GD: Let's go ahead and get the disclaimer for the entire mailbag out of the way: Missouri has a basketball coach and there are 21 games left in the season and a lot of things can happen between now and then. As much as most fans have already moved on to the coaching search, there's no guarantee Missouri is actually going to be conducting one after the season. Of course it's possible. You'd have to be blind not to acknowledge the possibility. I appreciate that you all have these types of questions and I'll do my best to answer them, but it is important to put out there first that this is all hypothetical at least for the next two or three months.

So, if Missouri moves on from Cuonzo Martin after the season, it needs to find someone that energizes the fanbase. Whether that's because it's someone with a recognizable name, someone with a history of winning games or simply someone who brings a jolt of energy doesn't matter. But this program needs a shot in the arm. When Mizzou showed Barry Odom the door, it needed someone similar. Eli Drinkwitz gave the fanbase that shot of energy (that didn't really translate into those fans filling seats at games in the first year they had a chance to do so, though, and that's a pretty big part of it). No question that Drinkwitz has raised the energy and interest around the program through his recruiting. I say all that to say this: Just because a hire isn't one that has a long track record of winning or is a nationally recognizable name doesn't mean it can't be one that provide the energy boost I'm talking about. Success comes in all different shapes and sizes in coaching searches. The right guy may not be the guy anyone would think of right now. But make no mistake, if Missouri's gonna make a change, they better get it right.

GD: Kim Anderson's last team lost in overtime to 11th ranked Xavier in the second game of the season. It then absolutely fell apart. Mizzou got blown out by Davidson, lost to North Carolina Central to fall to 3-3, then started a 13-game losing streak on December 10th. The start of this season, honestly, looks a lot like the start of that one. The Tigers already have the mid-major and low-major loss on the slate (Wichita State, Liberty, UMKC) and they've been blown out by the two high major teams they've played. The rest of the season features nothing but high major competition.

The 2016-17 team had some guys who would be solid, if not spectacular, college players in Kevin Puryear, Jordan Barnett, Jordan Geist and Mitchell Smith. All of those guys would see minutes the very next season on an NCAA Tournament team. The talent on this year's Missouri team isn't spectacular, but it seems at least similar to that potentially. Kobe Brown and Javon Pickett have played big parts on an NCAA Tournament team. DaJuan Gordon is a high-major player--maybe not a star, but he can play at this level. The transfers obviously haven't been nearly what Mizzou fans hoped they would be, but the weird thing is they're struggling against the same level of competition that they played well against last year.

The upshot is I think this team is better, but it really hasn't done anything to prove it. I've said over and over it's virtually impossible to win only eight games in a full college basketball season at this level. Even when they were doing that in 2016-17, I didn't quite understand how. I didn't think they were good, but they were better than Lipscomb and North Carolina Central. But clearly the team was broken and had no confidence. And this team looks pretty similar in that regard. I still have a hard time believing they're going to find a way to win only eight games over the course of a full season because I still think that's virtually impossible to do, but the evidence is starting to mount. The thing in 2016 was that you had a roster full of players who had never won and started the season with no confidence. That wasn't the case here. Which makes it even more concerning.