Pourover: Dennis Gates and the Missouri Tigers were not ready for the moment

If you’ve watched the border wars since at least the early 2000s, you can count the number of times the Bill Selfs team has gone flat against the Missouri Tigers. Self is an Oklahoma native, played at Oklahoma State University and was coached there, then at the University of Illinois, where he is currently coaching at KU. He knows this rivalry better than anyone. And he’s clearly better than anyone on the Missouri sidelines.

Since taking office in 2003, Self has lost just four times to Missouri. The biggest difference in his four losses was his four runs in 2005. The rest of Thomas he scored three or less against Gardner, Zaire and Denmon.

Even in Illinois, Self has always made sure his team is ready to play against the Tigers. He’s 20-4 against Mizzou since Mizzou passed Self in favor of Quin Snyder in 1999. And many of those games are lopsided.

It helped that Missouri’s basketball program was the same as before. Self wins the Big 12 almost every year, but Mizzou has trouble finding a foothold. From Quinn Snyder to Mike Anderson, Frank Heiss, Kim Anderson, Cuonzo Martin and now Dennis Gates, the face of the Tigers program has changed five times since Self was hired by Lawrence. For 32 years we had only one coach, but in 22 years we have grown to 6 coaches.

Clearly, Desiree Reed-Francois wants Gates to be his coach to stop turnovers and build the right foundation for the long haul. But one thing she made clear yesterday. It’s just that Gates and his Missouri Tigers weren’t ready for the moment that moment came.

Denny Medley – USA TODAY Sports

The crowd went wild. The gates opened more than an hour before he tipped, and things went haywire.

Mizzou fans have been clamoring for a winning program for years. Arguably the best season under Martin has been the COVID year when crowds were limited.In some ways, Mizzou fans have to relearn how to love basketball again.

But it was 11 straight field goals from Nick Honor’s first hint through a back alley pass that went over Noah Carter’s head to when the Jayhawks scored 21 of the game’s first 30 points. The same thing happened last year at Allen Field House, and now Cuonzo Martin is out of work. Granted, Missouri’s move from Martin had as much to do with the accumulation of losses from KU to Illinois to Arkansas as his roster build-up, but from last year’s loss at Lawrence to this butt kick, There were no major discernible differences.

This is not to say Gates isn’t the right person or can’t get it. Safe to say I don’t think they were ready. They didn’t play well. And if there’s one thing he can’t do against the Bill Self team in this MU-KU matchup, it’s not to try his best from the start.

The thing to keep in mind here, though, is that this is still a Missouri team and a program in transition. Gates will take his four players from Cleveland State’s last team, another Horizon League player in DeAndre Golston, and fix serious roster problems that existed when he took over last March. For the experienced ball brought his handler. I would like to emphasize the word “patch”. A fun 9-0 start and a close win over Wichita State is a sure win, but this team is still far from where we all wanted it to be.

If things go well this year, they will be in contention for an NCAA Tournament spot. If they play like they did against Kansas, it could be rougher conference play. But this season is a bridge to the future. Next year, when the 2023 Recruitment Class joins in and the 2024 Class begins to be formulated, that’s a true vision of what Gates and his staff want this program to be.

I think we will be more prepared for the games next year. Dennis Gates is a young head coach who has experienced his first border war. The good news is that there will be a major his stick his game on his schedule every four years next. Gates can see how close he can get to Kansas in that amount of time.