Dec. 7, 2011
By Jeff Goodman | CBSSports.com College Basketball Insider
NEW YORK -- After Mike Anderson left for Arkansas, Phil Pressey thought about following his "uncle" to Fayetteville for a minute. This was his father's best friend, the reason why he came to Missouri in the first place.
But Pressey made the decision to stay in Columbia -- and he has no regrets.
"In that system, nobody plays more than 25 minutes," Pressey said of playing for Anderson. "You're in and out, in and out. It never gave us a chance to get into a rhythm."
Life is different now -- without Uncle Mike. Now Pressey has been handed the reins by new coach Frank Haith and it's no coincidence that Missouri has gone from a team clearly with chemistry issues to one that is clicking on all cylinders, one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country.
The 10th-ranked Tigers, who pummeled Cal and Notre Dame earlier in the month in Kansas City, improved to 8-0 after a fairly convincing 10-point victory against Villanova on Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden. Pressey was only 1 for 8 from the field, but controlled the tempo when he was in the game and finished with 12 assists in 24 foul-plagued minutes.
Pressey doesn't have to be a scoring threat in order to dominate. Earlier this season, against Binghamton, Pressey didn't attempt a single shot and was still arguably the most important player on the floor, finishing with 11 assists and not a single turnover.
Much of his success can be attributed to the fact that he is now allowed to play through his mistakes.
"I'm able to dictate the game and Coach Haith allows me to show my talent a lot more," Pressey said. "Coach Haith trusts me and I trust him."
You'd think that Uncle Mike, who is best friends with Pressey's father, former NBA player Paul, would have done the same with the pint-sized, jet-quick floor leader.
But it never quite seemed to be the case.
"He's special," said Haith, whose first move after coming from Miami was to hand the ball to the pass-first point guard. "When he's in the game, we're a different team."