Did some people tune into the Mizzou-Oklahoma NCAA Tournament game thinking that if the Tigers lost, Cuonzo Martin should lose his job? I sure didn’t, and I surely don’t think MU athletics director Jim Sterk did, yet many fans online are furious — or at least frustrated — that Martin will continue to coach the Tigers.
It just seems weird that this one eight-seed vs. nine-seed game evoked emotions like it has. Look, it was a rough loss. I wrote about it in this column space after the game — Mizzou blew chances to take over the contest, Xavier Pinson was off and awful, the wrong Tigers forced (and missed) too many 3s and, on the pivotal possession, Mizzou was out-strategized. But Martin should remain Missouri’s coach. The season was a success, even though the postseason, yet again, didn’t include a win.
The Tigers finished 16-10 and with a .615 winning percentage, the best since the 2013-14 team (.657). They made the tournament, so Martin has done that twice in his first four years — consider that in the three years before his arrival, Mizzou averaged nine wins. Not nine wins in conference play. Nine wins.
Martin’s 2020-21 team, laden with integrity and community-minded student-athletes, won games against two teams ranked No. 6 nationally, one against a No. 10 and another against a No. 21. The Tigers themselves cracked the Top 25 for 11 weeks, reaching No. 10 in the nation.
This man got Mizzou basketball in the Top 10, and you’re saying he doesn’t deserve a chance to coach next season?
This isn’t to say that the season was unblemished. If the Tigers had just won a couple of the games they bungled, they probably would’ve nabbed a No. 6 or 7 seed and avoided the 8-9 mess. Mizzou lost seven of its final 10 games, including a pair of perplexing pratfalls against Ole Miss. And one of those final seven losses was in overtime at home to Arkansas, a game without Jeremiah Tilmon. With their big man, the Tigers previously had gone to Arkansas and won by 13. Arkansas now is in the Sweet 16.
Martin has made Mizzou matter again. He deserves a chance to carry that into next year (he has three more years on his contract). Some people just assume the Tigers won’t be good next year because they likely lose five seniors. Let’s let Martin prove that Mizzou can be good. He has five freshman coming in. And we don’t know if someone will leave the team, but that seems to happen everywhere annually. If so, Martin has proven to be a wizard when it comes to transfers and grad transfers. Or perhaps a clairvoyant?
Consider that in his four years, he’s had two players make first-team all-Southeastern Conference — Dru Smith this year and Kassius Robertson in 2018. Both were transfers. Imagine that sales pitch in recruiting — bring your experience to Mizzou and I’ll make you a top player in a top conference.
One grad-transfer name that could create buzz around mid-Missouri is Brandon McKissic. The former St. Louis U. High standout played at Kansas City (formerly UMKC). The 6-foot-3 guard led his team in scoring (17.2 points per game) and assists (3.3). But the X-factor is that he won the Summit League’s honors for defensive player of the year. Martin cherishes defense. There are, though, dozens and dozens of names in the transfer portal.
Junior-to-be Kobe Brown is a fascinating player for Martin next season, because of Brown’s defensive efforts and rebounding tenacity. In the final 11 games of the year, Brown averaged 10.5 points and 6.8 rebounds. And after a humbling year, St. Louis native Torrence Watson seems in position for a starting position.
But the most-important player is Pinson — thus making this Martin’s most-important player relationship. Pinson is a pendulum player — he can sway the whole team with his style of play, but that can go positively or negatively. He and Martin will have to work out whatever issues kept Pinson on the bench down the stretch against Oklahoma.
Pinson and Martin will have to bring out the best of each other for next season to work. But if that works, Pinson is a first-team all-SEC candidate. When attacking “north-south,” a piercing Pinson has the skill set to deflate a defense. He can change a game with creative dribbling and attack angles. And he’s a streaky 3-point shooter who, occasionally, goes on net-singeing binges.
No, this is not to proclaim a prediction here, in March 2021, about the 2021-22 Tigers. It’s simply to point out that Mizzou is equipped with a coach who has rebuilt the ruins into relevancy. He has rejuvenated his offensive scheme, doubled-down on his defensive scheme, and navigated the most-peculiar season in college basketball with positivity and impact.
You don’t start over after a season like that. You let the coach see it through.
