WICHITA, Kan. — Perspective is tricky in the heat of the moment.

But, in the immediate aftermath of Missouri basketball’s 67-57 loss to 11-seed Drake in the Round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, Mizzou senior Tamar Bates had some to spare.

“We had a great year,” Bates said. “We beat the odds. I mean, after last year, nobody really thought we were going to be anything. Nobody thought we were gonna respond. And we made history in terms of a turnaround from one year to the next. You know, no team in college basketball has ever done what we were able to do.”

Bates is right. If we’re grading on a curve, file this season in the cabinet of success stories. Mizzou went from 0-19 in SEC play to the NCAA Tournament.

Watching Bates, who played his final game in college Thursday, tear apart Kansas so that the Mizzou fans could flood the Mizzou Arena floor is a podium-worthy memory from my four years on the Mizzou beat. Watching Caleb Grill, who also played in a Mizzou uniform for the final time in the Drake game, dice Florida up on the road was spectacular. The Tigers’ shootout win over Alabama was an all-timer.

It seemed safe for fans to hope and dream, but those are dangerous drugs in the Mizzou-sphere.

Drake added another heartbreaker to an already long list, and all that potential has gone untapped.

So, what if we’re not grading on a curve?

Then, it’s Year 3 of the Dennis Gates tenure, and Mizzou is 1-2 in NCAA Tournament games with losses to 15-seeded Princeton and 11-seeded Duke and a win over 10-seed Utah State. Wedged in between, there’s a historically dismal year.