10/20/2022 basketball Edit

Four takeaways from Missouri's appearance at the SEC MBB Media Day

Drew King • PowerMizzou

Basketball Writer

MOUNTAIN GROVE, AL--Missouri head coach Dennis Gates, graduate point guard Nick Honor and senior forward Kobe Brown took part in the SEC men’s basketball Media Day on Wednesday, discussing their thoughts on the upcoming season for the Tigers.

Here are a few takeaways from the trio’s appearance at the event: PowerMizzou.com will have much more coverage throughout the week.

Tigers unfazed by SEC media poll

Mizzou was picked to finish 11th in the SEC media poll and no Tigers were selected to either of the all-conference teams. No one from the team at Media Day seemed concerned, though.

“I mean, we're not too surprised about it,” Honor said. “You know, I think it's because we're a new team and everything. But we just take it with a grain of salt and just get to work. I mean, they'll see. Time will tell.”

“Honestly, I prefer to be picked last, be the underdog,” Brown said. “It just makes winning even better. So it's all good to me.”

Gates didn’t even realize the poll had been released until he was told in an interview with PowerMizzou.com. He then used the question as an opportunity to sell his program to the fans.

“I don't pay attention to the preseason,” Gates said. “I just know we're in the infant stages of building the program. It takes a while, it takes time. We have to continue to recruit at a high level, we gotta do a lot of player development to get our players better. I think our fan base is a tremendous fan base, I'm excited to share my first game with our fan base. And I truly believe — we know Kansas will be sold out, we know that. Standing room. I'm looking forward to having that first game as a sellout, then the second game as a sellout, then the third game, fourth game, fifth game. And then by Dec. 10, that environment is a normal environment for us. I don't want my players to go through a sold-out environment for the first time in December.

“And I think it's a community program. It's the city of Columbia's program, right? It may have my name on it for this time, but the tradition — the tradition that Norm Stewart has set, the tradition throughout those years and obviously to the present — it involved a hostile playing environment that also added value to the game, to the gameday experience, to the outcome. And we can't do it by ourselves. Our student-athletes can't do it by themselves. We need our fans to come out to support, but also, we need them every game. And I think that's what makes a place like Mizzou special, when our fans are so engaged.”

Here are the complete results of the preseason poll:

1. Kentucky

2. Arkansas

3. Tennessee

4. Auburn

5. Alabama

6. Texas A&M

7. Florida

8. LSU

9. Ole Miss

10. Mississippi State

11. Missouri

12. Vanderbilt

13. Georgia

14. South Carolina

Brown feeling less pressure on offense with Mizzou’s newcomers

Mizzou brought in 12 new faces this offseason to pair with the three returners on the roster. Honor and Brown have been impressed with how everyone's come together so far.

“First couple months have been well just, you know, bonding together as a team,” Honor said. “And we've done different team bonding activities, practiced a lot, worked out a lot. So we're just building that camaraderie.”

“Everyone's shocked me,” Brown said. “Isiaih Mosley, of course he's a phenomenal scorer. (DeAndre) Gholston is a phenomenal scorer. Tre Gomillion's really good, he's a really versatile guy, he can do a lot of things, he can guard you one through five, play the one through five. Like everyone's playing really, really well, hitting their stride.”

One hope with the newcomers is that they’ll be able to take some of the weight off of Brown’s shoulders. The senior forward led the team last season with 12.5 points per game and a 23.4% usage rating. More scorers — and especially more shooters spacing the floor — could help ease the burden for Brown on offense.

“Every single scorer is capable of giving you 15 to 20 points a night,” Brown said. “So, it's definitely going to be a load off. It'll help me a little bit better after games, I won't be as tired, as hurt. So I'm ready. I'm ready to have fun with it.”

Missouri finding an edge in versatility

Another common theme among the newcomers is the ability of many to play multiple positions. Both Honor and Brown think the unique flexibility will give the Tigers an advantage.

“I haven't really been a part of a team like that,” Honor said. “Most coaches usually stick to each position and it's just kind of kind of permanent. But one thing about our team, you know, anybody can really do anything. I can play on the ball, I can play off the ball and likewise with our other guards too. So, I mean, it'll be exciting.”

“I know we're gonna be a fun team to watch. It's gonna be hard to predict, you know, our offense, our defense with everyone being able to do everything. It's like, no one set person is doing one set thing. So it'll be really, really interesting to see how teams play us,” Brown said. “It'll make mismatch problems. Like, teams won't be able to predict or plan for us as well as they usually can. Just like, the scouting report is gonna be all over the place for the team. So that's a plus, for us.”

Gates open to expanding NCAA tournament

The possibility of increasing the number of teams allowed into the Big Dance has become a popular topic of discussion since ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said “it’s time” to consider it at the conference’s media day last week. Greg Sankey echoed that sentiment on Tuesday, noting that despite the Missouri women’s basketball team defeating South Carolina in January, who went on to win the national championship, the Tigers weren’t selected for the tournament.

While the SEC’s coaches as a whole seemed split on the idea, Gates came out in strong favor of it.

“I truly believe we have to look at the NCAA tournament this way: where it was at the very beginning, 16 or however many teams, it’s always evolving,” Gates said. “You think about the (40th) anniversary of (former NC State head coach Jim) Valvano’s shot (which won the 1983 NCAA tournament), right? That tournament had eight teams in the play-in. Eight teams were playing in. Princeton was the only team that won its 12th-seed game once they got into the field. That was a preliminary round. So it’s always expanding. Always. It’s just time now to give that opportunity another look and maybe grow."

Gates doesn't want incremental expansion either. He's ready to go all in.

“I would like to see it double, to be honest with you, because I truly believe there’s some great coaches who are left out of the tournament. There’s some great players that we have not seen on that platform that we’ll now see. And there are some great games already existing with some unbelievable excitement and I think there’s more out there for us to add. So I’m all for it because it creates an opportunity, not just for our fanbase but for our game, for our tournament to grow.

“But also for the development of referees, I think that matters. Referees matter, that matters. Our game of basketball being in different cities, that caliber of tournament, those things matter. And you have coaches who sometimes are evaluated on if they’re going to make the tournament or not. We’re in a transitional business and when you can have that transaction meet the realities, I believe it’s on its way.”