Marcus Denmon, Kim English, Ricardo Ratliffe, Matt Pressey and Steve Moore are gone. Coach Haith only has Michael Dixon and Phil Pressey coming back next season. This is where the question marks start...

In addition to having two great point guards coming back, is the return of Laurence Bowers. Granted there are questions if he can come back to his old self, but his return provides senior leadership as well and hopefully an athletic power forward with a good 12 foot shot...

But this is where I'm wondering if 2011-12 will be as good as it gets for Frank Haith. He put together a great regular season, won the conference tourney, but lost a chance to put an exclamation point on the season with a deep or at least decent tourney run.
Just thinking about from a national standpoint and a recruiting one, it hurts. The transfer of Kadeem Green earlier this season, gave Mizzou another scholarship opening. A good national showing might have piped some interest from a Mizzou-leaning recruit. Or even one not considering, realizing Mizzou won't have but a few returning players and at the right position and skill level could walk into a starting role...
Mizzou does have several high profile transfers, in addition to a big recruiting class, in Earnest Ross and Jabrari Brown that could help fill in some gaps. But they're all unknowns and young especially at the power forward/center spots.
With that I'm scared Coach Haith will try the four guard lineup again next year, which I think only worked this year, because of the personnel and experience we had. Next year we have height, we need to capitalize it...
And then there's the fandom/alumni happiness. The tendency of Mizzou fans is to easily think, 'here we go down this road again,' when things start rolling in the negative direction. How will Haith handle this aspect to a school that does have a decent basketball tradition certainly compared to Miami? And then there's still a few black clouds floating about from his purported ties to Nevin Shapiro, which hopefully will blow over...

When Mike Alden announced Frank Haith's hiring last Spring, I was somewhat dumbfounded, but after it set in, there was something about the hire that I liked or it just made sense. A middle of the road coach with no expectations comes to a school used to heartbreaks. His big draw was his ability to recruit, which hopefully comes to fruition. Heck if he could just start picking off one major talent out of St. Louis each year from going elsewhere(Bradley Beal, B.J. Young, etc.), he'd be ahead of every other coach Mizzou's had the past 30 years...
The only thing I've disliked about Coach Haith or his decisions, was that somehow with only eight scholarship players and a lack of depth down low, Kadeem Green, a Redshirt Freshman decided to transfer. Green is a 6'8 210 lb. athletic(purported) forward. Granted there was probably a lot of things behind the scenes and honestly probably some kind of attitude problem that we didn't know about. And if he was that good, Mike Anderson would have played him last year after getting healthy.
But Coach Haith used the excuse of only playing a seven man rotation, which seems bogus, as looking at box scores, it looked like he used eight or nine at Miami. And he said he liked/wanted to have big guys down low. As I said, just the lack of players and he can't find a role(defensive stopper against small forwards?) or way to get him experience for a few mins a game?

I'm rooting for Coach Haith. I"m just pessimistic to be optimistic. I don't want to see a continuous downward slide over the next three to four years. I don't want a return to the late/Post Quin Snyder era from 2004 to 2008. I want to see them return to the tourney next season, get the younger players experience and keep stocking up the bench with good and maybe even a few great recruits each season. MIZZOU-RAH!