Originally Posted by Chiefspants:
Hit ‘em up boys. You troll with the best of them and they’ll react with the grace and understanding as you can expect from the pride of Kentucky.
Sucks that my UK friend moved to India, would love to razz him a bit. [Reply]
Originally Posted by JohnnyHammersticks:
other than the KU game which now appears to be an aberration
This was talked about in the MU Football Thread (which, is now just the thread for KU-MU crosstalk with KSU fans and Billay thrown in, apparently). But it seemed like the scale of that game took you out of it early, add in Dick giving his best Larry Legend impression and it was over before it began.
What I will say is that if you all keep it up I want nothing to do with a first weekend matchup with you in the tourney. That matchup would have way too much attention early on and this time I think your boys would be ready from the whistle. [Reply]
I think my favorite thing about Gates is the way he pieces guys together. He clearly went shopping in the portal for specific skillsets.
Hodge and Honor have experience and add great shooting touch from deep.
Gholston (and Mosely if that situation ever shakes out) is a big, physical guard who can get to the rim and finish tough chances/draw fouls. Pure scorer types (that you can kick the ball to when the shot clock is winding down and you need to create).
Carter gave him an energy and pick-and-pop big with some versatility.
Just a really nice job. I don't think CuonzNO ever really looked at how his pieces would/could work together.
It's also hilarious that, 12 games into his tenure at Mizzou, with a drastically undersized team, Gates has a team that I trust more defensively than any of CuonzNO's teams, which put up good defensive numbers due to pace more than anything. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
I think my favorite thing about Gates is the way he pieces guys together. He clearly went shopping in the portal for specific skillsets.
Hodge and Honor have experience and add great shooting touch from deep.
Gholston (and Mosely if that situation ever shakes out) is a big, physical guard who can get to the rim and finish tough chances/draw fouls. Pure scorer types (that you can kick the ball to when the shot clock is winding down and you need to create).
Carter gave him an energy and pick-and-pop big with some versatility.
Just a really nice job. I don't think CuonzNO ever really looked at how his pieces would/could work together.
It's also hilarious that, 12 games into his tenure at Mizzou, with a drastically undersized team, Gates has a team that I trust more defensively than any of CuonzNO's teams, which put up good defensive numbers due to pace more than anything.
I think he had a plan for how the pieces would fit together - it was just a bad plan.
He wanted a squad with 4 big, tough players who would dirty the game up and turn it into a slugfest with a 5th guy who could maybe bring some energy and hit a handful of contested shot.
The problem is that outside shooting and ballhandling just weren't something he thought were necessary.
Cuonzo is just a dinosaur. He's a guy who's approach might have worked before the 3-point line, I guess. But once spacing and the ability to take advantage of it became paramount, he was out there playing checkers - hell, he was playing tic-tac-toe - while others were playing chess.
He had a plan - it was just a stupid one. Y'know what it was? It was Herm-ball. It was designed to shorten games and hope you get lucky in a slugfest. Where Herm was out there hoping to win 13-10 in a league that had passed him by, Cuonzo was looking for 54-50 wins and that's just not gonna work against quality opponents. And that's when it works WELL. When it doesn't work well, it won't work against UMKC.
I dunno if Gates is Andy Reid - I suspect he isn't. But man, I'm sure glad he isn't Herm. Win or lose, it's at least a product worth watching. [Reply]
Better see how they do on the road before crowning Gates just yet. Beat Wichita mainly because the Shuckheads choked at the free throw line. Beat UCF on a 30 foot prayer bank shot. [Reply]
Why? It's readily apparent he's much better than the assclowns that came before him. That much is obvious based on how he's constructed the team. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
Better see how they do on the road before crowning Gates just yet. Beat Wichita mainly because the Shuckheads choked at the free throw line. Beat UCF on a 30 foot prayer bank shot.
You can say that he's doing a fine job without saying that the job is complete.
My major worry with this year's team is that it's a relatively old squad with a lot of experience, if not at this level. Gates had a pretty nice class this year but it was still only a 3-man class.
Meanwhile Brown, Gholston, Gomillion, Hodge, Honor and Mosley are almost certainly gone after the season. Though I think Honor will likely return w/ his extra year of Covid eligibility. I suspect Brown and Mosley will play professionally somewhere (or Mosley will take an NIL deal that someone will actually pay).
I mean that pretty much everything. DeGray isn't any good. So realistically you're looking at East, Carter and Shaw as genuine contributors returning for next year's team. Robinson, Pierce and Butler is a nice start, but those aren't players who will move the needle as freshmen, IMO. They would BADLY need Diarra to take a massive step forward. From what little we've seen, he might be more of a Mitchell Smith type of energy player with marginal skills.
It's a bit of a bummer to see a team gel so quickly in its first year together but know they aren't gonna have much time to truly build on that chemistry.
But at the very least we've seen how Gates philosophy can work and it should allow for a little more patience as he starts to build a roster for the long haul. I mean...provided the 'long haul' even exists in the free transfer/NIL era of college sports. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Superturtle:
Why? It's readily apparent he's much better than the assclowns that came before him. That much is obvious based on how he's constructed the team.
"Don't let perfect be the enemy of good"
Nobody is saying that this is a national championship team or a squad that's gonna win a true road game against a top 5 opponent.
But they look like a credible power 5 basketball team again. A team that has won difficult games at neutral sites at the very least. A team that, should it continue to play at/near this level, can be a Sweet 16 caliber team.
