Missouri coach Quin Snyder reacts to a call during Saturday's upset of Oklahoma. AP

Just when you were sure Quin Snyder was a dead man walking, both he and his Missouri Tigers show signs of a pulse. Despite the Tigers' woeful performances on the court this season, MU athletic director Mike Alden announced earlier this month that he had "no plans" to make a coaching change at season's end. Last Saturday, Missouri, which had lost eight of its past nine games, upset then-No. 16 Oklahoma at Mizzou Arena 68-65 in overtime. That improved the Tigers' record to 3-7 in the Big 12 (11-13 overall).

When I asked Snyder this week if he thought the two events were related -- whether his players were spurred by the endorsement to knock off Oklahoma -- Snyder laughed and pointed out that a few hours after Alden's move, Mizzou was routed by 28 at Texas A&M. They also trailed Oklahoma by 14 early in the second half before rallying. "We're still learning how to win," Snyder said. "If there's one thing I've learned to do the last two years, it's to block stuff out."

That "stuff," of course, is the two-year NCAA investigation that unearthed dozens of violations -- many of them disquieting but none classified as "major." As a result, Missouri lost scholarships and was put on probation for three years. The school allowed Snyder to keep his job, but only after it jettisoned two assistant coaches. The case was a sordid, protracted soap opera featuring wild allegations and jailhouse conversations, but once it was finally over, Snyder and the program were supposed to have a clean slate.

Then came the one thing that fans, alumni and big donors can tolerate less than NCAA sanctions: losing. In November, the Tigers were knocked off by Davidson, Creighton and Houston. They dropped a home game to Arkansas in December. Mizzou did notch wins over Indiana and then-No. 12 Gonzaga, and gave Illinois arguably its toughest test of the season before losing by six on Dec. 22. But things appeared to crater once the Big 12 season began. Coming on the heels of the tumultuous past couple of years, the speculation that Snyder would be let go after this, his sixth season, morphed into certainty.

That speculation prompted Alden to make his statement, though in true Missouri fashion he botched it, having to re-clarify his assertion later that his decision had been reached in consultation with the Board of Curators. (Alden spoke with a couple of board members, but there was no formal meeting.) University president Elson Floyd, whose wife was famously recorded making incendiary remarks to former MU guard Ricky Clemons while Clemons was in prison, released a statement saying he had not been in the loop on Alden's move but that he supported the decision. There have surely been firmer and better orchestrated endorsements over the course of human history, but at this point Snyder will take what he can get.

The fact is, if Missouri didn't fire Snyder because of the NCAA violations, it would have made no sense to do so now. Anybody with any sense knew the Tigers would take a step back after losing seniors Travon Bryant, Arthur Johnson and Ricky Paulding. (Don't let last season's 16-14 record fool you. Given the circus swirling around the program, it's amazing they ever won a game.) Thanks to a season-ending injury to sophomore guard Spencer Laurie and another serious knee injury to junior forward Jeffrey Ferguson, Missouri's current starting lineup consists of two freshmen (including point guard Jason Horton), two sophomores and a junior. Two other freshmen come off the bench and play prominent minutes. Those guys have skills, however, and the team will have even more talent next year when 6-foot-9 forward Leo Criswell, a Kansas City native who chose Missouri over Kentucky, joins the fold. That led Alden to believe the future might be bright. I'd also like to believe the program's 67 percent graduation rate in the latest NCAA report -- tops in the Big 12 -- played a role in the decision as well. (Yes, I am that naïve.)

Snyder's assertion that his team hasn't shot the ball well this season is overly generous. The Tigers are ranked last or next-to-last in the Big 12 in scoring, field-goal shooting, 3-point field-goal shooting, assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. Like anyone coaching a losing team, Snyder's biggest challenge has been convincing his players to stick together. "When you go through what we've been through, there's a tendency for a player to say, 'What's in it for me?'" Snyder says. "It's hard to get everyone to believe in something that's bigger than them." Indeed, it was telling that after the Oklahoma win, sophomore guard Thomas Gardner, who scored 11 of his 18 points in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime, told reporters, "We never let [Oklahoma's] runs splinter us. In previous games we kind of got down on ourselves but today we stayed together."

Of course, one nice win at home doesn't constitute any kind of turned corner. Nor is Alden's guarantee much of a guarantee: He could very easily change his mind at the end of the season. Nobody knows this better than Snyder. "I think the biggest thing for me is to stay committed to the things I believe in and keep doing them," Snyder says. "If it's meant to be for me here, it'll happen. If not, I'll move forward."

For now, however, Snyder is staying. The dead man keeps right on walking.