For the Missouri basketball program, it's only the beginning

From all indications, the career college stat line will read 2-2-2: two minutes, two points, two rebounds. And yet the legacy of Michael Porter Jr. in Missouri basketball lore is secure.

How so, you ask? How can a kid who played all of 127 seconds have that kind of an impact? Let us count the ways. Look down the Mizzou bench: brother Jontay, Jeremiah Tilmon, Blake Harris, Kassius Robertson. How many of those talents would be in Columbia if not for Porter? Look back to the season opener against Iowa State, when Mizzou Arena was packed to the gills for the first time in years. Look at the uptick in recruiting, and listen to the buzz around the country about the program. Questions about Porter’s future are followed by speculation about how good this team can be without him.

Let’s get this out of the way up front: Michael Porter Jr. isn’t coming back for another year of college basketball. Sure, he’d love to play a full season for his father and with his brother, and yes, he’d like nothing more than to take Mizzou basketball to places it’s never been. This, however, is a business decision. No doubt, Porter had the surgery when he did so he can show NBA teams he’s healthy and still a worthy top-five investment in the draft. Talk all you want about his love for Mizzou and Columbia. Backs can be tricky — just ask Tiger Woods. What happens if Porter does return, and the back goes out again? You can bleed black and gold to the bone, but if this were your son, you’d make the same decision.

I trust that Porter will be back on the bench at some point, flashing that contagious grin and being as vocal and supportive as ever. From a competitive standpoint, however, it’s time for both sides to move on. In games against Utah and Emporia State, the Tigers played like a team that was bracing for the inevitable. Sloppy turnovers. Poor shot selection. Waning energy. But at the Advocare Invitational in Orlando, Mizzou showed what’s possible. Despite what some media outlets have written, this team never was going to be known as Michael Porter Jr. and his Band of Basketball Joes. Take Porter out of the equation, and this year’s class still would have ranked 11th by at least one recruiting service. Jontay, Tilmon, Harris and Robertson would be welcome at most every Division I program in the country. They were drawn to Columbia by a megastar who also happened to be a pretty good recruiter.

There will be rough stretches, no doubt. The one thing Mizzou loses without Porter is not having a player who can take over a game, who can create a shot and score points by the boatload when the offense goes in a funk. Witness what happened against Utah and for a stretch of the second half against St. John’s and West Virginia. The good news is that the rest of the non-conference schedule isn’t particularly daunting. There is time over the next month to develop chemistry, to solidify the rotation, to settle on a point guard.

When things get tough — and fasten your seat belts when watching a team playing so many youngsters — I suggest that players and fans look across the street from Mizzou Arena in the direction of Faurot Field. In mid-October, on the same weekend the basketball team was kicking off formal practices with a rollicking public exhibition, the football Tigers were licking their wounds after a 53-28 loss at Georgia. It was their fifth consecutive defeat. Barry Odom was on the hot seat. Recruits were decommitting. The program was heading into the abyss.

Look at that team now.

The fans had pretty much given up as well, a mindset not unlike the one adopted by too many in the wake of the Porter news. (One poster on PowerMizzou went so far as to ask if there was any interest in filing a class-action suit against the athletic department, claiming it misled the public by hawking season tickets while knowing Porter was injured and would never play for the Tigers. You can’t make this stuff up!) I get it. All of college basketball has been cheated of an opportunity to watch one of the young stars in the game, and this was an especially cruel gut punch for a fan base that has been tortured too many times before. Yes, the notion that a program that has never been to the Final Four could be the seventh betting favorite to win the national championship was whimsical — the things people do with their money! — but no one in the basketball program was turning out the lights at Mizzou Arena when the Porter news came down. Least of all Cuonzo Martin.

In the early 1990s, Martin walked around the Purdue campus on knees so bad that doctors wondered whether he’d ever play college basketball. Then he beat cancer. More than once he has made it clear that he never saw this job as a one-year mission. He’s here for the long haul, to rebuild a proud program into a title contender. I expect these Tigers will take on the same mentality as their coach. I expect we’ll see the same kind of fight they exhibited in a victory over St. John’s, when they went from 16 points up to eight down to winning by eight. (A victory like that against a potential tournament team can go a long way.) And I expect we’ll see plenty of entertaining basketball from a long, athletic and deep squad. For all of these reasons, I’d like to think this talented team will continue to play in front of packed houses at Mizzou Arena. At some point, Michael Porter Jr. will be there, leading the cheers.

Where will you be?

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March Madness comes early for Mizzou against longtime rival

The calendar said October, but the atmosphere in the afternoon glow of the Sprint Center shouted a matchup deep into March. For at least one exciting day, what once was the oldest rivalry west of the Mississippi roared back to life during Showdown for Relief, a charity exhibition basketball game between Mizzou and Kansas. The capacity crowd brought The Border War back to life, with more than 18,000 seated in Kansas City’s Sprint Center and another 16,000 streaming online. Together, the fan bases and programs of a rivalry that hadn’t played since 2012 raised more than $1.7 million for hurricane relief efforts.

“The atmosphere here was crazy. It seemed like an NCAA tournament game,” senior forward Jordan Barnett says. “It was amazing to hear the energized fans. They just made it that much more fun to play.”

The box score read a six-point defeat in an exhibition game (93-87), but what seemed more important was a Missouri program competitive on its biggest stage since moving to the SEC — and its fans reenergized, there for it all.

“I think it’s great for both teams,” coach Cuonzo Martin said after his Missouri debut. “To be able to play a team of that caliber on this stage was great, and with the atmosphere and the energy behind it. Michael Porter Jr. is a talented guy, but he has never been on a stage like this. Now as you move forward, you know what it looks like, and you’re not so consumed by the atmosphere as opposed to what’s going on on the floor.

“I think it will really help us as a team. It’s a win-win. Unfortunately, we didn’t win the game, but I think we can only get better from it.”

Mizzou fans were eager to see their most highly touted recruit since Steve Stipanovich — or perhaps ever — and they didn’t have to wait long. Porter scored on a dunk just two minutes into the game — And One. He was fouled and sank the free throw. A minute later, he drained a three-pointer from the right corner. Despite a team-high 21 points, however, Porter looked entirely distraught, disappointed with his 6-for-20 field goal shooting.

“First of all, it was great to get out there and play,” Porter says. “I was pretty disappointed with my personal performance. I felt there were a lot more things I could have done for the team. I put it on myself. Although there was stuff the whole team could have done better, there was a lot more I should have done for my team.”

Was the freshman forward too hard on himself? Possibly. But when you’re Michael Porter Jr., you’ll have to dig deep in a rolodex of memories to come up with losses. And few of this caliber.

“I don’t think he takes it any harder than his teammates,” Martin says. “They want to win the game. When you’re a competitor, there’s no such thing as an exhibition game. They’re all real games. I think he took it personally from the standpoint that he didn’t feel he played as well as he could have with his field goal percentage. But for me, that’s not the real gauge: It’s whether you rebound, play hard and put pressure on the basketball. Those are the things we can control every night.”

The showdown game provided a rare opportunity to match up against a powerhouse team — one of those blue bloods, who under Bill Self, has typically found a spot deep into March Madness — before the results would even count in the standings. “Kansas is an established program and a great team,” Porter says. “One thing I take away from the game is how much better we can get. We are a very talented team, and we had spots in the game where we showed that, but if we keep working hard every day in practice, we will be there at the end.

“It’s a huge rivalry, and we knew that coming into the game. We knew it meant a lot to a lot of people. But we came up short. It’s time to go back to practice and work hard to get ready for our first real game of the season.”

Barnett agrees. “We expected it to be a really good game,” he says. “We knew it would be a challenge. We came up short, but we played with them for a large part of the game. I learned that we can compete with the best. We had some defensive issues, and once we shore those up, we will be one of the top teams. Being part of a game like that helps us get ready to play in an atmosphere that is neutral and electric on both sides.”

The game provides a barometer for the coaching staff as they prepare for the season opener against Iowa State on Nov. 10. They’ll hold two closed scrimmages before then.

“I thought the effort was there, but I thought we had a lot of breakdowns defensively,” Martin says. “I thought we didn’t do a very good job until the last five or six minutes of the game. That’s fine, because in a game like this, there is a lot of film to look at, a lot of things to learn and also things that we as a staff need to spend more time on.”

Of course, the inevitable question is whether the Tigers and Jayhawks will square up on a regular basis. “I thought you were going to let me out of here without asking that,” Martin joked at his post-game press conference. “Of course, we would love to play the game. It’s a great program, and Bill has done a tremendous job. But both sides have to agree upon something like that. We saw the energy behind it. We’ll see. I think we did enough on both sides that it possibly could happen.”

Stay tuned.

Photos by Nick Mebruer

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The Border War is back. Even for those without tickets.

Both universities announced Friday that Showdown for Relief,  the sold-out charity exhibition game between Mizzou Men’s Basketball and Kansas will be available via pay-per-view for $40.

The game, which is scheduled for a 3 p.m. tipoff on Sunday, October 22, will be accessible to fans at www.ShowdownForRelief.com. Both universities suggested that those intending to watch the telecast subscribe as soon as possible.

The exhibition game will be called by familiar voices, veteran Kansas City broadcaster Leif Lisec will be on play-by-play, with Fran Fraschilla and Holly Rowe serving as analyst and sideline reporter respectively. All three announcers are donating their time and talent to the cause.

As with ticket sales, all proceeds from the telecast will benefit hurricane relief.

“Our first objective was to sell out Sprint Center,” the two schools said jointly Friday in a press release. “Once we achieved the sellout so quickly, our fans who could not get tickets expressed tremendous interest in having the game televised. We wanted to make sure that the charities we’ve identified would be the only entities to derive revenue from this game. Sidearm Sports has provided the platform to allow us to create a second stream of revenue via this telecast.”

On Tuesday, Mizzou’s student ticket allotment sold out in two minutes. Mizzou students were allowed to purchase two tickets each, and Tiger Scholarship Fund  members were each allowed to purchase up to 12 tickets.

On Wednesday, at SEC Media Day, Michael Porter Jr., Kevin Puryear and Cuonzo Martin were all on hand to talk about the excitement.

“Bill and I came together and thought it’ll be a tremendous opportunity to raise money,” Martin said. “It wasn’t so much about the two teams playing and competing. That’s a bonus part in my opinion. It’s just coming together and generating revenues for some families that have been hit in a tough way.”

“I don’t think either team will be clicking on all cylinders,” said Martin, understanding that neither teams will have practiced for more than two weeks by Sunday. “To expect to see a team that you would probably see in December or January, I don’t think you’ll see anything like that.”

On Thursday, Self told media that players will be allowed seven fouls.

“It’s Mizzou and Kansas, there is no bigger rivalry in college basketball,” said Michael Porter Jr. “I know both teams are going to go out there, and even if it’s a scrimmage, we’re going to play our hardest. And we’re going for the win.”

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It’s a hot midsummer day in Columbia, and former Mizzou basketball star Laurence Bowers sits in the waiting area of MU Health Care’s Human Performance Institute (HPI) while head trainer, Garrett Buschjost, prepares the day’s workout at the front desk. Since Bowers began training with Buschjost in 2014, the HPI facility has become a key component of the 27-year-old power forward’s continued success at the professional level. He returned to Columbia this summer after averaging 20.2 points and 8.6 rebounds with Italy’s Bondi Ferrara during the 2016-17 season.

“[As a] professional, you have to be very specific with who and what you want to do regarding training,” Bowers says. “[Buschjost] knows the basketball specifics that I need to better my career.”

In a typical offseason, Buschjost says he’ll train with Bowers around 20 times. The first month of the training block is typically kept at a low intensity and volume and includes exercises that are designed to push Bowers’ body back to a state that Buschjost describes as “good.”

Bowers, who has spent the past five years playing professionally in Israel and Italy, has seen his game improve each season in part because of this mindset. In the past, particularly during his career as a Tiger, he sustained and recovered from a variety of injuries, the most severe in 2012, when he was sidelined for the season with an ACL tear.

“He just came back from playing 30 or more games at a very high level,” Buschjost says. “Plus the practice and traveling that goes along with it — his body is feeling the effects of that.” Getting back to “good” is an important start.

Bowers says Buschjost’s training is a key component of his increased durability as a professional. “[Buschjost] has been a big part of why I haven’t had any injuries,” Bowers says. “We trained last year, and I had the best season I’ve ever had. I give him a lot of credit for that, just keeping me in tip-top shape.”

During the first several summer sessions, Bowers and Buschjost work together to detect and prevent any imbalances or minor aches and pains from developing before they become a larger issue. Prior to increasing the intensity or workload in the weight room, Bowers must first be able to reliably move in all planes of motion, ideally without experiencing any lingering pain or restriction. Each session begins (and concludes) with Bowers utilizing the facility’s recovery devices, from the standard foam roller to Dynavision, an electronic light board that works on hand-eye coordination.

From there, he’ll work through a variety of movement patterns and dynamic warmups before starting the day’s basketball-specific work, which, depending on the day, can include anything from plyometrics to resistance and speed-development training. Overall, Bowers feels like he’s at home when he’s training at HPI. And although he plays overseas, Columbia, Missouri, is home for the Memphis native during the offseason.

“A lot of times when I go to the gym, it’s serious. It’s all about putting in the work,” Bowers says. “But here at HPI, everyone is like family to one another. We all come in, we smile and crack jokes, but we also get after it.”

Outside the gym, Bowers is arguably even busier day-to-day. He’s offered his own youth basketball camp series, Camp Bowers, for the past three summers, and dedicates much of his free time to local charities, including the Boys and Girls Club of Columbia. This is his community. It’s why he teamed up with DeMarre Carroll for the first Carroll and Bowers Alumni Game this past July. Bowers has found the wisdom that follows experience. As a husband, and father to daughter Fiyori, he continues to learn. “Having your own, you start to see how much a kid depends on adults,” Bowers says, adding that Fiyori has already made him a better mentor and role model at his camps. He knows he’s surrounding himself with the tools and people he needs to succeed.

“I’ve got good people in my corner,” Bowers says. “Not good people in the sense that they always want to have a good time, but good people in the sense that they always push to make me a better person.”

Photos by Travis Smith 

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With an incoming freshmen class loaded with the likes of Michael Porter Jr., C.J. Roberts, Jeremiah Tilmon and Blake Harris, it’s nearly impossible to criticize the recruiting that Cuonzo Martin and his staff have done thus far.

But the MU Men’s Basketball program isn’t done yet.

Five-star power forward Jontay Porter is on his way to play for MU. In other words, the 6-foot, 9-inch, 225-pound Columbia native is coming back home. Porter grew up playing basketball with Tigers of the past, like during practices to the joking dismay of Laurence Bowers. He now joins his brother, Michael, Jr., to round out Cuonzo Martin’s first recruiting class as the Tigers head coach — not a bad start, huh?

Jontay is the No. 12 ranked prospect in the country on the Rivals 150 rankings for the class of 2018. But by reclassifying, he’s graduating high school a year early to play for Mizzou in what would be his senior year of high school. Mizzou fans … confused yet? We’re undoubtedly glad that it’s happening, but how exactly is it possible?

Reclassifying can mean a few things for high school athletes: making a conscious decision to be “held back”; registering with a graduating class later than his or her original with the purpose of gaining a year to develop; or, in Jontay’s case, choosing to graduate early.

Michelle B. Hosick, the associate director of NCAA public and media relations, said that as long as a student meets certain NCAA requirements, they can leave high school early and head to college.

“All incoming student-athletes must meet core course requirements set by NCAA member schools as well as earn an ACT/SAT test score that corresponds to the student’s core course GPA on the sliding scale,” Hosick said in an email.

For high school students trying to reclassify, there’s a “Sweet 16” they must conquer before even attempting to play in one. The NCAA requires 16 core courses to be completed in high school before a student is eligible to reclassify, including English, math, natural or physical science, social science, foreign language, philosophy and comparative religion.

Students are also allowed to work on core courses before ninth grade, and classes such as algebra 1 or introductory languages can even be completed before high school to count toward the required 16.

“If a student meets all of these criteria, he or she can be certified by the Eligibility Center, whether it’s with [their] graduating class or earlier,” Hosick says. “This would be akin to a high school senior graduating in December and enrolling in college for the Spring semester, just a full academic year early in this (Jontay’s) case.”

By completing that sweet (and required) 16 and earning a sufficient score on the ACT or SAT, Jontay is able to take the last scholarship Coach Martin has to offer.

And for Missouri fans, there’s no one we’d rather have accept it. Welcome home, Jontay.

Photo: Jontay Porter Twitter

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Laurence Bowers was nervous.

It’s rare for Bowers to feel angst by the way he embraces change. He prefers one-year contracts because he wants to explore different cities around the world. Two days ago, he inked a deal overseas with his fifth team in the past five years. The upcoming season in Italy is a new experience — he doesn’t know what to expect, but that’s part of what keeps him excited.

But a day before the first ever Carroll and Bowers Alumni Game, Bowers didn’t know what to expect and it was making him anxious.

“I’m nervous,” he says. “I don’t know why.”

The attendance of the game wouldn’t necessarily dictate how Bowers felt about the event, but it was the biggest thing on his mind the day before tip-off. He sacrificed time with his wife, Feven, and their five-month-old daughter, Fiyora, to organize the alumni game after he and fellow alum DeMarre Carroll thought up the idea a few years ago.

“We tried to think of a way to get guys (alumni) to come back and support the university,” Bowers says. “I love Columbia, and I feel like there’s a lot of kids here that need excitement.”

Bowers was born in Tennessee and, as he says himself, “You can take me out of Memphis, but you can’t take Memphis out of me.” He’s played professional basketball in Italy and Israel for the past four years, but Columbia, Missouri, is home for the Tennessean during the offseason. He feels the need to give back to the city that shaped him into who he is today.

“I literally grew into a man at Mizzou,” Bowers says. “During my five years here, I received an unbelievable amount of support from fans to students that I went to school with. They embraced me as a man, not just as a basketball player.”

Bowers credits Columbia for his growth, and he knows a lot of his fellow Tigers feel the same way. It’s why he felt compelled to organize the game for local non-profits like the Boys & Girls Clubs of Columbia and Granny’s House, along with The Carroll Family Foundation. It’s also why he felt nervous a day before the event — he had an opportunity to help his community and had no idea what the response would be.

“I’m nervous that the turn out is not going to be what we expected or whatever.”

Bowers didn’t put an exact number on how many people he thought would attend, but minutes after the game, it was obvious whether or not his expectations were met.

“I’m just overwhelmed with joy that all these people showed up to support us,” Bowers exclaimed after the final whistle. “I’m so excited right now, I’ve got to calm down a little bit.”

The thousands in attendance shared the excitement with Bowers and his 26 fellow alumni, which included both former basketball and football players.

The game was the first of its kind, but it was filled with classic memories. Former guard and University of Missouri Hall of Famer Melvin Booker received a standing ovation during his introduction and hit three’s that reminded fans of when he led Missouri to a 14-0 conference record in 1994. Former guard Ricky Paulding threw down a vicious tomahawk, flashing signs of his dunks from the early-2000’s. Former forward Ricardo Ratliffe scored a game-high 39 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, took home the game’s MVP award and showed us the strength he used in his senior season to lead Mizzou to a Big 12 tournament championship.

Mizzou’s football alumni also provided moments fans wouldn’t have a chance to see on Faurot Field. Former wide receiver Jerrell Jackson caught lob after lob, throwing down dunk after dunk. Meanwhile, former linebacker Sean Weatherspoon handled point guard duties and threw up jumpers.

As the game came to an end, the players cleared the floor for Bowers, who threw down a vicious dunk for the final play of the contest.

Team Carroll beat Team Bowers 137-116, but the final score didn’t mean as much to the players as the impact of the game itself.

“It wasn’t about the win or loss for me,” Bowers, who finished with 21 points, says. “Ultimately, we all won. I’m just overwhelmed with joy that all these people showed up to support us, that all these guys came back and helped me and DeMarre put on this event.”

“Missouri is my home,” Carroll, who didn’t play, says. “We need to show other young individuals that you can be great coming to Mizzou. You can achieve your dreams, you can be in the NBA and the NFL, and that’s what we’re doing right now.”

“I became a man in this city, and the fans embraced me,” Booker says. “I was just a small kid from Mississippi, and they pretty much raised me here.”

“The whole city of Columbia, we’re still one big family,” former center Steve Moore says. “When I was done playing, the people here [in Columbia] didn’t just tell me, but they showed me that they’re here for me.”

“There were a couple of professors I saw, a couple of people in the athletic department that I knew really well, and just seeing a lot of guys that I haven’t seen in a long time. Laurence said it best — this is definitely a second home for all of us,” former guard Jarrett Sutton says.

Joining the thousands of Tiger fans in attendance were most of the current men’s basketball team, including incoming freshman Michael Porter Jr., a Columbia native who is also the highest-ranked player nationwide in his class. Bowers has known Porter Jr. and his brother, Jontay, since he was ten years old — he calls him his “little big brother.”

“They [Michael and Jontay] used to literally be in the gym too much,” Bowers says. “There were times where I’d be like, ‘Who are these kids? Get them off so I can shoot’ But, hey, it’s paying off for them.”

It’s also paying off for Mizzou men’s basketball. After the hiring of head coach Cuonzo Martin and the recruitment of several freshmen standouts, Mizzou basketball fans are holding their breath and hoping for the Tigers’ first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2013.

But months before anyone in town knew this program would be back on the map, Bowers teamed up with Carroll to craft a way to do it on their own.

“This game was well thought out before the Cuonzo era and before the basketball gods blessed us with a 6’11, No. 1 overall recruit,” Bowers says. “Cuonzo Martin came, then Michael Porter, Blake Harris, all that stuff happened, and now, I think we’re more so adding to what’s already there, and that’s good. It’s a great time for the school.”

“I’m glad that DeMarre and I got together to do something like this because our university needed it. This is what it’s all about. It’s not the glitz and the glam, but it’s about what we can do for the University of Missouri and the city of Columbia.”

As Bowers admits, the excitement for the resurgence of basketball in Columbia was already looming. But the success of the first Carroll and Bowers Alumni Game remind fans of the passion that’s always surrounded this program. Bowers is just glad that he could be a part of its resurgence.

Photos by Emil Lippe

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The End of an Era

Kim Anderson was asked to stabilize the Mizzou program. Although he didn't produce wins, he reflects on the task at his final press conference.

Kim Anderson knew from the moment he was hired at the University of Missouri that he would be fired. It’s been a long three years, shackled with unwanted inheritance, but, alas, it has come to a close.

“If you would have asked me when I knew I was going to get fired, I would have said the first day,” he said, deep in voice, at his final press conference last night in Nashville, Tennessee. “I knew it was going to be challenging.”

Challenging is a program routed with internal cuts, bruises and an NCAA investigation; it’s a roster left vulnerable from Haith’s band-aid recruiting approach; it’s retaining a staff not your own; it’s a team in constant flux, with 13 players either dismissed or transferring after his acceptance and seven of 11 scholarship players in his first season disciplined to some extent.

“I maintain when I was hired I was pretty much asked to kind of stabilize this program,” he said. “It took a while. Obviously, it took too long. But I’m proud of what we’ve done.”

Anderson is someone you want to root for. He’s the good guy. His players praise him. Coaches across the conference commend his leadership. He’s loyal, poised and, if nothing else, honest. But he didn’t win, and when your teams are 27-68 overall, 9-47 in the SEC, nothing else matters.

“Obviously we didn’t win enough games. And we didn’t generate enough money,” he said at the Bridgestone Arena podium. “And when you don’t do that in college athletics, you don’t get to do your job. And I’m not bitter. I certainly understand that.”

There’s nothing that hasn’t already been said of the last three seasons on the court. They were dismal, and the end came last night. Like the majority of the season, it lacked suspense. The 86-74 loss to Ole Miss was sealed with foul trouble — 29 personal fouls on the Tigers to be exact. The Rebels shot 47 free throws, and the end got chippy, if not to add drama to a frustrating season. The typically calm-demeanor Anderson even got slapped with his first technical of the year, let that set in. The Tigers finished 8-24 on the year.

“I saw a game that got a little bit physical, a little bit rough. We made some fouls that weren’t very smart,” he said. “These guys have always played hard. They probably haven’t always played smart.” But there’s no one questioning that they’ve played hard for their Sedalia-native coach. Last night’s locker room was emotional, “We have a great deal of love for him,” said Kevin Puryear, who tallied 45 points over the past two days, with a career-high 30 and a game-winning buzzer beater on Wednesday night. “He always has and always will have our best interests. It’s never easy saying goodbye.”

“I think Coach A’s leaving this program in great shape with some great guys,” said Terrence Phillips. Puryear chimes in, “I think we can do something great if everyone sticks together. I’m confident we’ll stick together.”

After Wednesday’s overtime win against Auburn, Anderson was happy for another day to be the coach at Mizzou. Today, that dream is gone, and reality once again sets in, as Athletics Director Jim Sterk, who was in Nashville for each game, searches for a replacement.

“This decision has been very difficult for me personally because of the tremendous respect I have for Kim,” Sterk said in a statement following the announcement. “I know how hard he and his staff have worked to turn the program around over the last three years. However, the lack of on-court success has resulted in a significant drop in interest surrounding our program, and we could not afford for that to continue another year.”

As Anderson concluded last night, “I certainly hope that whoever the coach is that we have provided a little bit of a building block for them.”

Anderson, in the third year of his five-year contract, will receive $450,000 in a negotiated lump-sum buyout, as well as an additional $200,000 for ‘meeting or exceeding’ an academic accomplishments and social responsibilities incentive.

Photo Credit: Timothy Tai-USA TODAY Sports

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Norm Stewart Unveiled His Thoughts on Kim Anderson’s Coaching

Kim Anderson tipped off the season on Nov. 13 with a career record of 0-0 as head coach of the Missouri Tigers. No, that’s not a typo – it’s the way former Coach Norm Stewart views his longtime player, protégé and friend. Stewart believes Anderson’s 19-44 record in his first two seasons with the Tigers says far more about the hand he was dealt than it does about his coaching ability.

“I think Coach Anderson now has the program where he wanted it two years ago,” Stewart says. “So this is kind of like his first year as far as I’m concerned. Kim Anderson is a winner. I have known him since he was in eighth grade. He is probably one of the ten-best players ever to play at the University of Missouri, but nobody ever talks about that, because he never talks about it.

Stewart understands the challenges of reviving an alma mater’s floundering program. The Tigers finished 3-22 under Bob Vanatta the year before Stewart took the helm for the 1967-68 season. His first two teams finished an uninspiring 24-27, but he went on to post a career record of 634-333 over 32 seasons.

One difference between pupil and mentor is their court side demeanor. Fans rarely see Anderson storming on the sidelines of Norm Stewart Court. “He’s a John Wooden-type,” Stewart said. “You’re not going to see a lot of expression.”

Anderson is using that professorial style to teach the players he recruited to play the style of basketball he wants to play.

“I think we have some guys who understand what it takes,” Anderson says. “We’ve recruited them, we know their families and we know their backgrounds. I hope we will make improvements, and I think we will. I don’t think we’re ready for the Final Four yet, but I do think our guys are excited about the season.”

Whatever the record, he expects to bring back something that has been missing all too often in the seasons since Stewart retired: F-U-N.

“We had a lot more fun when we coached, but we didn’t make any money,” Stewart says. “Now I hope they’re having some fun, because they’re making a lot more money. Either way, it’s still a great game, with great kids playing and great coaches coaching. But when you’re running the shop and you’re making a little money, you have to do a little better.”

Anderson is more than ready to relax a bit and enjoy his dream job.

“I probably haven’t had as much as I did the few years before when I was at Central Missouri and we won a lot of games,” he says. “When we came in, we had to make some adjustments and change the culture a little bit. That’s part of the profession. But we’re going to have some fun this year. We’re excited.”

kim-anderson-terrence-phillips-univesity-of-missouri-basketball
He expects the fun to be contagious.

“We want to play faster. We went to Italy, played faster and scored more points. Everybody wants to play fast, and I think we have guys now who can score better and are a little better defensively. Come on out. We’ll be exciting.”

Stewart understands the journey. “[Anderson] won the national championship over at Warrensburg, and he’s going to win games at Missouri. He will be an outstanding coach, and this season is the start of it.”

Photos: Courtesy of Mizzou Athletics

The post Norm Stewart Unveiled His Thoughts on Kim Anderson’s Coaching appeared first on ZOUNation Magazine.

“I think we’ve probably got to win more games,” Kim Anderson deadpans. “What that number is, I don’t know.”

In Anderson’s first two years, the Tigers had won only 19 games. They had lost 44. The regular seasons have been a mixture of troubles on and off the court, and the off seasons have been a revolving door — players leaving the program to be replaced by new, hopeful faces. In Anderson’s third year, all he knows is that it’s time to end the cycle.

“We have to be able to be competitive, more competitive in games — in every game,” says the Sedalia, Missouri native, who knows the reality. “You lose to Kentucky by 100 and you lose to Arkansas at home. We have to make significant improvements from both offensive and defensive standpoints, and I think we have to change the culture of the program, which we’ve tried to do for two years.

“I think we’re getting there.”

If the Tigers are to make that leap, it will be on the backs of a four-man sophomore group that Anderson has lauded since it arrived on campus in the summer of 2015. Kevin Puryear, the team’s leading scorer as a freshman; Terrence Phillips, a dynamic if sometimes erratic point guard; K.J. Walton, a slashing guard who is looking to become a more balanced player; and Cullen Van Leer, a sharpshooter who never really found his shot as a freshman. It’s that group, along with senior big man Russell Woods, who will try to lead yet another fresh-faced, inexperienced roster of Tigers.

“I think the success of the culture of this program is on those guys,” Anderson says. “Those four guys — it’s important that they’re good.”

It’s Phillips whose optimism is lauded. “We have our core here for the next three years, and we’re going to turn this program around,” Phillips adds. “Every guy’s going to compete this year, and that’s just who we are.”

Woods is Missouri’s main man in the middle, at least to start the season, and he’s the only player listed at taller than 6 feet, 7 inches who has played a Division 1 game.

“Russ has made the most improvement on and off the floor of anybody,” Anderson says. “We need him to play and do the things that he can do — and that’s score around the basket, block some shots, play good defense, make the hustle plays.”

Woods will particularly need to be good early on, as the Tigers try to break in freshmen Reed Nikko and Mitchell Smith. Nikko has been back in action since mid-September after having hip surgery following his senior season, and Smith, at 6 feet, 10 inches, needs to add lots of bulk and muscle to his frame.

Missouri also brought in a recruiting class headlined by a pair of high school teammates from Ohio, Frankie Hughes and Willie Jackson. Hughes is a combo guard who can score in clusters, while Jackson is a wing player who can guard any position but center.

“Playing defense is number one,” Jackson says. “I’m not the who came in as a scorer. I come in, they look for me to rebound and take my guy that I’m guarding, and basically give him hell. I’m not that ‘go to’ guy, but I can come off a screen, and I can make that open shot. I’ll be ready at all times.”

Along with Jackson, Missouri will await the ability of using fellow wing man Jordan Barnett. Barnett was a star at Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis and signed with Rick Barnes and Texas. Midway through his second season in Austin, and after a coaching change, Barnett transferred back to his home state. He will be eligible at the start of the second semester, with his first game December 17 against Eastern Illinois.

“Jordan Barnett is a trump card,” Anderson says. “He’s played at the highest level, so he understands how hard you have to play when you start playing. The one thing I’ve been encouraging is that he needs to dominate practices. He needs to step up his game in practice because he has a tendency to hide sometimes. I’ve told him this: you should know that Jordan Barnett was at every practice.”

The Tigers opened the regular season on November 13, and have gone 3-3 since.
“We’re a lot further ahead this year than we were the last two years,” Anderson says. “I think it’s important that we start off and play well early and have a chance to win some games in the non-conference. Three or four games makes a difference, and it gives you the confidence [needed].”

Anderson says they have to avoid the long droughts that cost them games last year. “Can’t go 10 minutes without scoring; can’t go five games or six games without winning,” he says. “That’s the key. I’m excited about this group, and I think we’re headed in the right direction. Are there going to be ups and downs? Absolutely. There are with every team. Hopefully we’ve got enough experience that we don’t let the downs prolong themselves.”

Missouri will fight to move up the ladder in a wide-open Southeastern Conference. The league has taken its lumps over the past two years and could again this season.

“There are a lot of new players,” Anderson says. “I think there are a lot of teams that probably have question marks like we do. It will be a very competitive league, and I think it’s probably pretty wide open, at least at the beginning, with the exception of Kentucky.”

While the Tigers hope the results change, the goals never have.

“Your sophomore year is supposed to be a better year,” Phillips says. “If we win 25 games or whatever it is and make the tournament, I don’t care if I start. I just want to make the tournament, I want to win, I want to put people back in these seats.”

Photos: Travis Smith | ContentAllStars.com

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