Shortly after it was announced that Missouri would play as a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament, head coach Dennis Gates addressed the media via Zoom. And while he spoke some about Mizzou's matchup with Miami, his ending message was about the bigger picture.
Gates concluded his press conference by asking the business of St. Louis, the Tigers' host city for their game against Miami, for NIL deals to help retain their players.
"Mark Mitchell did not have to come back, guys," said Gates. "And ultimately in a transactional world,
Trent Pierce and Ant Robinson turned down a lot of money just to come back and I appreciate that. So if you're out there listening, we need help. There's always good NIL deals in St. Louis that can take place for us to keep our players on our roster...we need you."
Dennis Gates is already looking ahead to next year with a big ask of local businesses
Missouri will welcome in a top-10 freshman class next season, but they'll also lose players like Mark Mitchell and Shawn Phillips, and potentially more due to transfers. In this day and age of college basketball, it's near impossible to find success without bringing top end transfers to the program, and Dennis Gates is hoping to get ahead of the competition by asking for money to retain some of his stars.
It's not the worst idea. After all, Eli Drinkwitz's plea to help retain Jamal Roberts worked. But ultimately, Mizzou will likely always be in that second-tier of teams in the SEC when it comes to NIL budget. Still, if Gates can get just one more player to stay that might have otherwise left, his pleas for help might pay off.
While Gates works the phones of every local pizza shop he can find, the Tigers will be getting ready for a showdown with 7-seed Miami. Mizzou will play Friday night at 9:10 PM.