Well the perfect season has been completed.

THE PERFECT SEASON IS COMPLETE….

Woohoo they did it! They actually did it!

I don't know if Gates can recover from this season. What a disaster.

No wonder the AD ****ing bailed

Gates doesn't know defense. Bwillie was right.

Well, glad that is over.

I watched last night for the first time in a few weeks and confirmed my months-old belief that if I never seen Nick Honor, Noah Carter, or Conor Vanover play again, it will be too soon.

Man. Just three guys being asked to do too much at a level they just can’t do it.

As soon as Honor did his patented “drive into the teeth of the defense and pivot aimlessly until throwing up a prayer of a scoop rather than draw a five seconds call” late, I knew it was over. That we got a Carter missed layup and bricked three, and an offensive rebound that led to a 3 for the opposing team, 2023-24 Mizzou bingo card was complete.

Next year is a big year for Gates now, obviously. He will have the type of team he has wanted - size, length, and athleticism to spare.

If they can keep Bates in the fold and add another good player in the portal, combined with Boateng, they should have more competent offensive sources. They really need Boateng or the portal guy to be someone that can create off the bounce.

I’m optimistic about Anthony Robinson and Jordan Butler and Trent Pierce and their potential. Hopefully lights come on in year 2 for them.

Yeah this year was abysmal, but I'm willing to give Gates another year to see what he can do with his guys. If next year is even kinda like this year, then he's probably getting fired. Can't have a team full of non defenders with no offensive talent and expect to win anything.

I know a lot of people soured on Gates and this team, but it looks like we were able to get some really good players in the portal.

Mark Mitchell - former 5* that went to Duke just committed to Mizzou today. He was a top 5-15 transfer portal recruit depending on who you listen to.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...ster-overhaul/

"Former Duke forward Mark Mitchell is headed to Missouri for his junior season, he announced Friday. The versatile 6-foot-8 athlete ranks No. 6 in the CBS Sports Transfer Rankings and is the latest high-profile acquisition for a Mizzou program seeking to reboot following an 0-18 SEC campaign.

Mitchell started 67 games over two seasons with the Blue Devils after ranking as a five-star prospect and McDonald's All-American in the Class of 2022. He averaged 11.6 points and six rebounds per game while shooting 54% from the field for Duke in the 2023-24 season.

With Duke bringing in the nation's top-ranked recruiting class headlined by No. 1 overall prospect Cooper Flagg, who plays a similar position as Mitchell, he opted for a change of scenery. Third-year Missouri coach Dennis Gates is assembling a talented roster for the 2024-25 season. Among the pieces acquired so far, Mitchell stands out for his size and versatility.

He played as a small forward for Duke as a freshman in the 2022-23 season before shifting over to the power forward role this past season. The transition came with mixed results as Mitchell's 3-point shooting percentage dropped from 35.2% to 27.5%. Mitchell was nonetheless an effective player for the Blue Devils for much of the season until a quiet finish in the NCAA Tournament.

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Missouri rapidly rebuilding its roster

Landing Mitchell marks more evidence that Missouri could be in for a major turnaround in coach Dennis Gates' third season. Gates also has commitments from No. 13 transfer Tony Perkins, No. 39 transfer Jacob Crews and four- time all-Horizon League guard Marques Warrick. The program's five man freshman class also ranks No. 4 nationally in the 247Sports Composite.

As the freshmen get up to speed, the transfers are good enough to immediately raise the flooг and return the Tigers to the promising trajectory they enjoyed during Gates' first season. Missouri finished 25-10 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in the 2022 23 season after Gates arrived from Cleveland State.

But that team lost its top-three scorers, and the nation's No. 40 transfer class failed to make up for the lost production as Missouri finished just 8-24 and failed to win a conference game for the first time since the 1907-08 season. The 2024 transfer class is significantly more talented than Gates' 2023 class, and Mitchell could be its star."

With Mitchell on board, the outlook for 2024-25 is interesting. I no longer expect them to land the Porter kid in the portal.

First crack at the current roster rotation:

PG - Tony Perkins
SG - Tamar Bates
F - Jacob Crews
F - Mark Mitchell
F - Jordan Butler

Bench:
G- Caleb Grill
G - Marques Warrick
G - Anthony Robinson
G - Annor Boateng
C - Peyton Marshall
F - Trent Pierce
F - Aidan Shaw

I think there's a decent chance Trent Pierce ends up hitting the portal. Lot of options here, and a decent amount of upside.

Would really have liked to have seen Pierce get a lot more run starting in about January when it was clear the season had gone off the rails.

After getting beat at home by South Carolina, drubbed at 'Bama and then losing at home to Florida to fall to 0-5 in conference, we knew the season was over. We might have known when they weren't competitive against Illinois even though we hadn't come to terms with it yet.

But by the 1/23 game against A&M it was time to start looking to next season. Or at LEAST after getting beat by Arky at home to go to 0-8. And I just don't see how letting Sean East play hero ball for 15 more games did that.

Just feels like we didn't handle the end-game very well at all. What was served by leaning into East/Honor/Carter - a trio we KNEW wasn't good enough to be your volume players and be successful?

Oh well - what's done is done.

Side note - I am very clearly fired from starting 'Season' threads.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Top 3 portal and Top 5 recruiting class incoming <a href="https://t.co/nQlSbq8MLC">pic.twitter.com/nQlSbq8MLC</a></p>&mdash; Mizzou4Life (@MizzouMan_) <a href="https://twitter.com/MizzouMan_/status/1781380467155190206?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Did I miss something with Trent Burns?

Nah, I just don’t think he’ll be high in the rotation. He’s not as ready. More like Jordan Butler, I think.