At Mizzou basketball\u2019s first major media event of the year, coach Dennis Gates didn\u2019t shy away from entailing high expectations. When the first part of a question asked where Mizzou would like to get to, \u201cFinal Four and national championship\u201d shot out of Gates\u2019 mouth faster than MU in transition.<\/p>\n
The words were nothing new for Gates, who had those expectations for each of his previous three teams at Mizzou. The heightened standard, among other things, has helped the Tigers to two NCAA Tournament appearances. This time around, MU is looking to advance past the Round of 32, which hasn\u2019t happened since 2009.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m excited about being able to go to the NCAA Tournament,\u201d Gates said. \u201cI\u2019m not excited because I truly believe we had a national championship team last year, and we did not advance in the tournament. It\u2019s one thing to get there. It\u2019s another thing to advance, and I\u2019m looking forward to the opportunity to not only get there, but also win some games.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
With Mizzou\u2019s season-opener at Howard still three weeks away, hope remains abundant across college basketball, and MU is no different. The Tigers are ranked No. 28 in KenPom, No. 7 in the SEC Preseason poll, appeared on four AP Top 25 ballots and had one player on a preseason All-SEC team (Mark Mitchell, second team).<\/p>\n
In his fourth year at the helm, with two less-than-ideal postseason performances and a treacherous campaign under his belt, a breakthrough seems top-of-mind for the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are good days and bad days,\u201d Gates said, \u201cBut you\u2019ve got to lean on your great days and push the program toward moments that haven\u2019t happened in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are some notes from Media Day, where reporters got a chance to talk to players and coaches for almost an hour.<\/p>\n
Taller, longer, faster, stronger<\/strong><\/p>\n
When I asked players what makes this year\u2019s team unique from the last few, one common sentiment prevailed: Mizzou\u2019s personnel has a lot more size and length than usual.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coaches keep saying that we\u2019re the biggest team in the country,\u201d guard Aaron Rowe said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be really scary.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tigers have seven players listed at 6-foot-9 or taller which, according to Mizzou Athletics and College Basketball Reference, is the most in program history. Four of them \u2014 Shawn Phillips Jr., Jevon Porter, Luke Northweather and Nicholas Randall \u2014 are newcomers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur size is by far one of the most unique things of the Dennis Gates era,\u201d graduate assistant Tre Gomillion said. \u201cThat allows us to be better defensively. Shot-blocking, deflecting passes, guarding the ball, challenging shots. I think all of those will benefit from our size.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Trent Burns, blocked shots have been frequent during practices. Aaron Rowe said he\u2019s opted for floaters and mid-range jumpers whenever he gets near the paint. Anthony Robinson II said that having an elite shot-blocker like Phillips to protect the paint is comforting.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThey\u2019re all so different and versatile,\u201d Gomillion said. \u201cShawn Phillips is a very athletic, very long bruiser. You\u2019ve got Trent Burns, who\u2019s currently doing rehab, but he can stretch the floor, shoot the ball and block shots. Then, you\u2019ve got Luke Northweather. He can run the floor real good, can pick and pop, shoot the ball real good. Jevon (Porter) can shoot, and we know what Mark (Mitchell) can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
That group is also adept at running in transition, a staple of Gates\u2019 Mizzou teams since his first season in 2022-23.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe we\u2019re going to have one of the best defenses in the country,\u201d guard Anthony Robinson II said, \u201cWe\u2019re gonna block shots and get out and run. It\u2019s going to be exciting basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
The junior guard, who\u2019s garnered buzz as a potential NBA Draft pick next summer, is looking to build upon a super sophomore season.<\/p>\n
With increased playing time came increased production in almost every facet of the game. And while defense has been his calling card since high school, Robinson made a major leap in terms of volume on offense. His free-throw rate skyrocketed, and he nearly tripled his points per game total from his freshman season.<\/p>\n
However, the most fascinating leap was his 3-point shooting improvement. His per-game total was the same as his freshman season (1.5 attempts\/game), but his percentage increased by almost 20 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy confidence went up from freshman to sophomore year,\u201d Robinson II said.<\/p>\n
In the past, Gates would often stop practice if Robinson II (or anyone else) passed up an open 3-pointer. Times have apparently changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hasn\u2019t called it that much on me lately,\u201d Robinson II said. \u201cI\u2019ve just been shooting it freely. No hesitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gates wants him to shoot even more this season, and Robinson said he\u2019s aiming to do so. Such a leap in volume while maintaining high efficiency would likely warrant further NBA Draft consideration.<\/p>\n
\n
- Mizzou will not only be pushing the pace once again this season, but they\u2019ll continue shooting a lot of 3-pointers, too (close to 800, according to Gates). The Tigers shot 806 3-pointers last season, 730 the season before and 904 in Gates\u2019 first season at MU. <\/li>\n
- Trent Burns is \u201cahead of schedule\u201d on his foot rehab.<\/li>\n
- When asked what he likes about the newcomers, Gates mentioned two things: one was their experience, as four of MU\u2019s five transfers averaged at least 18 minutes per game last season (Phillips, Porter, Jayden Stone and Sebastian Mack). The other is familiarity with Gates before getting to Mizzou, as Gates said that he\u2019d recruited everyone on the roster at some point before this past year. <\/li>\n
- Gates on sophomore guard T.O. Barrett: \u201cI would love for T.O. Barrett to have the same jump that Ant Robinson had as a freshman to a sophomore,\u201d Gates said. \u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019m looking forward to seeing. We saw flashes of him doing such in big games, whether it was a win on the road at Florida or even throughout his growth during the year behind the scenes.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Player comps\/inspirations<\/strong><\/p>\n
Last season, I asked a handful of MU\u2019s newcomers who they modeled their game after or, at the very least, tried to take little things from and apply them to their own game. Here\u2019s this year\u2019s crop of answers:<\/p>\n
Sebastian Mack<\/strong>: Charlie Moore and Marcus LoVett (Mack, like those two, is from Chicago)<\/p>\n
Shawn Phillips Jr.<\/strong>: Evan Mobley<\/p>\n
Nicholas Randall (take a deep breath)<\/strong>: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Derik Queen, Danny Wolf and Ace Bailey<\/p>\n
Aaron Rowe<\/strong>: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Darius Garland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Mizzou basketball\u2019s first major media event of the year, coach Dennis Gates didn\u2019t shy away from entailing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":302504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,88361,153665,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-302503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-mizzou-basketball","10":"tag-mizzou-basketball-news","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaabasketball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115372308009169176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}