Just one year ago, Dennis Gates was one of college basketball’s hottest coaching commodities.
He led Missouri to a 25-10 record in his first season in Boone County, and Truman punched his ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Then came Missouri’s 0-18 death plunge in Southeastern Conference play last season. That dramatic program downturn was, to use Gates’ favorite word, unbelievable.
That’s why media types ranked Missouri 13th in the preseason SEC basketball media poll even though Gates landed one of the industry’s top recruiting classes and highest-ranked transfer portal hauls.
Only LSU, Oklahoma and hapless Vanderbilt ranked lower.
There is no doubting the strength of the expanded SEC this season. And there are many reasons to doubt Gates, as that poll underscored.
People are also reading…
Last year at this time, there was some buzz about the Tigers. Then the games started and Gates was still searching for a workable player rotation.
Injuries made the situation worse. The historic Jackson State loss happened. By the time the Tigers limped into league play, they were doomed to historic failure.
Gates burned the equity he built in Year 1 with the team’s collapse in Year 2. Now he is starting over in a league that has never been better.
Every SEC school is determined to succeed at basketball. Donnie Tyndall, Kim Anderson and Rick Ray don’t coach here anymore.
SEC basketball has chewed up and spit out some pretty good coaches, including Tom Crean at Georgia, Kermit Davis at Ole Miss and Bryce Drew at Vanderbilt. Campus institutions like Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt) and Andy Kennedy (Ole Miss) finally ran out of time.
Others enjoyed success but couldn’t sustain it, like Cuonzo Martin, Gates’ predecessor at Mizzou. That list also includes Mike Anderson (Arkansas), Mike White (Florida), Billy Kennedy (Texas A&M), Johnny Jones (LSU), Mark Fox (Georgia), Ben Howland (Mississippi State), Anthony Grant (Alabama) and Avery Johnson (Alabama).
Coaches always talk up the league’s greatness at SEC media day events, but this year, they could offer more platitudes with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma from the basketball-centric Big 12.
“This league has gotten ridiculously hard,†noted longtime Kentucky coach John Calipari, who is getting a fresh start at Arkansas. “Nine teams in the Top 25 and another team not far off. I can remember being in this league we got two or three teams in the NCAA Tournament. Now all of a sudden it looks like it’s going to be 10 or 11 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Every game we will play on the road, it’s going to be ridiculous.
“You’ve got coaches and players that are all at the top of their game.â€
What, then, can we expect the Tigers?
Their transfers offer hope. After getting disappointing results from his 2023 portal class, Gates acquired more proven talent this time around. Each addition filled a need.
Power forward Mark Mitchell won’t be Kobe Brown, but the Duke transfer gives the Tigers a proven scorer up front. Iowa transfer Tony Perkins offers a huge upgrade at point guard.
South Carolina transfer Josh Gray is a large adult who can bang bodies and grab rebounds, two things that since-departed Jordan Butler struggled to do last season as a skinny freshman.
“Now, when you look at the two, one was 18, another is 22,†Gates said at SEC media days. “You look at that, they’re in different phases of their life, different experiences.â€
The portal also brought 3-point shooter Jacob Crews and rim-attacking guard Marques Warrick from the mid-major level. The freshman class includes big men Peyton Marshall (300 pounds) and Trent Burns (7-foot-5) along with versatile wing player Annor Boateng.
Returning scorer Tamar Bates had a breakout season amid all the suffering last season — and this year, he won’t have to force things. He should be even more efficient operating with more talent around him.
“He had to take those risks and maybe took shots he normally wouldn’t take just because we were not at 100%,†Gates noted.
Guard Caleb Grill and forward Aidan Shaw should bounce back from injuries. Anthony Robinson II and Trent Pierce should rebound from their freshman adversity.
This program has players stacked on top of players. Gates wisely scheduled a softer nonconference schedule to allow time to sort through the pile.
Missouri gets a season-opening test at Memphis, where coach Penny Hardaway is trying to restore order. Then the schedule lines up Howard, Eastern Washington, Mississippi Valley State, Pacific, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Lindenwood as easy marks before California visits in the SEC/ACC Challenge.
The Tigers will be big underdogs again against regional rivals Illinois and Kansas. But before they face the gauntlet of league play, they can use mismatches against Long Island University, Jacksonville State and Alabama State for fine-tuning.
Gates will have the time and the personnel to reestablish what made his first team successful: pressure defense feeding an up-tempo offense and volume shooting from 3-point range.
Can he make it happen? SEC media types are skeptical, and it’s up to Gates to prove them wrong.