Three years ago I wrote the following about Quin Snyder. I'm reposting this to show that Mizzou is not in a slump, we are not a young, developing team that will someday improve. We are getting Quin's best and have gotten it for some time. If I had the time and inclination, I'd grind some stats and show you Quin's futility against the top half of the Big XII, Illinois, the Top 25 and how his players rarely improve. I'd restate all of the off-the-court problems that he's responsible as the program's leader. But you already know all of that. So what was going on three years ago?

February 21, 2002

Where is This Program Heading?

When Quin Snyder took over this program, it wasn't in spectacular shape. The team was built primarily around two players, Keyon Dooling and Clarence Gilbert. Norm Stewart had begun having trouble getting top recruits and since his age meant his days were numbered, it seemed the logical time for him to step aside.

Quin Snyder brought with him a pedigree of winning and Missouri fans started excitedly throwing around possibilities like "Duke West" and elite program. Those notions seemed to be supported by early success in recruiting. After three years, however, just exactly where is this program heading?

Recruiting
Quin's recruits include Kareem Rush, Arthur Johnson, Travon Bryant, Rickey Paulding, Duane John, Jeffrey Ferguson, Wesley Stokes, Josh Kroenke, and Najeeb Echols.

Of these recruits, Rush, Johnson and Paulding are contributing. Echols began to show promise prior to getting injured. Ferguson has recently shown flashes. That leaves Bryant, John, Stokes and Kroenke as recruits that are warming or should be warming our bench. The bottom line, just three of Quin's 10 recruits are providing quality contribution to this team.

And those are the players that made it to the team. Let's not forget the casualties:

Uche Okafar: Ineligible for signing a professional contract
Robert Whaley: Missouri rescinded offer after being charged with rape of a 13 year old
Omar Weaver: Ineligible, last seen around the likes of Jerry Tarkanian

Game Play
The Tigers are certainly missing some pieces. Quin didn't anticipate the complete meltdown of Wesley Stokes, who could? That left us with no point guard. Still, there are indicators that are troublesome.

There's been a remarkable lack of intensity with this club that begins with defense. Despite Johnson's ability to swat the ball, Johnson and Bryant are the softest defensive duo since I can remember. How do you play low post against Missouri? Back down Johnson or Bryant, they're going for blocked shots, not real estate. I would love to see these two stand their ground and give a little hip action to anyone wanting within that 12 foot perimeter. Seal the interior and we'll start seeing our opponents' shot selection and percentage decline.

On offense, our lack of point guard is the biggest culprit. However, Missouri still has a habit of standing and dribbling instead of moving the ball. Against Balyor we gave up 13 steals. 13, are you kidding me? That's a direct result of not being organized.

The last minute against Baylor summed up the season. A poor possession led to a fadeaway three pointer. Baylor then took the ball down the court and went baseline. We foul, they hit their free throws, get the ball back and have another bad possession. Incidentally, how did they get baseline? Poor defense.

After two timeouts, Quin's "play" was to give the ball to Rush and let him create something. Rush's defender fell down, yet he still took a fadeaway despite Johnson and Paulding being open under the basket. The chaotic last 10 seconds reflects on the preparedness of this squad. How good is Baylor, by the way? They lost their next game to an average but well-coached Texas Tech team 90-65.

The Future
So to answer my question, where is this program heading? I don't like the emphasis on recruiting unconventional players. Okafar, Whaley and Weaver all had histories. Even Travon had eligibility issues. Quin maybe hit a gem with McKinney from Vashon High, but what about Gidrius Rinkavicious, the foreign player from a one year prep school that Mike Kelly called "a project", or Kevin Young whose high school in Florida was expelled from the academic world, so he wound up five hours away at an 'independent' school that is ineligible to participate in Florida's playoff system and whose coach said they still didn't have Young's transcripts from his previous school?

Moreover, is the program advancing? Quin now owns some of Missouri's most embarrassing moments. A historic blowout loss to Kansas, a loss to conference doormat Baylor, 0-6 on ESPN this season (not good for recruiting), a dismal three year record against the top 25, and game after game of low intensity sloppy play.

It's the team's lack of organization and intensity that bothers me the most. Last rant I said if I could see just one thing the rest of the season, it would be intensity. We appeared to recapture some of that against Virginia and Iowa State, only to lay an egg at Baylor. Something is seriously wrong when you fail as completely as this team is failing this season.

What's our future? That's anybody's guess, but if the quality of basketball we've seen so far is any indication, it may very well not include Quin Snyder.

Mizzou Xs and Os

Just to hammer the point home, that's Stokes at the point, Gilbert on the right, Rush taking the fadeaway three pointer after 33 seconds of no ball movement and Bryant/Johnson standing flat footed. Just change out some names and you have the 2005 Missouri Tigers.