With an offer on the table and a reported noon deadline in place, Mike Alden has done exactly what he was supposed to do in his quest to land Matt Painter as Mizzou's new basketball coach. The Missouri director of athletics has let it be known in the language all coaches love — cash and creature comforts — just how badly everyone in Columbia wants Painter on the Mizzou Arena sidelines next winter.

So now it's all up to Painter to make his decision. If he really is unhappy at Purdue, we'll know in quick order. If he thinks the folks back in West Lafayette are merely making a hollow public gesture to make their alums think they're trying to keep him from bolting to Columbia, then Painter ought to be the next head coach for the Tigers by the weekend.

This is all about Painter now, not Alden. What does Painter want? What does he need to make him happy? Has he found life at his alma mater no longer ideal?

Alden has laid out everything that he needed to show Painter why Missouri is the right place for him to pursue his goal of winning a national championship. He showed him by stepping up with a dramatic raise, with an aggressive sales pitch that outlined how first-rate things would be if he came to Columbia. He showed him by sitting there and allowing Painter to see everything that Alden will do as his boss that perhaps his current AD hasn't done.

No one should have a problem with the way Alden conducted this search, because he was decisive and aggressive. He went after Painter strong and left no doubt of his intentions. If Painter doesn't get it, that's on him. If he goes back to Purdue now, I don't want to hear anything about how Alden was played, because he wasn't. He targeted the man he and his search committee determined was The Guy, and then he went after him as hard as possible.

And by setting a reasonable deadline for Painter to make up his mind, Alden allows himself latitude to move on to the next prospect on his list.

And who might that be?

Well, how about the guy who beat The Guy?

What's not to like about Shaka Smart, the 34-year-old coach of the VCU Rams, whose team smoked Painter's Boilermakers two weeks ago on the road to its miracle run to the Final Four?

"I didn't think we'd score this easily," said Smart after VCU's stunning 94-76 victory in the third round when the Rams shot 57 percent from the floor, had 26 assists on 37 field-goal attempts (and only four turnovers) and (here's something that will make Missouri fans smile) scored 48 of those points in the lane. "I'm kind of at a loss for words. I'm not sure it's a reflection on Purdue as much as it's a reflection on how well we played.''

Oh yes, and then there is the more obvious issue of complementary coaching style. If you are one of the seven or eight people who haven't watched VCU's Cinderella story, you might not have known that Smart favors the same uptempo offensive and defensive style that Mizzou has played for the last five years, which means the senior-heavy Mizzou roster wouldn't have a long adjustment period if Smart was Alden's Plan B candidate.

Are there some legitimate concerns about whether Smart could be a risk? Sure. There should be some intense due diligence done to make sure Smart is not the next Keno Davis, a one-hit mid-major wonder who failed when he reached a major conference. Smart will have to address the rap that he is winning with Anthony Grant's players.

But Smart was a darned good recruiter in his brief stay at Florida. While at Florida, he was reportedly the very effective front man for the early recruiting of Chaminade All-America Bradley Beal and knows his way around the St. Louis prep scene.

If you have seen him on television interviews, you have already seen the extremely polished public demeanor and high basketball IQ that make him such an extremely attractive prospect.

VCU President Michael Rao told Richmond television station WTVR that negotiations have already begun to re-work Smart's contract, which reportedly pays him $325,000 annually. But those negotiations could become irrelevant the minute the Rams' season ends, either Saturday evening or Monday night.

There are three high-profile jobs still open, North Carolina State, Oklahoma and Missouri. NC State will surely make a run at Smart, but it's unclear if Oklahoma would too, seeing that too many in Norman might think this would be a repeat of the Jeff Capel experiment (remember, Capel was the first rising star out of VCU before Grant and Smart).

So if it comes down to North Carolina State vs. Missouri, I'd put the odds on Mizzou because it's a much better job than NC State.

Let's hope Alden continues his aggressive approach until he lands his man.