Something needs to change with Missouri basketball

[Shady]

They have been so inconsistent in different important aspects. Box out, helpside defense, defending threes, dribble lane penetration. The offense is stagnant vs certain defensive schemes. Poor off ball movement and ball movement. Free throws, etc. What's strange is some of these things are very good at times, some times they are abysmal. Talent, alone, doesn't insure big time success.

What you're describing could be said about 100 teams in college basketball, many of which in the P5 conferences made the tournament.

A real coach wouldn't be so myopic.

A real, big time coach would make sure all of these issues were at a minimum and not an inconsistent problem. Not just hope the talent is enough. Is that an issue with Mizzou basketball? It seems to be. You be the judge.

[straight out of st louis robert ave]

They just need to pay more for better players.

They do need to pay more. They need to rally the funding.

But they also need a coach who can relate and land recruits and NIL guys and tell them Columbia is the place to be to grow and prosper and have them believe it.

THAT'S Dennis Gates.

Give him the time to do it.

I'm fine with keeping Gates, although I don't think he's a great coach I do think he's good enough to get a reasonably talented team to the FF.

Poor talent evaluater, inability to coach guys up, poor X and O guy, inconsistent recruiter, yeah, he's our guy.

I disagree with most of what you say here and the recruiting is more about money than anything else.

Can you tell me what you disagree with?

He evaluates talent just fine it's just that he can't seem to land the talent that he wants (i.e. money issues).

Doesn't coach guys up? His staff has turned guys into incredible three point shooters that weren't before. The problem is that he hasn't had guys here for long enough to actually coach them up he's constantly having to get scraps out of the portal (because there isn't the money to get the top guys) that are in some cases one year guys. I think Mitchell improved in his two year here. You can complain about Ant but some kids just go through stuff and it's not just about coaching. Ant got sat down but came back and played well the last couple weeks of the season.

Poor X and O guy? I'm not saying he's great at this at all but he's not poor.

The recruiting is more about money than about him. I think he goes after really good players but loses them to more flashy programs/coaches and again there is the money problem.

I've said before that Gates is a good but not great coach. I think given a higher level of talent he certainly can get a team to a FF. I don't think he holds the team back at all but does he push it to a higher level than the talent suggests? I think you could make arguments both ways. This team for example, I thought they were dead after the double miracle win against OU. I didn't think they'd win 4 more games at that point. But I think he pushed and motivated them to the point were they safely made the tourney. I also think he made some missteps both before and after that game (Ole Miss, LSU to name a couple).

So, to summarize, he's a good coach and I think he deserves more support from the boosters to get a team talented enough to get to a FF and then if he doesn't, it's time to cut him loose. Until he coaches below the talent level of the team I think you have to stay with him.

I agree with you.
Like you say, Gates is a good coach but not a great coach. This season, I saw some growth in Gates in his X & Os.
On a few occasions, he came up with great plays which his kids executed and they won the game, Example - Tenn game.
Where Gates went wrong is he decided to pay his players like Mitchell and Robinson to stay. As a result, there wasn't enough money to lure top quality players to Mizzou. Gates went after Oscar Cuff (So Dakota State) but couldn't compete with Purdue due to lack of NIL money.
At the end of the portal last season, he was forced to get players no one wanted like Northweather & Porter.
He wasted a lot of money on Mack. That was a big-time mistake.
All the coaches knew what a "head case" Phillips was and Gates selected him at the end of the portal cycle.
What Gates needs is NIL money to compete for top quality players.
He is not a bad coach! He is a coach that is still learning.
A coach like Rick Barnes went through a learning curve which Gates is going through now. (Give him time)
What Gates needs is money and a smart guy like Fuller

[dugoutrex]

one and done - this has been Tiger basketball since the 70's

Then how do you explain the 20+ victories in NCAA tournament games since the 70's?

14 times we have been one and done - seams like a trend to me willow