Balancing hype, expectations a key for Cuonzo Martin
Cuonzo Martin has injected Missouri basketball with a shot of adrenaline in the last four weeks. It was just 27 days ago that Martin was hired to replace Kim Anderson. Since then, a chain reaction of events has Missouri basketball fans riding high. It’s an energy so palpable that even the coaches themselves can feel it.
“I think it’s high,” Martin said at his first local media gathering since his introduction. “But I think this program has always had that. Obviously a few bumps in the road in the past, but I think this program has always had a tremendous amount of energy.
This is a great brand. It’s our job to sell it.”
“Overwhelming,” recently hired assistant Chris Hollender said. “I knew growing up in Illinois, close to Missouri, how excited and how passionate the Mizzou fanbase is. I was fortunate to play with a couple guys that were some of the bigger names here, Doug Smith and Derek Grimm, in the minor leagues. Those guys got to play in the major leagues, I played in the minor leagues. They would always tell stories about the passion and living in St. Louis for those couple years, it’s obvious. As you get here and you’re around it for just a little bit, you can totally sense it. There’s no doubt this fanbase is one of the most passionate in the country.”
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Never has the momentum been more noticeable than last weekend, when the Tigers hosted top 150 targets Blake Harris and Kevin Knox on official visits. Tagging along was the nation’s top prospect and Tiger commitment Michael Porter Jr., who started this whole thing rolling when he became Martin’s first pledge on March 24th.
“I do sense it. There’s a palpable sense of excitement here in Columbia,” Tiger assistant Michael Porter Sr. said.
Did he see that over the weekend, when his son and the other potential Tigers were in town?
“Yeah, we did. We did,” Porter Sr. said with a chuckle. “I tell you what, it left quite an impression on all three recruits. Quite an impression.”
“Talking to our guys that we’re recruiting, the way they talked about the fans on campus, that is tremendous,” Martin said. “And we don’t take that for granted.
“They help make us a great program. That level of energy, easy is not the word, but they make my job a whole lot better.”
The coaches (even the one who raised him) can’t talk about Porter or any of the other prospects who have not yet signed. But with Porter, Harris and C.J. Roberts on board, Knox considering the Tigers and Jeremiah Tilmon having received his release on Tuesday morning and expected to soon join Missouri’s class, a program that has been buried at the bottom of the SEC for the last three seasons suddenly looks like an immediate factor in Martin’s first season.
“My job as a coach is to do my job,” Martin said. “I can’t get caught up in that (hype)…The fanfare and all of that stuff that comes with it, the expectations, that comes with the territory. I think that’s what makes great programs great.”
The influx of talent—both already committed and still possible—has been a welcome boon to Missouri fans. Campus and online communities are buzzing, ticket sales are on the rise and the appetite for Tiger hoops is once again ravenous. But with so much excitement about players on the way, the question must be asked, how will it be received by those who have already been here and suffered through the bad times?
“In the absence of communication, thoughts can run wild,” Porter Sr. said. "There could be some of that. I don’t sense it with Kevin (Puryear) and Terrence (Phillips) and some of the guys that I’ve spoken with. But you know, I think it would be less than honest if you didn’t wonder what it was going to be like as a player. We as a staff, that's one of the things about Coach Martin, everybody’s the same. Everybody is the same. Everybody’s got to go 100% in every single drill, you’ve got to be on time, you have to go to class. So in that sense, there will be no favorites. These guys are going to have to stand and fall on their own.
“(Phillips and Puryear) are the two that I’ve had the most conversation with, it just so happens. They’re excited. They’re ready to get to work. They’re hungry. They’re hungry. I tell you, those guys would run through a wall.”
Martin didn’t address the question quite as directly. But he said on Monday that he has told the team in order to win games, the talent on the roster had to be upgraded.
“The last two days I had individual meetings with the guys, not necessarily talking about roles, but just talking about what I thought watching from afar,” Martin said. “I never promise minutes, I never guarantee anything, whether I’m recruiting a young man or he’s in our current program. So everybody has an opportunity to earn what they want to earn and it starts in practice. I try to leave it at that.”
K.J. Walton and Frankie Hughes transferred out last week. Martin said as of now he expected the rest of the current roster to stick around for next season, though he added the caveat that you never know until school starts in August.
For their parts, the current Tiger players—at least the core of the returners—have expressed excitement. None have been available for interviews since the day Martin was introduced, but Phillips and Puryear have both shown enthusiasm on Twitter in recent days.
Martin isn’t done recruiting. Tilmon’s situation remains unresolved, Knox is at least two-and-a-half weeks away from a decision and the Tigers are still chasing Mark Smith, as well as some other potential options for the future. Martin’s pitch has been simple.
“It’s a great place,” he said. “It might sound simple, but when you have great fan support, you’ve had a fanbase over the course of time, you have great facilities, great resources, what happens, the sell is what young men see. It’s one thing for me to say something as a coach…but often times with young men it’s what they see. Most of them want playing time from day one. I think when you have an opportunity to sell you have a chance to play from day one, that’s what most of them want. And they don’t really care about what took place in the past. It’s just about, hey, man, what can you do for me right now? Can you get me where I’m trying to go?”
Suddenly, shockingly, right now looks pretty good for Mizzou basketball. Martin’s first month has been eventful and packed with anticipation. The late signing period opens on Wednesday. The next month could be equally as intriguing.