I think we are convoluting concepts as a fanbase

Posted on: January 26, 2020 at 07:51:12 CT

Cuonzo Martin took over what is almost certainly the worst rebuild job at a major conference program that cares about basketball in the modern history of college basketball. Our roster was atrocious, the fanbase had almost entirely checked out, we had finished dead last in conference 3 seasons in a row, the prior staff had passed on NCAA probation and APR issues, and from a local and national recruiting perspective our program was a joke. There is no way anyone we hired was going to rebuild MU basketball back to a normal state in 2.5 years. We are supposed to be terrible this season, there are long term ramifications for the decision our administration made in 2014 and allowed to fester for 3 full seasons. On top of that we have had 2 players leave early for the NBA and all three seasons our most talented player in each season got injured for significant portions of the season. Of course MU basketball is terrible right now.

But terrible is a relative term. MU should be 'terrible' like an 18 to 21 win NIT caliber team this season. It should be almost impossible to go below .500 for a season at a program like MU in modern college basketball. The on the court product is atrocious, and even setting aside the Kim Anderson era the last 2 seasons appear almost certain to be among the top 5 worst other seasons in MU's modern college basketball history. A rebuild is supposed to have an upward trajectory and although during the process you often come up short an identity starts to emerge and the pieces start to fall into place. That obviously is not currently happening.

In terms of expectations the remainder of this year, we almost certainly can't recover at this point. We focused on all the wrong things this offseason in terms of player development and approach and offensive design, we still have no approach for rotations or defined player roles, and Tilmon (despite his disappointing progression) is way too important to this team for it to function long periods without him. These aren't things that can be fixed mid-year, we blew it and they will have to change their approach and try again next season hopefully with better results.

We COULD however start to actually value possessions and begin to recognize what is a good shot. We could get back to establishing a defensive identity. We could begin to create a consistent rotation and establish player's roles in preparation for next year. This season is a loss, but that doesn't mean it has to be a complete waste.

Cuonzo is going to be facing a crucial year next season. I think he has lost too much momentum, I'll be astounded if he ends up being a long term answer at this point. But its too early to say and I'm still rooting for him to do it. I've always said its most likely he is more the coach who is able to build us back to the point where it is realistic that we could hire a great coach, not the actual great coach himself. Years 4 and 5 were always going to be the seasons where MAYBE MU got back on its feet. Maybe we will and maybe we won't. Its certainly hard to watch right now, MU basketball is a chore not an enjoyment. This 6 year stretch is without a doubt the worst 6 year stretch in our program's history dating back to 1907, and by a rather wide margin. Whatever MU basketball eventually becomes it will be rebuilt basically from scratch as a new program and our history and tradition is pretty much wiped away. Right now it looks like that future is MU basketball is an SEC also ran. We joined the SEC right at the time when other programs started putting resources and priority towards men's basketball and we made the decision to considerably move in the other direction. It sucks for long time MU basketball fans, but this is the repercussions of people making those decisions. Its going to take a really long time, if it ever happens, to overcome them.

Edited by FIJItiger at 07:52:57 on 01/26/20