I’m in wait and see mode.

They have the depth and players to play up-tempo and put skilled guys on the floor and be really good.

But I don’t trust Cuonzo Martin to do it. He’s still going to waste 10-15 minutes a game on Reed ****ing Nikko, and another 10 on Mitchell Smith, and play too big and too slow.

They’ll win around 20 games and be on the bubble but I don’t expect much more.

I’m basically back where I was with Martin when they hired him: Not excited. I thought MAYBE his ardent supporters were right shortly after he came in - when he flipped Tilmon and looked poised to do really well recruiting St. Louis. Since then, he’s been pretty disappointing in St. Louis and my thoughts have returned to the original status.

I think he is what I thought he was. It’s worlds better than Kermit the Coach, but I’m not convinced he’ll ever reach the heights
Mike Anderson or evening Quin Snyder did.

You seem pretty down. Is the football suck leaking over and affecting you're judgement? Answer this, if Jontay would have played last year and we made the tournament do you think you'd have a different opinion?

I will keep tabs on the team when I can, but my wife would probably fear for my health and wellbeing if I kept up all through basketball seaaon too.

It’s mostly that I was never a big believer in Cuonzo Martin, briefly converted to being a believer, and now am a nonbeliever again.

His teams will always play hard and win somewhere between 17-22 games. But I just don’t think his recruiting is going to uptick enough, consistently, to be more than that.

He also plays a slow, antiquated style of basketball and is too insistent on cramming bigs into his lineup even when they suck (see all the minutes Puryear, Nikko, and Smith played last year).

They have the depth and players to play fast, push the pace, and go with skilled lineups more often than not. I think if they do that, this can be a 25 win team that can make some noise in the SEC and the NCaA tournament.

But I don’t think they will. I think Martin will:

1) play slow
2) play 2 bigs far too often (thus giving minutes to Nikko and Mitchell Smith that could go to Tray Jackson, Kobe Brown, Javon Pickett, and Torrance Watson instead)
3) win 20 games and be on the bubble like usual

Oh my ****ing God, go ahead and fire CM too. What a loser.

Bump for an update

They lost by 14. Kept getting close but couldn't every take over.

Might want the 2019-20 thread. Not that it’s been terribly active.

Ill look for it after the next game.

150

Where is the new thread? Doesn't matter I guess. Just stopping by to say **** CUONZO MARTIN.

He can't shoot it for 'em.

They got a TON of great looks in that game and just didn't hit any of them.

And I'll say this AGAIN - I have never seen a team get screwed on close calls at home as often as I see Mizzou get screwed at home. The charge on Smith and the egregiously awful call on Pickett down the stretch completely shit all over a valiant comeback effort that looked like it might just happen.

I mean damn, you can't draw up a better play than that last play and Mark Smith got an amazing look - just missed the damn shot.

Because of course he did. Because they seem to miss everything. And it doesn't make sense because any long-term analysis of shooting will tell you that teams that hit their FTs are good shooting teams. There's a damn strong correlation there.

Well Mizzou has set the NCAA record for consecutive FTs made over the last two games and at the same time they've shot about 30% from the floor. It's just completely inexplicable. These guys know how to shoot the damn basketball, they just aren't doing it.

You cannot honestly tell me that this is wholly, or even primarily, on the players. This offense is lacking in so many fundamental ways; it honestly resembles a high school strategy in terms of simplicity, and in terms of execution at times with all the sloppy turnovers. A dribble-drive is all well and good, but if Mark Smith isn't shooting that 3, it's a low percentage shot (and they're wide open for a reason- they even admitted to playing the numbers against us, allowing the open 3s.)

And the vaunted Cuonzo Martin defense? Ranked 75th nationally.

Perhaps some of this is talent, but that's also on Cuonzo. No, he's run out of passes in terms of player execution; this is an indictment on coaching. Sorry for weird format and rambling sentences, I don't usually post on phone.

Also, Missouri basketball should rarely, if ever, lose to a team that bad at home.

Oh don't get me wrong - there's a Cuonzo problem on offense for sure. I've said as much in this very thread. And the decline of the defense over the last month or so is equally infuriating.

I mean that on this night, it's hard to pin much on Cuonzo. He got good looks for his best shooters (such as they are) and even had them fighting tooth and nail to the end.

Tonight isn't the night to shit on Cuonzo, IMO. He put his guys in positions to succeed routinely. They just didn't do it. And to the extent it's a development issue - well that's simply over my head. I don't have the knowledge of how he runs his practice or really even how I think one SHOULD run their practice. But again - these kids have a shooting stroke. It's there at the line.

It just falls apart from the field. There's some development happening, it's just happening in fits and starts and with results that are entirely too erratic.

I hate KU with a passion, but by God I envy the development their players go through over their college careers. Outside of a few outliers players simply do not develop under CM. His system is a joke and he can't recruit worth a damn.