Everything Dennis Gates said on Thursday

On Thursday morning, Dennis Gates met with reporters for the first time since Missouri's season ended. Below is a complete transcription of the press conference. You can watch the video here

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"Definitely in that part of the season where we continue to look forward and build for our 23-24 results and that started as soon as we entered into a postseason. Obviously looking back in retrospect of our year as a head coach, I'm disappointed still in our results. I truly believe we could have, and we had the goal of playing on April 1st and April 3rd as I've always mentioned. But congratulations to UCONN and all the other teams that advanced. It still was a great tournament and one that we look forward to playing in the future."

"Managing a roster is simple. There's several moving parts. There's never going to be a concrete or direct answer or response. But ultimately you have to protect yourself and I'm saying that in different phases. It's more popular to be in the portal as you guys see the numbers continue to rise of portal additions. We've lost Ronnie DeGray as well as Mo Diarra into the portal. I thank them, as you guys have probably read my tweets publicly thanking them, but I'll say it here, I think them for their contributions to our program and institution. They'll always be a part of my life as a head coach.

But as it relates to roster management, it's definitely important to continue to build. Now you have to protect yourself. You always have to recruit as if someone's going to leave and if you don't recruit that way you can be stuck with nothing or be caught behind in a recruiting battle that you never had an opportunity to begin with because of your assumptions. You can't make assumptions of rosters. This day and age of college athletics, you have to assume that everyone's leaving. Therefore, you're able to continue to build relationships in the recruiting world that you need to build, whereas years past you weren't able to do that."

"No, you have to understand the portal deadline. I don't put added pressure on our guys in these conversations. I assume in recruiting that no one's coming back and I assume in my relationships that everyone's coming back. I treat our guys as if they're gonna come back. Ronnie DeGray is still getting individual workouts from our coaches. He's still a player at Missouri. Same as Mo Diarra, same as Nick Honor, Isiaih Mosley, Sean East and all those guys. So I don't differentiate that. I allow those deadlines to really impact when it's time to make a decision."

"What it means is that we hired the right people, the right guys. For him to be at my side as associate head coach here at Mizzou is one of the reasons why we were successful this season. You have to understand his relationships throughout college basketball, but his expertise offensively and defensively. Does a great job on the sideline, but also in the locker room in helping me organize a certain way. Keeping him here is definitely important, but this is part of the offseason. If you're not doing things special, your staff does not get the inquiries. And obviously if you don't have a good staff by your side, they're not going to get the inquiries. When we built the staff, I expect our guys every offseason to have a decision to make based off of other schools, other institutions being interested in them becoming head coaches. lateral moves are lateral moves, but as it relates to becoming a head coach, Coach Young wasn't the only person that interviewed for jobs or even had opportunities out there. But we have a great staff in place and I'm thankful that he calls this place home and he's very comfortable with our progress."

"I think when you look at the fabric which we've been building our program with, I think he demonstrates that same development throughout his career. That humility, that humbleness to be able to jump right in from where he was at to being a great teammate. I think that synergy is very important in building results. John Tonje has done a great job if you look at his stats, but also winning percentage, if you look at the program he is coming from. Those are all things that are important, but also reasons behind possibly transferring. He's a graduate and ultimately those are important things to me when I look at Tre Gomillion, D'Moi Hodge and Dree Gholston. Those kids, those young people, they came as graduates and he'll be able to unselfishly fit that bill when it comes down to his intangibles, his leadership, but also his style of play on both sides of the court."

"I think when you look at our entire class, when you look at Ant Robinson as a guard, those other two guys are guards that have played at the college level. John has done a great job in the Mountain West Conference at Colorado State, but also Curt you have to look at his production, not just as a juco national champion, juco player of the year, but also during his time at Eastern Kentucky. He's a guy that brings us some tremendous experience which is something that's important for me, but also the notoriety and importance of the style of play. He shot the ball very well from behind the arc. He was able to do some things defensively. I think these guys give us a good amount of size as well with their strength and their physicality on both ends of the court. Collectively, I think they just add a dimension. We're not done recruiting, we're gonna continue to recruit and ultimately we have to do so not just from that guard perspective, but also viable bigs and post players that we're looking to bring in."

"The way I approach all our guys during this this time who have an ability to forego a year of eligibility to pursue professional goals and aspirations is simple: There's deadlines within the NBA, there's deadlines that you have to follow. We won't know anything with Kobe's positioning, because he's not that lottery pick on paper, he has to go through this process and we won't know until that Chicago combine that the feedback is where it should be for him and his family. So I just give him space, give him peace, but also give him counsel when he comes to me with questions about the process, right? Because this is his first time; this is my 20th year coaching so we've had guys in the past. The process hasn't changed much when you look at it. I do think the deadlines for Kobe Brown is different than the deadline for Nick Honor or anyone else that can pursue. He has to go through interviews with NBA organizations, he has to go through the pre-draft camp, he has to go through maybe the G-League pre-draft camp. We have to give him time to access those results. Last year was different with Kobe because the undergraduate advisory committee results had him as a not drafted player and it made his decision a lot quicker. Right now, if you look at mock drafts and different things like that they have him in that second round range. Do I think Kobe Brown's a first round draft pick? Absolutely. Absolutely. But the council above doesn't know the things that I know about him and they are doing research on college athletes and it's a ton. So I just hope he gets the feedback he needs to make the decision that's viable for him and his future."

"First you gotta watch film. I think when you look at the system of their head coach Niko (Medved), Niko does a great job. You look at the success rate of that team. You look at the conference, the level of play that he's had to play against, the atmospheres, you look at different things that you think could cause you to think of it as a similarity. Those things matter. Any recruiting, we measure our guys on our eight core values of friendship, love, accountability, trust, discipline, unselfishness, enthusiasm and toughness. And we want that to be sort of the barometer at which we feel a kid fits. And we think John fits. We've enjoyed the conversation with him, I've enjoyed the conversation with his mom, I've enjoyed the conversation with his entire circle, but also I've enjoyed the conversation when we do background checks with the staff where he's coming from. Sometimes you have to do those background checks, when he's coming from high school, we will talk to the high school coach. Junior college, we'll talk to the junior college coach. Now in the transfer portal, no matter how uncomfortable it may be, you have to talk to the coaches where those kids are coming from."

"Yeah, there's no doubt about it. Because you got to look at when it began to become popular. Before, the portal or transferring, was not recommended. It was looked and shined upon as a bad thing. Now it's normalized. If you look at the portal additions, first-team all-conference players putting their name in the portal. There are kids who are all-Americans putting their name in the portal. There are young people, not just men's basketball, but women's basketball, when you start to see it collectively on both sides, it's not just a men's basketball, it's not just a women's basketball thing, it's a college thing. It is a way of life. You're going to have student athletes ten years, 15 years from their eligibility being finalized going to two or three alumni weekends. That will be normalized now more than ever before because it's just the rules. They are doing what the rules say they can do. And it's given them the option to A) reinvigorate their college experience, B) move forward to see if there's something new to be done, different styles of play. They're not just moving just to move. They're moving because they're in search of something else. I just hope one day we can look back and reflect and they can reflect that they have either stayed through a storm that allowed them to develop as young people and get better in development versus running. Running from the development and whatever they could work through, because it's going to show up at some point later in life, especially if you have the traditional portal entries versus the non-traditional. The non-traditional is those guys and young ladies who are graduates. I think they have an option to do so. The other tradition of it is just transferring looking for greener pastures. You have two things. Now there's extreme experiences or situations where I think young people have to get a change. I understand that. There are sometimes mistakes that are made and they have to reset it. I understand that. But I just hope they don't run from the journey that's gonna allow them to build their character, but also set them up later in life because I think there are success stories on perseverance."

"No, I think I've shown the ability to do that collectively throughout my career collectively based on the cards that have been dealt. I got hired at Cleveland State in August; end of July, beginning of August and we were able to put together a program and identify kids. In that first class was Tre Gomillion, an unbelievable winner. We've been able, because of the blueprint that I have from Leonard Hamilton, to build programs. Now we have to assess the conditions in which we build them. As it relates to the big picture of building, I think we have a staff in place that also sees it from a different perspective. They have experience, they have unbelievable relationships and that's what it's about. It's about building those relationships, but also making sure you don't get left back in time as our sport, as our environment evolves. We're in the middle of an evolution in college athletics so we have to evolve in it and that's what we're doing. We're going to continue to do research, continue to do the things that allow us to obtain the information so we won't be left behind. You have to be able to build a team but also you have to be able to build a locker room with the right people. It's a people's sport. You have to have the right people on the team at the right time who are collectively and connected in a way that they won't get off track when it comes down to the tough and enduring the difficult moments. There were some difficult moments this year. I'm proud of the way we progressed in building our team to build them some resolve and obviously perseverance to get through the other side of what we knew we had in the locker room as coaches."

"Yeah there's definitely a path for that. Again, we have deadlines in place and those deadlines won't come until the portal entry deadline, but also the NBA deadline. Isiaih Mosley was able to pursue a professional career; his name was in the draft last year, not just in the portal. He has dreams and aspirations of his basketball career, but also when you look at collectively this season, I'm going to continue to put my arms around all of our team to make sure they are in the right position professionally, personally and obviously here when it comes down to receiving their degrees."

"I would say this: In this era, and I would suggest you guys do this, you cannot any longer assume that players are just operating under 13 scholarships. There were several walk-ons this season alone that you guys don't know was walk-ons on other rosters. But they would easily be considered, man, that's a scholarship guy. So you have to operate in your mind not just under 13 because certain kids are qualifying for in-state tuition and some kids are now able to pay their own way so you can't operate and assume that rosters are capped at 13 kids because ultimately there's ingenuity into building rosters more than ever before and you can't count the way that we all have been counting previously. There's an unbelievable amount of kids out there in the portal, but that sum does not equal individually the 13 scholarships that each institution has. At Cleveland State alone, because of waivers and certain things, I had 16 players on scholarship my last season. Sixteen. Sixteen of them. So you ahve to understand the new rules behind certain things that take place and I would not just jump out and assume that each institution is operating under the maximum or minimum of 13 scholarships."

"I think he's a great, great player. As I said before during this time last year that Kobe Brown will go down as one of the all time greats at Mizzou. You have to look at first the climate that we're in: Most kids won't be at an institution for four, let alone five, years to be in position to be able to make the impact that he has made. Most kids have tapped out their ceiling of improvement. Kobe Brown has consistently improved and made a big jump. I think ultimately what NBA teams look at sometimes is not where a kid is, but what they've done. Kobe Brown has improved unbelievable amounts. However, they want a larger sample size sometimes. i don't want Kobe to be penalized for the way that we play because it's a great style of play that allowed him to show some things and you can't control anything else. To be able to be needed to shoot the ball how he shot the ball and put in certain positions was very important to our success and he was able to do that at a high level. I think sometimes as a GM or a President of basketball or decision maker in the NBA or pro sports, they want more, they want to see more, they want to pick things apart, but not focus on what a kid does well. I think Kobe Brown will continue to develop no matter where he's at in the next four years. He still hasn't played his best basketball. I think his best basketball is ahead of him where there's more space, there's more things to be done, where there's more space, he's able to use his strength certain ways and not get into foul trouble, but also consistently shoot the ball the way that he needs to shoot the ball. He's a better ballhandler. I think shooting off the move is something that they'll look at. When you look at percentages, can he shoot off the move? That's something that they try to figure out, but they'll be pleasantly surprised when he interviews, his personality, his different ways of thinking the game, his basketball IQ. They will be shocked at how well he's done different things and when you're in transition of positioning, they want to see you defend. No one stops anybody on the defensive end in the NBA. It's tough shotmakers. So we have a system that showed his versatility, we're switching one through five, so hopefully that has helped. Again, we won't know until the Chicago pre-draft camp or his individual workouts with several NBA teams and I'm looking forward to supporting him in that. D'Moi Hodge is currently at the Portsmouth camp, but also some other guys out interviewing with some G-League and NBA teams. Dree Gholston is interviewing with some teams. Tre Gomillion is interviewing with some teams. So we have some great things happening behind the scenes. Even though everybody isn't playing in these tournaments, we have some guys interviewing, we're doing our job in fielding background checks that are coming to us, organizations are calling and that's the right traffic that you need to have guys have opportunities."

"I'll tell you this: When you look at the numbers starting from the 2020 season when everyone was given an opportunity to have an extra year, that entire body of players will no longer be available because they will have graduated. This is the last class of that. So I think the bottom, or even the top, of the transfer portal, will go down and you'll have more entry level guys coming from junior college and high school. That doesn't mean kids won't try to find a way to transfer, but at least the sum of those numbers will drop a little bit because there's no more extra year portal kids using up the fifth, or sometimes, sixth years. Those kids will now be the kids of injuries or medical redshirt. That's what it will be. It won't be any pandemic players. So ultimately when you look at the popularity, it's very popular to be in the portal, people want to see what's on the other side and some may even put their name in the portal and return to their institution. You'll see some of that as well. I just think our guys and our student athletes here have a great, great environment. The city of Columbia has a great learning platform for these kids. And we have a great environment for these kids. It's not just basketball, it's going to be explored through all sports and we just have a great environment for kids to concentrate academically, athletically, but also grow. I'm excited to be a part of Mizzou. I'm excited about our leadership, Board of Curators, our President Mun Choi, our athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois and it's all collective man. When we bring a kid on campus we give him an idea of what life will be like, not an imaginary place that sometimes people lean on to recruit. We just give them the real responses of what their every day would be."

"The right size. It's not just getting size, it's the right size. Having the right people in your locker room to fit your style of play. I'm not changing my style of play. We're going to get better and tweak it to the individual, but I'm still trying to lead the country in three-point shooting, I'm still trying to lead the country in positive assist to turnover ratio. There's certain things that even you guys asked this time last year. I still want to put pressure offensively and defensively. You've still got to find the right guys. We had the right guys in the locker room last year, we have to make sure we have the right guys in the locker room this year. Just because it's size, it has to be the right size. We've turned down size this year because it wasn't the correct size that we needed that fit our system defensively and offensively. But you've got to have the right pieces, pieces that fit together. You don't want to have any errors in the recruiting as we know the margin of error is very slim from team to team to team and game to game. It's been an advantage for us. What we have to protect is making sure we can continue to play our style of play that has been able to show some results that we were excited about, no matter what categories that we were, in some eyes, not so good at. It's the collective and analytical approach that I take that doesn't allow me to look at certain things as negatives. We're going to continue to recruit and identify and watch a lot of film. I think the high school kids, Anthony Robinson, Trent Pierce, Jordan Butler, you guys have been able to see let's say Trent Pierce on national TV. You see how he fits with his size. He has size for position. Jordan Butler has size for position. He's not going to stop us from shooting three-pointers. I expect him to be prepared to shoot the ball from behind the arc. And anyone that we bring in here will be shooting threes. That's just the style of play that I believe I will be successful playing and I'm not going to stop. There was a time this season where you guys were looking at me like I was crazy 'Coach, that shooting percentage ain't right. We're missing a lot of threes, but you told them to keep shooting.' I''m glad I told them to keep shooting because they had that portion but also stay strong in what we identify as a style. And that style over a 25 to 35 games a season, one game cannot define your stats, one game won't stop you from getting to the NCAA Tournament and hopefully national championship game. But we have to continue to play the style in the regular season that we think fits our personnel, but also we think fits the success in our conference."

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