Crim: Gates changing look of Tigers after taking over as Mizzou men’s basketball coach

Stream of consciousness …

The University of Missouri men’s basketball team has largely been a non-factor in the SEC. Cuonzo Martin was fired last month after posting a 78-77 record in five years that featured two NCAA tournament appearances and three losing seasons.

That followed the disastrous Kim Anderson experience (27-68 in three seasons). The Tigers have not reached the second round of the NCAA tournament since 2010 and attendance at Mizzou Arena has continued to dwindle.

New hire Dennis Gates will be Mizzou’s sixth head coach since Norm Stewart, who won four more games in 32 years than the Tigers had previously won in their first 60 years of play, retired in 1999.

Gates already has added six transfers to the roster, the latest D’moi Hodge, who played for Gates at Cleveland State. The 6-foot-4 Hodge was the Defensive Player of the Year in the Horizon League and led the Vikings in scoring. He averaged over 15 points per game while shooting almost 50% from the floor and 34% from three-point range.

Sean East II, recently named the National Junior College Athletic Association player of the year, announced his verbal commitment to the Tigers on Friday. East played last season at John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill.

According to Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, East, a 6-3 guard from Louisville, began his career at Massachusetts and spent one season there before transferring to Bradley, then transferred to Logan.

Gates also has signed Northern Iowa forward Noah Carter, Cleveland State guard Tre Gomillion, Wisconsin-Milwaukee guard DeAndre Gholston and Garden City (Kan.) Community College forward Mohamed Diarra.

Mizzou will at least have a different look next season. We’ll have to see if the results are any better. Gates received a six-year contract.

• In case you missed it, the United States Football League 2.0 kicked off its 10-game regular season schedule last weekend with four games in Birmingham, Ala. Despite the eight city/team names, all games will be played there to help control costs. The playoffs and championship game will be played at Tom Benson Stadium in Canton, Ohio.

Judging from television shots, plenty of good seats remain available.

Bill Shea of The Athletic described the new USFL as “a lower-level property — think of it as a developmental league for players, coaches, officials and network staffers — that uses some of the old team names and colors but is otherwise unrelated to the original league.”

Shea writes the new entity, announced in June 2021, is majority owned by Fox Sports and is also partnered with NBC to air/stream games. The league exists primarily to fill time in the networks’ springtime and early summer lineups.

Both ESPN and The Sporting News offered detailed looks at the teams, players, rules and more for football junkies. The Bleacher Report lists players most likely to get looks from NFL teams later this year.

The original USFL operated for three seasons from 1983-85 before disbanding after an ill-fated attempt to switch to a fall schedule in 1986. It featured future Hall of Fame players Herschel Walker, Jim Kelly, Reggie White and Gary Zimmerman, as well as notable coaches George Allen, Marv Levy, Jim Mora and Steve Spurrier.

The World Football League, which played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975, was a forerunner to the original USFL. ESPN offers this detailed and fascinating piece on that league and its architect, Gary Davidson, who also brought us the American Basketball Association and World Hockey League.

• The Cardinals had a chance to make an early-season statement in the NL Central but dropped a 6-5 decision to the Brewers Sunday to settle for a split in the four-game series against the reigning division champs.

Albert Pujols hit a three-run homer to erase a 3-0 deficit, his second of the season and 681st of his career, 15 behind Alex Rodriguez for fourth place on the all-time list. Jordan Hicks pitched two scoreless innings and had consecutive pitches reach 102 mph, but the pitching staff issued seven walks and question marks remain.

St. Louis (5-3) plays three games in Miami and three more in Cincinnati before returning home to face the Mets (three games), Diamondbacks (four) and Royals (one, a game postponed April 13). Only the Mets currently have a winning record.

• Around the Horn: Jordan Spieth beat Patrick Cantlay in a playoff Sunday to win the RBC Heritage. Coincidentally, Spieth ended a four-year winless drought by winning the Valero Texas Open on Easter in 2021, his last victory. In case you’re wondering, next Easter Sunday will be the final round of the Masters, which Spieth won in 2015. … 

This will be Bill Belichick’s 48th season coaching in the NFL, and 23rd as Patriots head coach. According to ESPN, his 47 consecutive years as an NFL coach are the most in league history, passing the 45 by Dick LeBeau. The only other NFL coach with at least 40 consecutive NFL coaching seasons is Tom Moore (41).

ESPN also notes that the other 31 NFL teams have employed 213 head coaches (including interim and ’22 hires) since Belichick was hired in New England. AFC East rivals have employed 28 of those coaches over that span. With 321 victories, he needs just four more to pass George Halas for second place on the all-time list. Don Shula holds the record with 347. …

Illinois has landed five-star point guard Skyy Clark. The 6-3 Clark has been rated the No. 5 point guard in the country and the No. 7 player coming out of Florida. Illinois, which was bounced in the first round of the Big Ten tournament and by Houston in the second round of the NCAA basketball tourney last season, has the eighth-best recruiting class nationally, so expectations are rising for the Illini. …

A reminder, the Muddy River Showcase will take place at John Wood Community College’s Student Activity Center on June 18. The two-game showcase will feature 40 of the region’s top senior basketball players with 10-player teams for both boys and girls in an Illinois vs. Missouri format. The girls game is scheduled to tip at 3 p.m. with the boys game to follow at 5 p.m.