Missouri basketball. Where do we go now?

I was wrong.  I didn't expect to be writing this.  I thought Mike Anderson, in the end would have decided to stay in Columbia but now he's headed to Fayetteville to be the new head coach at Arkansas.  As would be expected, Tiger nation is in something of an uproar, while hog fan swarms to Missouri message boards to whoop "PIG SOOEY" to anyone that will listen.  I'm going to resist giving my opinion of  Anderson.  If you care about Missouri sports then I probably share yours.  We bought into his words about family, ethics and trust and were rewarded with lies.  But it's not the time to delve into cursing, moaning and tears.  The question is, where do we go from here?  You have a team that will feature 7 seniors next year and not 1 recruit coming in yet.  There's an excellent chance that the one guy you were in on, Otto Porter will now take his talent to kansas to play for Bill Self and the beaks.  It's sad times if your a Tiger fan.

So where does Mike Alden begin?  The program still has a shiny arena and some talent for next year.  It's important that a coach be brought in quickly that has some recruiting acumen.  There are 3 openings and precious little talent to be had at this point.  But next year, recruiting will be critical if the program is to continue the success that the last staff began.  There is Melvin Watkins, the associate head coach who's been considered to be the lead recruiter.  I know some believe he should just be promoted, since he brought some talent to A&M during his tenure.  But he also coached that talent to an 0-16 record his final season before he was fired.  In my opinion, Watkins would be the only guy I'd even consider keeping, but I think a new guy needs to be brought in, and he should be given somewhat free reign in bringing in his own assistants.  I think it would be better to just cut bait with the rest of the staff and move on.

I've got no idea where Alden begins to look.  It's Missouri, and as we've seen, we just aren't considered a destination job.  There doesn't seem to be the passion we have for football, and frankly there never was.  Even during Norm's heyday there were lots of open seats in Section D at Hearnes arena.  We were just blessed to have a good coach that bled black and gold, and was able to overlook the tepid support when the opponent wasn't kansas.  Will the Tigers be able to find such a guy?  I have no idea if any of Stewart's former players is coaching now, other than Kim Anderson at UCM, or Larry Drew who's currently an NBA assistant.  I might talk about some guys that are potential candidates, but I might not.  Frankly, the past week has kind of soured me on the program in much the same way I felt when Quin Snyder left.