Until now, we have relied mostly on large doses of symbolism and hope to convince us that Missouri’s basketball program was headed in a new direction. Mike Anderson has been like a barnstorming preacher or a breathless politician selling prosperity to the impatient masses, yet mostly delivering uneven supplies of frustration and disappointment.
His arrival was hailed as a “new deal,” but his short stay in Columbia has been hampered by far too many off-court setbacks of young men behaving badly. He was supposed to be the one to make us forget all about Quin Snyder and Ricky Clemons.
Finally, Tuesday afternoon, he provided us with the first significant seismic shift in the troublesome culture of the Missouri basketball program. Two days after finding out that yet another one of his players had a disturbing brush with the law – and that four teammates had joined him in direct violation of Anderson’s so-called zero-tolerance mandate for avoiding the off-campus club and bar scene – the coach indefinitely suspended the lot of them.
Senior guard Stefhon Hannah and his broken jaw and repeated rotten judgment have been banished back to Chicago. Jason Horton, Darryl Butterfield and Marshall Brown – all seniors and all supposed team leaders – were caught in Anderson’s personal investigation of the early Sunday morning incident outside a notorious Columbia club. Leo Lyons, whom Anderson has been waiting on impatiently for nearly two seasons to assert himself as a reliable cog, but who seems far more interested in becoming the next great rap impresario, also was busted by the coach’s independent probe.
Within the blink of an eye, the heart of this basketball team’s primary eight-man rotation has been wiped out. But if you ask me, even though the suspensions clearly leave Anderson impossibly shorthanded, they very well could relieve him of his biggest handicaps in permanently ridding Mizzou basketball of everything that ails his rebuilding program.
Anderson has been in constant pursuit of ways to give Mizzou basketball a strong and definitive attitude adjustment, and this is it. “No” apparently really does mean “no” to Mike Anderson, and if there was any gray area in his “zero tolerance” edict before Tuesday, this should clear that up.
But I want Anderson to go even further.
Extending that suspension to include Saturday’s game against 22nd-ranked Kansas State and Monday night’s trip to Lawrence against archrival and No. 2-ranked Kansas will represent far more than symbolism. That speaks of real commitment to discipline.
Realistically, there’s no way Anderson will be able to compete against the rest of the mighty Big 12 if he extends those suspensions indefinitely. But some things are more important than the almighty W and L columns. When you’re trying to alter the disturbing environment that has threatened to ruin your program, desperate times call for desperate measures.
If Anderson has to navigate his way through the rest of the season with only five scholarship players and a band of overachieving walk-ons who all understand the importance of doing the right thing, then let’s hope we get more of that tough-love fortitude. We’ve already seen what can happen to Mizzou basketball when shortcuts are taken and behavioral standards are lowered.
If short-term pain is the cost for re-establishing long-term success and integrity to Missouri basketball, then it’s a small price to pay.
