COLUMBIA, Mo. — Less than two weeks on the job, new Missouri men’s basketball coach Dennis Gates faces a lengthy and critical to-do list if he plans to put a more competitive team on the floor next season.
First, though, he’ll coach in Friday’s NABC Reese’s Division I College All-Star Game in New Orleans, as part of the weekend’s Final Four festivities. Gates is coaching the West Team — Liberty’s Ritchie McKay will coach the East — and coincidentally, one of his players is former Mizzou guard and Edwardsville native Mark Smith, who played last season at Kansas State.