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Basketball News & Notes: How do you spell “FUN” ???

Mizzou Links for Thursday, February 8

By Karen Steger
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Gates on Big Sports Show

Coach Gates went on the KTRS 550AM Big Sports Show on Wednesday night to chat with Brendan Wiese and Ben Fred about

Some highlights (Otter.ai is a god-send, you guys):

  • “As soon as we wake up look in the mirror. That’s the opponent we have to defeat because we’re all selfish by nature. And we’re playing a team sport that requires a lot of unselfishness. So we err on the side of that.”
  • “Quick recoveries are important. You have to be free from any kind of loss and make sure it doesn’t become two losses... the art of recovery in a 30 plus game season is very important to your team psyche and we want it to come out played very well.”
  • On Kobe Brown: “We’ve been able to get Kobe better in those three areas: physically, emotionally, and mentally. And that’s what we see. We see a great versatile player who hadn’t even played his very best yet. Over a period of time he has impacted the game so much, we’re talking about a key first team all-conference a kid that is a potential SEC Player of the Year, a kid that is potentially an AP all-American, and that’s my goal. We want to get them an NBA draft in the green room not just drafted by get him in a place where he’s putting on a hat walking across the stage and shaking a commissioner’s hand.”
  • On the lineup competition: “It’s up for grabs. Someone can always take someone else’s playing time and not think internally, that’s as healthy of an environment that you can have because players dive into their sports nutrition, they dive into the player development, they dive into strength and conditioning, and we have the next man up mentality while also continuing by winning by committee.”
  • Dickey Nutt asks the guys, “How do you spell fun?” Answer: “W-I-N.”
  • On game planning: “But sometimes you have to approach it [the game] like a true art form and be able to ad-lib a little bit but also be creative. And I think on the fly in game adjustments is probably the one important thing because you don’t have the football mindset where you have offense on the field for three or four downs or however many yards and then defense is all correlated and you have guys going back and forth. So you have many moving parts. So I try my very best to read the game a certain way.”
  • On his staff: “We have a great competent staff of experienced guys who’ve been in the game. You know our associate coach, Charlton Young, our assistant coach Dickey Nutt, and our assistant coach Kyle Smithpeters. They do a great job, but also our support staff. Chase Goldstein, Matt Cline, who was my offensive coordinator and Rryan Sharbaugh, our defensive coordinator. They do a great job of everything, and we have here coaching experience on our staff. I’m the least experienced head coach on my staff, believe it or not, but it’s a collective view.”
  • After Dennis got off the line, Wiese and Ben Fred talked about how this group has great comradery, which is pretty wild considering they only got together over the summer, and I agree. These guys don’t play like they’ve been here before, with each other. “Dennis does a great job of creating an environment where there really doesn’t seem to be a lot of selfishness, or any,” Wiese said.

Good stuff. WELL WORTH THE LISTEN.

Speaking of the coaching staff, the Missourian’s Jack Knowlton wrote about Dennis Gates’ defensive coordinator.

The Man Behind the Turnovers

Dennis Gates got the idea for his football title roles from a completely un-shocking source: J. Leonard Hamilton. Gates often talks about the impact of him on everything in his life, so it’s unsurprising that he took a page out of his playbook, so to speak, when he got his own staff. Ryan Sharbaugh was also a member of Hamilton’s staff at FSU for a few years, and then joined DG after a stint at Bradley at Cleveland State. Now he’s at Missouri with Gates, as are two former Horizon League Defensive Players of the Year, D’Moi Hodge and Tre Gomillion. Lest you forget, the Tigers lead the country in total steals (255) and are second in steals per game (10.6). You can thank Sharbaugh for that. From the article:

Helped by some familiarity on the floor with Gomillion and Hodge, Sharbaugh’s influence has been key in helping a Tigers team with so many newcomers to gel with Gates’ defensive identity. Hodge has transitioned his tenacious perimeter defense to the SEC, leading the league in steals with 2.5 per game. Nick Honor also ranks in the top 10 with 1.7 takeaways per game. Under Sharbaugh’s tutelage, the Tigers have four players with 30 or more steals this season.

“You can see the results, but also you can see the intensity at which our guys play, and it’s impactful — what he does and his approach,” Gates said.

Sharbaugh’s role and his defensive strategy will continue to be important in the Tigers’ remaining games, some of which feature stiff competition. I encourage you to check out Jack’s piece. It’s great stuff.

Stipo the Legend

Huge congrats to former Missouri Tiger center Steve Stipanovich, who will be honored as part of the 2023 SEC Basketball Legends Class during the SEC Basketball Tournament next month. No, Stipo didn’t play in the Southeastern Conference, but since Missouri is currently part of the conference, here we are.

The Missourian’s Jaden Lewis wrote some details on one of the most decorated players in Mizzou Hoops history. As a freshman, he co-led the Tigers in scoring, averaging 14.4ppg, and it only got better each year, with the help of Jon Sundvold and Ricky Frazier. Together, they grabbed three consecutive Big 8 regular season titles and were ranked no. 1 in the AP poll in 1982. Per Lewis, Stipo’s best season was his last.

Stipanovich’s best season came during his senior year. He averaged 18.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game while also collecting Big Eight Player of the Year honors and being named a consensus All-American. He left Missouri as the team’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder and still ranks fourth and third in those categories, respectively.

Drafted as the second overall pick in the 1983 NBA Draft, Stipanovich played five seasons with the Indiana Pacers and averaged 13.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

Let’s get to some highlights from yesterday, shall we?

On to the Links. MIZ!

Yesterday at Rock M

“If you’ve been around basketball or the Bible for any amount of time, you’ll probably be familiar with the phrase, “Live by the sword, die by the sword” or “Live by the three, die by the three,” or any other way you can translate this incredibly versatile piece of wisdom. Thanks, Jesus, you created a sick advice template.” —Josh Matejka, The Verdict

More Links:

Hoops

  • Columbia Missourian:
  • Interesting...
  • Look at you, Vandy! I mean, we wanted MIZZOU to play the spoiler this weekend, but it looks like Stack had other ideas. You really love to see it.

Football

  • It’s official now since we have graphics

Softball

  • Only one more sleep till softball, y’all!!! And that means only one more sleep til the return of my epic softball previews/game primers. I know, you’re psyched. In tomorrow’s links I will cover the highlights of Larissa’s recent visit on the Big Sports Show on Wednesday night.
  • Per MUTigers.com, you can catch them NINE times on tv this season, either on ESPN or the SEC Network:

Missouri is slated to appear in at least nine linear broadcasts on the ESPN family of networks over the course of the season. Five of the nine appearances will be contested at the Mizzou Softball Stadium. Along with the nine linear broadcasts, Mizzou’s home games, SEC matchups, and select non-conference games will stream on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.

A total of 86 SEC softball games are scheduled to be televised during the 2023 season by SEC Network, ESPN2, and ESPNU.

All 12 games of the 2023 SEC Softball Tournament will be televised on May 9-13. Nine games from the first and quarterfinal rounds will air on SEC Network, while the semifinals and title game will air on ESPN2.

Other Mizzou Sports

  • Thanks, Coach!
  • Your no. 15 (per RoadtoNationals.com), xth in SEC, x in South Central region) Tiger Gymnastics squad will take on the Florida Gators (no. 2 in RTN rankings) on Friday at home at 5pm. In the meantime, feast your eyes upon this awesomeness.

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