Mizzou ended its season with a 82-72 loss to Florida on Saturday night. It was completely expected in a season that's been full of losses. The Tigers went 3-15 in the Southeastern Conference and 10-21 overall. It's one of the worst seasons in program history, yet it was better than the previous one.
Which brings us to head coach Kim Anderson, who has been at the helm for perhaps the worst two-year stretch in Mizzou basketball history. To write that is not unfair, to write it without context is. Anderson took over a program in terrible shape that became worse when the final blow of the Frank Haith era reared its ugly head midway through this season. But still, starting your career as a Division-I head coach with a 19-44 mark does little to curry favor within the athletic department or the fanbase.
New athletic director Mack Rhoads has an unenviable task ahead of him. He didn't hire Anderson. The program, by all intents and purposes, is a mess. Yet, there is smidgen of promise ahead. The Tigers had the 13th youngest team in the country and their best players are freshmen. Point guard Terrence Phillips is a gamer and will most certainly be a good player; he was three assists short of the program's first triple-double Saturday night. Fellow freshman Kevin Puryear was the team's leading scorer and only player who averaged double figures this year (holy crap that's bad). He offers the potential for a tremendous four-year player. But should Anderson be there for the ride?
From an aesthetics standpoint, Mizzou hoops the past two seasons has been something its fans have had to endure. They don't do anything that conjures up feelings of a team that is well coached. Their ball movement would make Swaggy P blush. Their outside shooting is so bad, if Mark Cuban had any vested interest in the game he'd lobby for the three-point line to be move in. And their transition defense is like watching them play a game of musical chairs. But then again, how much of that is due to the fact it is a young, relatively untalented team that is facing a better opposition almost every night?
Again, I don't envy Rhoads. Anderson is a "True Son" who was a star player for the program and assistant coach in its hay days. But this has all been a spectacular disaster. When you hire a coach in college basketball, for me, the minimum is four years. By that time, no matter the hiring circumstances, his first recruiting class has gone through the program or is entering their senior year. The coach's imprint is firmly there. At a place like Mizzou, that should mean an NCAA tourney bid at the very least.
If you were to give Anderson a third year, it would come with the caveat that the team has to be playing in some kind of postseason tournament beyond the SEC Tournament to bring him back for a fourth season. If that weren't attained, then it Rhoads could move on from Anderson with very little controversy.
But, the matter at hand is this season. To me, there's only one reason you fire Anderson. And that is to bring in Lorenzo Romar. I do not believe Romar is a great coach; he might be running out of time at his current spot in Washington. But Romar possesses one key element that is prudent to Mizzou basketball. He is the Godfather of perhaps the most important recruit in the program's history in Michael Porter Jr.
Porter, one of the top players in the 2017 class, has no reason to consider Mizzou other than the fact he's from Columbia. However, there's much more there. His aunt is Robin Pingeton, the Mizzou women's coach. His dad is an assistant to her. His two sisters play for her. His family is tight-knit and I'm sure he'd love nothing more than a reason to stay home.
But Mizzou hasn't offered it. The Tigers are really bad, and for a kid who is a sure-fire one-and-done, lottery pick, he's not going to offer his brief services to a lost cause. Porter is already considering Washington because Romar is his Godfather. Have his Godfather be the next coach of Mizzou, it might be a lock that you get a transcendent talent, albeit for just one season. But the ripple effect of that is huge, considering Porter is just a junior now. Other big-name recruits, namely Trae Young, could follow. And Porter's talented younger brother is already committed to Romar and Washington. It's the type of move, just by sheer virtuosity, could change the landscape of Mizzou hoops in an instant.
If Romar is not the guy, or if it doesn't work out, however, then there is no move to make. Mizzou is an undesirable job at the moment. It's a place that's lacked stability for sometime now. Maybe Anderson isn't the guy, but the program owes it to itself to find out if that's the case.
One more year, however miserable it might turn out to be, is the move. If Anderson fails, then Rhoads needs to open up the check book and make a splash hire and no-one would begrudge him for being too hasty.
Rhoads, however, could have other ideas.
