Columbia, Mo. ? He’s full of sly winks and smiles, shoulder shrugs and false gruffness the moment he hears even a hint of That Conversation. Mike Anderson huffs and he puffs and he blows down even the mere suggestion that there is something positively tantalizing out there in the near future for his Mizzou basketball team.
“Shoot, don’t even start that,” he said, swatting his hand like he was blocking a layup as he stood outside the Tigers’ dressing room after Tuesday night’s 72-68 victory over Oklahoma. “Nope, I don’t even want to hear stuff like that now.”
He smiled when he said that, then scrunched his nose. But somewhere underneath all that “aww shucks” modesty was the distinct flavor of a cunning old country lawyer setting a trap. What he’s been plotting all season – a dramatic turnaround for Missouri – is actually on the verge of happening, even if it took all of us a little bit longer to see it coming.
What Anderson doesn’t want to talk about, doesn’t want his players to talk about or even think about, is this startling revelation: They’re starting to become a good basketball team.
I think everyone sort of assumed, when Anderson arrived after the disaster that Quin Snyder left behind, that he’d eventually get this program back on the right track.
After Tuesday night’s victory, Mizzou (17-9) pulled into fifth place (6-7) in the Big 12 with only three regular-season games to play.
Now pause for a moment to consider what all of this means. Missouri could win 20 games before Selection Sunday.
It might not be enough to get them into the NCAAs, but it would put them in a serious conversation regarding March Madness – just shy of stunning considering where they came from 11 months ago.
In his first season, Anderson has reinforced why he was brought here. He wins. In four years at Alabama-Birmingham, he produced four consecutive 20-win seasons. Now he’s on the verge of a fifth in a row at Missouri, and he’s doing it with many of the same players who finished next to last in the Big 12 only a year ago with Snyder.
“A month ago, I don’t think that was possible,” Anderson said. “But the maturation process has taught the guys something about winning basketball.”
Watching them play against the Sooners was another reminder of just how far they’ve come, but also how much further they have to go. They still play like a young team, full of wild peaks and valleys.
But somewhere in this inconsistent mixture, there appears to be a good team trying to break out. Keon Lawrence, the radiant freshman guard, scored six nerveless points in the final 46 seconds, including a spinning jumper in the lane that would have made Earl “The Pearl” Monroe proud. And of course, backcourt mate Stefhon Hannah teamed with Lawrence to score Missouri’s last 15 points.
But as good as they both were (combining for 27 points, seven rebounds and four assists), they also were responsible for seven hair-pulling turnovers and some defensive lapses that allowed OU to drain 11 three-point bombs (nine of 16 in the second half). The fact that MU withstood what should have been a lethal blow had the 9,165 fans in Mizzou Arena shaking their heads in frustration one minute and in amazement the next.
The Tigers like to joke that Anderson keeps telling them he believes they’ll be playing ball in late March, but he hasn’t told them whether it will be pickup ball in the empty practice gym, or in front of thousands of screaming fans in the thick of March Madness.
