Missouri beat South Carolina 78-63 on Saturday to end a four-game losing streak. If we’re being honest, it didn’t mean much. Sure, winning is better than losing and if they’re keeping score having the higher score is good. But the Gamecocks played seven guys—the best of whom Frank Martin called “disengaged” after the game—and didn’t really appear to have much in the tank in the second half. Missouri is still more or less locked into a first day game in the SEC Tournament and has hopes of the postseason in any form only if it wins about five more in a row.
In other words, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a win that meant a whole heck of a lot.
But South Carolina came into this game 9-and-6 in league play. Just a week ago, many were wondering if they’d find themselves on the right side of the bubble on Selection Sunday with a strong finish.
“I’ve been saying this for the last two weeks: Don’t pay attention to records in this league,” South Carolina head coach Frank Martin said after the Tigers thumped his team. “Us and them could very easily have the complete opposite records. That’s how close their games and our games have been.”
And more than anything, that’s what to take away from today. Missouri isn’t all that far away. Because nobody is all that far away in college basketball...especially in the Southeastern Conference. Turnarounds don’t take long and the line between good teams and bad ones is awfully narrow.
Consider this: The Gamecocks entered Saturday’s game tied for fourth (and thus in line for a double bye at the conference tournament) in the SEC. If Georgia were to upset Florida tonight, South Carolina would be in that same spot tomorrow morning. Missouri came into today in 12th, sitting 3-12 in league play. South Carolina has won four games by five points or less and two more by seven or less. Missouri has blown double-digit leads in the second half of four league games.
“That’s the pain of a season,” Cuonzo Martin said. “I’m happy we won a game, but also the pain in how many we let get away…You have to look back on those games and try to get them out of your system as soon as you can. But that’s the result of it.”
The margin between good and bad just isn’t very big.
“Throughout this SEC play we’ve had a lot of games we led and a lot of it was us not getting over that second half hump,” Kevin Puryear said after his best game in three months.
We’ve seen bad around these parts. For a three-year stretch, Missouri was 8-46 in conference games and there was no hope in sight (minus, of course, the one year in which LSU out-awfuled the Tigers and claimed the 14 seed in the league tournament). On the surface, this year might not seem a whole lot different. Mizzou is 13-15, just 4-12 in the league, and almost certainly just playing out the string over the next couple of weeks before 68 other teams get a chance to dance.
And before I’m accused of drinking Kool-Aid and pumping sunshine and all the rest, let’s say that you are what your record says you are and this is not a successful season for Missouri. But the mountain the Tigers have to climb doesn’t seem nearly as steep as it often has lately.
The SEC has three elite teams right now. Kentucky is always going to be that. Tennessee ought to remain good, but its losing two of its five starters (at least) and might come back to the pack little bit. LSU seems set up for a nice run if the FBI/NCAA leave things in Baton Rouge well enough alone.
Beyond that? Florida, Mississippi State, Auburn, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Arkansas and Texas A&M are in front of the Tigers in the standings. None are what anyone would consider great teams. Missouri beat three of them (Arkansas, A&M and South Carolina), probably should have beaten another (Florida) and was neck-and-neck with the other two (Ole Miss and MSU) with five minutes to play on the road. Simply put, the Tigers aren’t as far off as the standings would seem to indicate.
“As far as talent, we have it,” Puryear said. “As far as competitiveness, we have that. I think it’s just putting it together and finishing the games.”
About that talent: Javon Pickett has started every game of his college career and has at many times looked like a substantial building block. Xavier Pinson has shown flashes of being a high-level SEC point guard. Torrence Watson put up 20 on the Gamecocks on Saturday and looked like the shooter everybody thought we’d see a whole lot more this season. Jeremiah Tilmon has two more years to play and Mark Smith should be back at full strength. And we haven’t even addressed how much belief you have in the “Dru Smith is the best player on the roster” whispers or the incoming recruits.
“You wish Torrence Watson was more experienced in the beginning of the season like he is now,” Cuonzo Martin said. “Same with Javon, X. It’s what it is. That’s the pain, I guess, of coaching.”
I’m generally against playing the what-if game. Good teams usually do just enough to win and bad teams usually do just enough to lose. And I’m not trying to paint this season as anything other than disappointing. But while we slog through the final weeks of another lost season of Missouri basketball, the hope of something better seems a little more possible than it often has.
I’m not talking about conference titles or Final Fours or great teams. Not yet. Down the road, maybe that’s a discussion we can have. Right now, the goal is to get back to being decent. Because being decent in a major conference means you’re probably in the NCAA Tournament. And the truth is, that should be the minimal goal in Columbia. Every year, yes, but specifically next year.
When Mizzou came into the this league seven years ago, most thought it should annually be one of the league’s best teams. The first few seasons haven’t offered any indication that will be the case, but truthfully, it still should be. Outside of Kentucky, there’s no program in this league that has as any more dedication to basketball than Mizzou (a few others may have as much, but none definitively have more). Most schools in the conference have already turned their attention to baseball season this time of year.
The opportunity still exists for Missouri to make that move. Not this year. This year’s been over for a while. But turnarounds can be quick in college basketball. Look at Tennessee and Auburn last year. Or Ole Miss this year. That’s what next year’s Missouri Tigers should hope to be.
It’s no fun talking about next year after the first game of March. But it’s all you’ve got right now. The Tigers haven’t delivered much in the way of success this year. But there at least is some hope on the horizon. For now, that’s got to be good enough.
