Dallas — What about Bob?
No, not the 1991 movie starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. What about Bob as a new first name for Missouri's Quin Snyder?
Seems these days you have to be named Bob to pull off dramatic turnarounds in the Big 12: Bob Stoops in football and Bob Knight in basketball.
Missouri could use a Bob-like turnaround after getting embarrassed on Monday by rival Kansas, 105-73.
It marked the second Big Monday in a row Missouri couldn't hang with a ranked Big 12 opponent. The Tigers were beaten by Oklahoma, 84-71, last week.
In the OU game, the Sooners kept the Tigers at arm's length throughout the contest. Against Kansas, the Tigers were within a point of the No. 2 Jayhawks at halftime. In the second half, Kansas hit warp speed while Missouri puttered around on impulse engines.
It wasn't so much that Missouri lost, especially at Allen Fieldhouse. It was that the Tigers were outscored 62-31 in the second half.
This is the same Missouri team that was ranked No. 2 in the nation for two weeks in December. Halfway through the Big 12 race, the Tigers are 5-3 in conference play. They are still ranked No. 22, although lately there's been little evidence to support that ranking.
The Tigers have so many pieces of the puzzle to be a great team: a smooth scorer in Kareem Rush, a long-range threat in Clarence Gilbert, a competent big man in Arthur Johnson. Guys like Rickey Paulding and Wesley Stokes show spark and potential.
But the gold in Missouri's uniforms apparently is fool's gold. Good parts don't always make a great team.
"We need to take this with us," Snyder said after the KU beating. "That was us out there. That was us out there not running back (on defense) with urgency. We looked lost at times. That's who we are."
If that's who Missouri really is, then why were the Tigers ranked so high early in the season?
Mainly, because Missouri played well against Duke in last year's NCAA Tournament. After squeaking past Georgia by two points in the first round, Missouri hung tough against the eventual champs before falling, 94-81.
For all Missouri's glitter, there doesn't seem to be a lot of substance. The Tigers' best player, Rush, is the master of the soft jumper. The problem is, the rest of his game looks soft as well.
Gilbert, the lone senior, seems to be the only player voicing disgust with the Tigers' lack of backbone. He may want to be the vocal leader, but when his teammates see him put up bad shots, the image is that of a selfish player.
This season, after one of Missouri's rough stretches, the Tigers held a players-only meeting. The result? They wanted Snyder to be more emotional during games.
Snyder, who still looks young enough to be a player has tried to catch his team's attention with hard practices and by benching point guard Stokes.
After a loss to Iowa State, the Tigers were expecting another grueling practice. Instead, Snyder had his team play Wiffle Ball. They won their next three.
But after this latest beating by Kansas, Wiffle Ball won't do the trick. If the Tigers expect to live up to their potential, it's time to play hardball.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.