Debrief, move on

So that was a disappointing weekend, yeah?

You could read a lot of different stuff about why or how Missouri got blown off its home court by the beakers on Saturday, but Sam put it pretty succinctly in his Sunday morning column. Gates, despite talking a big game all week, wasn’t ready and neither was his team.

Last year, the same thing happened at Allen Field House and now Cuonzo Martin is out of job. Granted, Missouri moving on from Martin had more to do with the accumulation of losses from KU to Illinois to Arkansas as much as his roster assembly, but there wasn’t a huge discernible difference from the beating in Lawrence last year to this ass-kicking.

This isn’t to say Gates isn’t the right guy, or won’t figure it out. It’s not even to say that I don’t think they were prepared. They didn’t play well. And if there’s one thing you cannot do against a Bill Self team in this MU-KU matchup is not come out from the start and play your best.

Sam’s column lays out the trajectory of Mizzou’s program, specifically looking toward the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes. Does it mean that the Tigers can’t shoot for a tournament berth this year? Of course not. If you believe Gates, they’re openly going for it. The loss? Sure, it was pretty terrible. But Gates, true to his ever-positive nature, seems confident his team will learn positive lessons and progress well after the loss.

“There is championship DNA over in that other (Kansas) locker room,” Gates said. “Those guys are top 10, whatever ranking they have, for a reason. We’re in the infant stages. And what I challenge my guys each and every day, is how can we use every situation we encounter, good, bad, ugly to continue to galvanize and get on the same page so that we can have in April the outcome that we want. It’s a big picture.”

It would appear Gates didn’t take long to get back in the lab. They’ve got a full week to recover before heading to Central Florida in the coming days.

Yesterday at Rock M

• In which Karen’s Digest recaps the best of Rock M Nation from last week
• In which Sam says the obvious: Mizzou wasn’t ready. He also laid out the numbers, which you can imagine, weren’t good
• In which Lauren previewed the impending victory for Robin Pingeton’s Tigers
• In which Brandon writes about Mizzou’s loss of identity against the Jayhawks
• In which Eli Drinkwitz and staff landed a big-time receiver as their first addition from the portal

More Links:

• Here’s your weekly “Mizzou in the NFL” recap:

Two tackles and a QB hit in the stat book for Jordan Elliott, whose Browns fell to 5-8 against the Bengals.

The Kansas City Chiefs nearly blew a massive lead against the hapless Broncos, but Nick Bolton once again led the team in tackles!

Drew Lock did not play, but he did do this in the Seahawks’ loss to Carolina!

• It’s safe to say SEC Mike is a big fan of Mizzou’s newest wide receiver.

• ICYMI, Mizzou women’s basketball continues to run their record up. They’re already at 11 wins before conference play after dispatching Jackson State on Sunday afternoon.

• Apparently there’s good news on the Aijha Blackwell front. If you recall, Blackwell (now at Baylor) was hurt earlier this season and looked to be on the long-term mend. However...

• Tough day for #TigerStyle, which fell to No. 9 Virginia Tech on the road.
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