Brown, Horton Refute Report of Mizzou Mass Exodus
By Mike Dearmond, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Mar. 11–DALLAS — Marshall Brown told The Star on Saturday that, unless forced, he has no intention of leaving Missouri’s basketball program.
A story Saturday in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted Brown’s MU teammate Jason Horton saying if any of the Tigers bolt, they likely all will. Brown refuted that claim, and even Horton backed off that stance.
“I think (the Post-Dispatch) misinterpreted it just a little bit,” Horton said. “Everybody is going to have to make their own decision. We all want to stay.”
And, Brown said, a meeting set for Monday was a “team meeting” and not a meeting called by the MU players to determine if they can mount a mass exodus.
Brown said that he wouldn’t be surprised to see some players leave, but didn’t expect a stampede toward the door.
“I don’t know how much of that is true,” Brown said. “This is where I want to be. I don’t want to go to another school and start all over.”
Horton was known to be unhappy — and was suspended by coach Quin Snyder — before Snyder quit on Feb. 10. Sophomore swing man Glen Dandridge was stuck so deep on the bench that it was the subject of speculation whether he would return for the second semester.
“But he got a lot more playing time after Coach Q left,” Brown noted. “Coach (Melvin) Watkins had a different philosophy.”
Thomas Gardner, the junior guard who finished second in the Big 12 Conference scoring race, has said on numerous occasions since Snyder’s departure that he would not make a quick decision on his final year of eligibility.
Following MU’s ouster here in the first round of the Big 12 tournament, Gardner reiterated that stance.
“My thought right now is just to spend as much time as I can with Jimmy (McKinney) and Kevin (Young) before they graduate. My decision will come later,” he said. “Sitting here, talking to the people in my circle, finish school and that’s something that will take care of itself.”
The St. Louis newspaper listed Horton, Gardner, Brown, Dandridge, James Douglas, Matt Lawrence, Kalen Grimes and Leo Lyons as having “expressed thoughts about leaving the program depending on who is named coach and whether interim coach Melvin Watkins is retained in some capacity.”
Horton was quoted in the Post-Dispatch as saying:
“I don’t think there’s going to be an in-between. I think if a couple guys say they want to stay, we’ll all stay. If a couple say they want to go, we’ll all go.”
On Saturday, he told The Star his future at Mizzou is a bit cloudy right now.
“I really don’t know right now,” he said. “There has to be a lot of stuff taken care of.”
Brown — an athletic sophomore forward considered to be the most complete player on the roster — again left no doubt as to his own preference.
“I want to come back,” Brown said. “I don’t want to go anywhere else.”
And Brown said no player should make a hasty decision.
“I definitely think that wouldn’t be smart,” Brown said. “I think we all need to wait and see what coach they bring in.”
Meanwhile, the search for a coach to replace Snyder continues.
Athletic director Mike Alden told The Star on Friday that Bob Beaudine of Plano, Texas, is going to work with the five-member MU search committee to help cull the potential list of coaching candidates to a more finite number in the coming days.
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