Full speed ahead: Gates' second roster has options

Dennis Gates is not going to regularly play 18 players this season.

I don’t think.

But I’m not sure.

Gates assembled a roster of stunning size in the offseason combining seven returners with five freshmen, five transfers and a junior college import. When asked about the challenges of carrying 18 players on a roster in the preseason Gates said he needed “four or five more spots.”

Gates’ second team at Missouri is going to come at opponents in waves.

Twelve of them played in a season-opening 101-79 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Monday night. Ten appeared in the first half.

"We did it by committee," Gates said. "It's the fortunate part of having unselfishness in your program. I think this season we'll have multiple guys lead us, more importantly in different categories."

NCAA rules state that no more than 15 names can be entered in the scorebook and you must be listed in the scorebook to play. So on any give night, there will be three players ineligible to leave the bench.

On Monday, those included Connor Vanover, suspended for the first three games as a result of playing in the Portsmouth Invitational last spring when he thought he might be done with college basketball, and Danny Stephens, a freshman walk-on wearing a boot on his left foot and riding around pregame warmups on a scooter.

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