It seems like yesterday that Missouri was a no. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament when they were upset by the no. 15 seed Norfolk State in the first round.
That was five years ago.
While losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament is nothing to be nostalgic about, the Tigers did go 30-5 that season and were sixth in the nation, averaging 80.6 points/game.
The next two years saw the Tigers go 46-23 with one tournament appearance before Frank Haith skipped town and became the head coach at Tulsa.
In three years in Columbia, Haith went 76-28, but he was really just riding the coat-tails of what Mike Anderson built at Missouri.
In Anderson’s five years at Missouri, the Tigers went 111-57, including a a 31-7 season in 2008-09 when they made an Elite 8 appearance. Anderson has since returned to Arkansas, where he previously coached under Nolan Richardson from 1985-2002.
In those eight years under Anderson and Haith, Missouri went 187-85, a .687 winning percentage.
So what happened after that?
The Tigers joined the SEC and seemingly forgot how to play basketball. The SEC might feel bamboozled because Missouri’s basketball tradition was probably one of the things that made them an attractive addition to the conference. Oh, and that whole St. Louis TV market thing. But NCAA Presidents aren’t strictly driven by money, are they?
Haith left the program amid an NCAA investigation, and the program went on probation for two years, but that probation didn’t even include a postseason ban or a loss of scholarships.
“It was MU’s lowest scoring and worst shooting home game in Mizzou Arena, which opened in 2004. It was the team’s lowest scoring home game overall since 1982 — before Division I instituted the shot clock.” -Dave Matter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The answer is Kim Anderson.
And before you look up his wikipedia page, like I just did, here’s his resume: In 12 seasons at Central Missouri, Anderson went 274-94. He made it to three D-II Final Fours and won the D-II national championship in his final season before being hired at Missouri.
But his time at Missouri has been a train wreck. In three years in Columbia, Anderson is 26-66, including 8-45 in the SEC. That’s a .283 winning percentage and .178 in the SEC.
And Tuesday was likely the exclamation point for Anderson’s tenure. And the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted just how historically bad Tuesday night was for the Tigers.
In the Tigers’ 60-43 loss to Texas A&M, they were bad.
“It was MU’s lowest scoring and worst shooting home game in Mizzou Arena, which opened in 2004. It was the team’s lowest scoring home game overall since 1982 — before Division I instituted the shot clock.” -Dave Matter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Missouri is not a bottom-feeder type of program, but since they joined the SEC, that’s exactly what they’ve been. And it’s time for a change.
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