RE: Just sucks for next yr knowing we'll have limited upside 😞

Posted on: March 21, 2025 at 04:01:09 CT

The thing that made Norm beloved is he won 8 conference titles and several Big 8 tourneys when that was more of a thing, being held in the State of MO. He also had many MO boys that helped in that cause which is kind of endearing. He also won a few against ku and that was fun. The NCAA tourney did not make him beloved. That was more often than not bitter disappointment too. 94 run was the best as it happened when March Madness was in full bloom.

If all he ever did was make tourneys, he would feel more like Quin Snyder who rarely beat Illinois or ku, finished .500 in the league and never won anything, most remembered for taking a favorable tourney draw to an elite 8 where he got bounced by another conference member.

I guess my point is that making an ncaa tournament is nice but it doesn’t mean much in comparison to winning trophies and beating rivals and having some semblance of MO kids contributing. If you don’t make at least the elite 8 and really the final 4 nobody remembers **** about the tourney experience or your team. It’s a fairly hollow accomplishment.

At any rate, Gates did accomplish a couple of things I’ll kind of remember from this year. He beat ku, albeit one of their worst teams in recent memory and that Alabama game was great entertainment that ultimately was the high water mark signifying nothing else was coming. Upsetting Fl was fun but they kind of collapsed at the end of that game but did enough to get said upset. Otherwise they were basically a .500 team. If you take out the noncon fluff, I think the record was 13-11. Gates still has a long way to go to being anything special beyond a guy who made some tournaments and promptly fizzled. Not sure he’s an upgrade over Martin except they are more fun offensively to watch. Time will tell.