When Dennis Gates was named the University of Missouri men’s basketball program’s new head coach last year, he had a daunting task before him:
Revive a once-proud program that had gone a decade-plus without an NCAA Tournament victory, earned apathy from the fan base and most recently was coming off a 12-21 season.
Oh, and do it while recruiting and roster-building in the churning middle of the still-fluid new world order of the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness ramifications in college athletics.
Asked about his blueprint a few weeks later at a Mizzou fan function at Chicken N Pickle in Overland Park, Gates put it this way:
“Step one,” he said, “is not to go to sleep.”
Presto, the relentless Gates’ concocted one of the sleepers of the season in college basketball — astounding work deserving of Southeastern Conference coach of the year honors, despite the fact he was overlooked, and kudos on a national scale.
At 23-8 overall and 11-7 in Southeastern Conference play, the 25th-ranked Tigers at last compelled fans back to Mizzou Arena. And they earned a double-bye for the first time since they joined the SEC 10 seasons ago.
On Friday in Nashville, they’ll meet the winner of the Thursday game between Mississippi and Tennessee.
Whether MU can reach the SEC semifinals for the first time and end its longest NCAA Tournament futility streak since the gap between 1944 and 1976 remains to be seen.
But the way Gates and his staff assembled, melded and galvanized this team suggests it has the makeup and mindset for a breakthrough.
So does the sheer way it plays led by first-team All-SEC performer Kobe Brown and a cast that merged as if it’s played together for years instead of months.
“It’s almost scary how close we are based off just knowing each other a little while,” point guard Nick Honor, a Clemson transfer, said Tuesday.
That’s a more relevant point than might meet the eye.
In fact, it’s at the very crux of this resurgence.
Because beyond just the invigorating return of offensive firepower (80.1 points a game; 12th in the nation) and marksmanship (leading the SEC in field-goal percentage and 3-point field-goal percentage) is the dimension that enables that.
Mizzou defends, as nicely illustrated by D’Moi Hodge averaging 2.68 steals a game (third in the nation) for a team whose 10.5 average is second in the nation.
It shares the ball, averaging 16.4 assists a game (17th in the nation, second in the SEC.)
It runs with purpose and cohesion, leading the conference in fast-break points with 13.7 a game and averaging 21 points a game off turnovers. And it binds together in the clutch.
With DeAndre Gholston furnishing buzzer-beaters against Central Florida and Tennessee, the Tigers are 8-0 in games decided by five points or fewer.
Add it all up, and the traits reflect an uncanny buy-in from the players with Gates, in his first year at MU after being named Horizon League coach of the year twice in his three seasons at Cleveland State.
Conjuring that sort of alignment would be impressive enough with a group that had a shared past.
But to rapidly create that dynamic with a roster made up of three returnees, eight transfers (including two from junior colleges) and freshman Aidan Shaw (Blue Valley) is testimony to something else altogether in Gates — whom Mizzou needs to do all it can to keep here for the long haul.
Even in this concentrated time, he’s cultivated a culture nicely described by Honor, who believes Gates should have been SEC coach of the year.
“Eventually, you just want to win for the person next to you,” he said. “And I feel like it’s hard to stop a team that wants to win for each other.”
Last Saturday in Columbia provided a poignant snapshot of how Gates has earned such allegiance.
In a postgame senior day ceremony, Isaiah Mosley, after playing a limited time in a season shrouded by private matters, was introduced to the crowd with no family member to join him.
But Gates, athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois rushed to his side to escort him arm in arm.
“I’m by my players’ side every day of my life and every day of theirs. It’s that simple,” Gates said. “That’s my commitment to them, each and every last one of them. …
“Some have different backgrounds. I’ve had kids that have been adopted. I’ve had kids that I’ve coached that (have) been wards of the state … (and come from) just different environments altogether. International kids. Kids with parents just not able to be here. …
“I will always have their backs.”
Moreover, Gates also believes the opposite: That the players he routinely hugs and tells them he loves have lent him their ears and have given him their hearts and trust.
Such that it will be lasting.
“I truly believe this team will be connected and pushing me around in a wheelchair one day,” he said. “I’m just being honest. I truly believe that that’s how impactful our locker room is.”
Based on all that and his own outlook, Gates termed the season to date underachieving. The initial objective, after all, was to win the SEC regular season.
For that matter, surely in part seeking to speak it into existence, Gates frequently refers to the ultimate goal of April 1 and April 3 — the dates of the 2023 Final Four weekend in Houston.
So when I asked him Tuesday if it surprises him that so many players bought in right away, he offered a glance at how he thinks by flipping the point.
“No,” he said. “It surprises you.”
Yeah, I said. Maybe.
“Oh, there ain’t no maybe,” he said, not combatively but directly. “Answer the question. Does it surprise you?”
Yeah, I said. I think it’s hard to do.
“Why?”
Because I think it’s hard to do.
“Why?”
Because, I said, it’s disparate parts from a lot of different places that hadn’t played together before, for the most part.
That led to a three-minute answer that spoke to how Gates works to connect with his players and create an optimal environment — one for which he thanked MU and Columbia itself for welcoming and enabling.
“I want these guys to be the very best that they can be every day,” he said. “I don’t want them to ever look at life and say, ‘I’m taking today off.’
“That’s how I demand. That’s how I talk to them. But also I put my arms around them, tell them I love them. I give them confidence. I teach them what a true friend is and how to be friends to others. How to break the barriers of differences.
“And if you can do that, and teach a person that, how much easier is the transition? Or is it called a transition then?”
Whatever you call it, and wherever it goes from here, the work to date has been one of absolute alchemy by Gates — work that bodes a promising future after so many years of disillusionment.
