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Back in May during a swing through St. Charles, Mizzou men’s basketball coach Dennis Gates did something interesting.

Unsolicited during comments to reporters, Gates went out of his way to praise ºüÀêÊÓƵ University’s hiring of Josh Schertz.

“Great coach,â€� Gates said. “Good man. He will do tremendous things here in the city, in the conference and for ºüÀêÊÓƵ University basketball.â€�

Hey, I wondered, that could be a bit of a tease. Maybe, finally, the two-decade standoff stopping Billikens and the Tigers from sharing a court was beginning to thaw.

A compelling non-conference series has sadly been on the shelf since 2001. The final game, a in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, was as thrilling as the overall series, which sits paused 21-19 in favor of the Tigers. But when both teams later rolled out their non-conference schedules, no dice. Sigh.

I’m optimistic about both teams this season, but I’m about done being optimistic they’ll ever play each other again, unless some postseason clash occurs. Now would have been the perfect time, but it didn’t happen. Bummer.

Those suggesting Gates could be facing hot-seat pressure because of a winless conference record last season seem to be misreading Mizzou’s current situation. One, because the third-year coach kept his most encouraging talent out of the transfer portal while bolstering the group with impressive transfer additions and a highly ranked incoming freshman class that didn’t flinch as last season flamed out; you give a team like this time. And two, because Mizzou is not being shy about pursuing an Alabama model in terms of its athletics department. Any available money is being steered toward football at the moment, not toward potential buyouts of basketball coaches. Gates has time and trust, for now. Patience paid off for football coach Eli Drinkwitz and it’s right to offer Gates plenty still.

At SLU, the tip-off of the Schertz era has a legitimate chance to turn up the heat in STL this winter. One of the sport’s most recognizable faces, the bespectacled Robbie Avila, plays for the Billikens. How cool is that? And he’s got help. The Billikens were just picked by the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook to win the A-10. It’s encouraging Schertz kept talent from the Travis Ford era and brought in his own. Guys want to play for him and in his high-scoring offense. It’s honeymoon time in Midtown, and whatever goals are reached in year one should help pave the way for seasons to come.

It’s the general optimism and relative safety surrounding both coaches that foolishly made me hope this was the year the two would meet in non-conference play in one of those games that reminds folks college basketball season exists before league clashes begin. Instead fans of both programs got stuck with some real yawns before A-10 and SEC seasons launch.

Jackson State, Chicago State, Wofford and William Woods will visit Chaifetz Arena to face SLU this season. Howard, Eastern Washington, Mississippi Valley State, Pacific, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Long Island University, Jacksonville State and Alabama State are among those headed to Mizzou Arena to visit the Tigers. Sorry, but that’s a lot of yawns.

I know the Billikens are clashing with Wichita State in Kansas City and playing previous 20-plus game winners in Quinnipiac, UMass Lowell and Grand Canyon. I know Mizzou has big brands Memphis, Cal, Kansas and Illinois on its non-conference slate. And I know both Schertz and Gates are smart coaches who carefully craft their schedules to try to do three things at once.

You want to win most of your non-conference games. You want to schedule just aggressively enough that the NCAA Tournament selection committee doesn’t ding you if you are on the bubble for an at-large bid. You want to build your team’s confidence as it grows, especially when you are new to the job, like Schertz, or coaching a lot of new and young players, like Gates. That all makes plenty of sense.

What also makes sense, though, is bringing back a matchup Mizzou and SLU fans would enjoy a lot more than many of the non-conference games they are asked to pay to attend. College hoops coaches should challenge themselves to make more fans more interested in their seasons earlier. They should also make a point to embrace in-state opportunities that are obvious. Especially in Missouri, where an aggressive name, image and likeness state law allows both SLU and Mizzou to have an inside track on in-state talent, something a game between these two programs could help highlight for both coaches.

What’s unfortunately happened in this specific situation is that it’s been so long since a common-sense game got played, people on both sides have become conditioned to start repeating all the reasons it’s more complicated than it seems. Which, of course, is complete nonsense.

I had hope this time around. The timing felt right. Wrong. There’s always next year, but I’d encourage everyone who continues to ask about the shelved series to learn from my mistakes. Don’t believe it until you see it.