COLUMBIA - Wayne Kreklow went back to the drawing board.
Except Missouri's volleyball coach was not starting over. Instead, he wanted to prove a point to his players.
Kreklow wrote the rating percentage index - which is used to rate teams upon its wins and losses and strength of schedule - for every team the Tigers (13-3, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) have beaten during their eight-game win streak.
"He did forget one game," senior middle blocker Emily Thater said with a laugh, "there was one game he forgot to add to that streak. It was Boise State. Our streak is a little longer than the one he put on the board."
South Carolina at No. 61 was the highest rated team Missouri beat in its streak. Missouri's RPI, for reference, is 23. Kreklow's goal was to show his players, while he is happy the Tigers have rolled off eight straight wins, he does not want them to get complacent.
"My message to the group yesterday was to not lose sight of the fact that the schedule has favored us the first couple of weeks here against teams that were picked to finish in the bottom half of the league," Kreklow said. "You still have to beat them. To play well on the road and come back with a win is encouraging, we just have to try to get better."
With the way Missouri has started conference play, complacency might be an easy trap to fall into.
Missouri has the third highest RPI in the SEC. The Tigers also have yet to lose a set in four SEC matches.
Yet they know the schedule only gets harder from here.
"I tell the kids all the time there's no bad teams in this league," Kreklow said, "there's good teams and then there's great."
Still, Kreklow said his players just get it when it comes to not getting too comfortable. After all, four players remain from the 2013 roster that went 35-0 before being upset by Purdue in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Missouri did win the school's only team SEC championship in any sport that year. That didn't stop them from getting a little bit too settled.
"I think that's something we might have learned from my freshman year," senior outside hitter Carly Kan said. "We went through the season all was going well, nothing was really said.
"We just went, 'Hey we're doing good, keep it up,' but now having that reminder to not be complacent with where we're at, that was a good thing to do because it will keep us motivated in practice to know what's to come."
Kreklow has also seen the bottom fall out for teams that have gotten overconfident in his 27 years as a volleyball coach.
"One or two weeks you could be riding high, you're on a win streak," Kreklow said. "It's really easy in these type of leagues in the SEC you could win four in a row then you could easily drop three in a row, or more, and so the challenge is to try to keep your kids just focused on the long haul and not get too caught up because it happens."
It helps to have one of the more balanced teams Kreklow has coached.
Instead of having just one or two players to pin their hopes on, the Tigers can count on their teammates to pick up the slack if a player or two is having an off game. That does make it a bit harder as a coach, since they have to figure out ways to distribute the ball and keep everyone in the game.
Kreklow will take that trade-off, though. Especially once Missouri gets deeper into its SEC schedule.
"There's not always the national title contenders in the SEC, we have a few this year, but you're not going to play those every night," Thater said, "but you are going to play good team. You're going to play big blocks, you're going to play good swings, you're going to play tough defenses.
"There's really good parts about each team."