For the last 2 years Mizzou has beaten kU in football. The next few months saw the Tigers fall to the Beakers in basketball.
Well, Mizzou did not beat kU in football. So by some math property which I don’t know the name of, Mizzou will beat Kansas in basketball at least once.
It’s science. (I think.)
-Ken Boehlke
Filed under: Analysis | Tags: AP Poll, Big 12, California, Coaches Poll, Georgia, Illinois, kU, NCAA Tournament, NIT, Oral Roberts, Stetson, USC, UT-Chattanooga
Yeah I’m talking about the real tournament. Here’s how I see it. Mizzou is currently sitting at 4-1. They have 1 win that I place in the “resume builder” category (that’d be USC, not UT-Chattanooga). They are currently receiving votes in the AP poll and I’m sure they are getting close in the Coaches Poll. So let’s break down the rest of the non-conference season.
Mizzou has 10 non-conference games remaining.
8 of them are at home, all but 1 of the home games are against non-power conference teams. So that’s 7 games against mid-major (at best) teams. The toughest of those 7 is probably Oral Roberts (sorry Stetson), so I expect Mizzou to win all 7 of these games. If they lose 1 of those 7 I will probably be deleting this post and crying myself to sleep for a week or so. Mizzou wins all 7, they have 11 wins (I’m just keeping a running total)
That leaves 3 other non-conference games. 1 at home (Cal), 1 away (Georgia), 1 in St. Louis (Illinois). The way I see it Mizzou wins 2 of the 3. Worst case they win 1. My guess is that it will be Cal and Georgia are the wins and Illinois is the loss. I think this is Mizzou’s best chance to beat Illinois, but I feel like if the Tigers knock off the mascot-less wonders they will probably fail against Cal or Georgia. So let’s just be safe and say somehow, someway Mizzou will win 2 of the 3. That brings the running count to 13 wins.
I’m not going to go into Big 12 play, but I’d say it’s safe to say Mizzou should win 7 to 8 games in the Big 12 (maybe more, wouldn’t that be great). Running total with 7 to 8 wins is 20-21 wins.
Tack on 1 more in the Big 12 tournament (Mizzou probably goes in as a 5/6/7 seed and play a 10/11/12 seed in the tourney). I would have to think that Mizzou could win a game against one of the bottom 3 teams in the Big 12. That brings the running total to 21-22.
The resume would have wins against USC, Cal, Georgia, Illinois (Maybe), and then some wins in the Big 12 (hopefully kU is one of those). Not a bad resume.
Usually 20 wins is enough for a major conference team. 21 to 22 wins in a somewhat weak Big 12, should put Mizzou at number 5 or 6 as far as resume’s in the conference. I don’t have the stats on this, but I don’t think there have been too many times where a power conference gets only 4 teams in and one with 20+ wins is left out.
So under that logic, we should experience post-season basketball for the first time since 2002. And heck if it’s not the real tournament we almost have to make the NIT.
-Ken Boehlke
Filed under: Postgame | Tags: DeMarre Carroll, ESPNU, Fairfield, Fran Fraschilla, J.T. Tiller, Leo Lyons, Matt Lawrence, O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip -Off, Pac 10, Taj Gibson, USC, Xavier
Going into this tournament I wanted 2 wins. But I wanted good wins, not garbage wins like we get in our normal early season games, but solid wins, resume building wins. And while Fairfield is none of the above, USC is. USC will probably finish in the top 3 or 4 in the Pac-10, and will surely be tournament bound. For Mizzou, that was a win we will be looking back on come selection time.
Mizzou showed a lot during that game. They showed they could pressure a good team, they showed they could learn from mistakes (especially missed free throws), and they showed they could adjust to their competition.
I can’t say enough about how good DeMarre was in that game, so I will just leave it at this… Dude’s a Animal.
One person I want to make sure doesn’t go unnoticed is J.T. Tiller. He knocked down a number of big shots, came up with some key steals, and attacked the basket in some big situations. Fran Fraschilla did all he could to make sure all 12 of us that watched that game on ESPNU knew how well J.T. played, but I want to make sure that performance doesn’t go without recognition.
Another huge play in the game that I thought did not get enough coverage on TV or in the stories I read about the game is Mizzou attacking Taj Gibson. Gibson was in foul trouble early, and the Tigers did an amazing job making those fouls count. With 3 fouls in the first half Gibson entered the game with about 17 minutes left in the game. About 2 minutes later Leo took the ball from the top of the arc, drove in, and forced Gibson to foul him. Great recognition, great execution, all around great play by Leo. The one play I would say won the game for Mizzou.
One other quick note I want to make sure gets in this post. Matt Lawrence, 11 minutes, 0 points. I’m just posting his line from the game. take it how you want may.
After watching the 3 games in Puerto Rico, I am officially on the Mizzou to the Tournament bandwagon. A ranked win against USC coupled with a loss against the eventual champions leaves Mizzou walking out of Puerto Rico feeling good. I didn’t think any good could come out of this tournament after the loss to Xavier, but without a doubt, more good than bad came out of the trip.
Learn from your mistakes, adjust, and learn how to win. That’s what the out of conference schedule is all about, and Mizzou is well on their way to making the first half of this season count.
-Ken Boehlke
Filed under: Analysis | Tags: Fairfield, O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip -Off, USC, Virginia Tech, Xavier
If there was only one word I could use to describe the first 2 games of this tournament that word would be frustration. I understand the game against Fairfield ended up being a success, but the first 9 minutes were incredibly painful, and then what was worse was having to watch Xavier play Virginia Tech 30 minutes later.
Nothing is worse than watching a game you feel you should be in. And I couldn’t stop thinking about missed free throw after missed free throw after missed free throw as I watched Xavier/VT. Xavier ended up beating VT in overtime on a half court shot as time expired. Which led me to realize if Mizzou didn’t miss 24 free throws and 8 critical ones down the stretch, that it would have been us hitting that last second shot. We would be going to the final.
But I hope this team learns from that. This team needs to learn how to win, and I think the best way to learn how to win, if to learn and gain experience from your failures. See your shortcoming, and fix them. Also you have to sit through games you feel you should be in, and experience the pain. Because if you know what it feels like, you will do anything you can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
So hopefully the Tigers feel the pain and can step up and beat a very good USC team tomorrow afternoon. If Mizzou walks away from PR with a ranked win and a loss against a good team, it will be a successful trip.
If not, I’m sure I’ll be writing something trying to find some sort of silver lining out of this trip.
-Ken Boehlke
During the first 2 games and the few exhibition games I’ve seen an unappealing trend. It’s what I call “The Light Switch.” There seem to be times in each game where they just flip the switch on and start playing really well. On the same note they can turn it off just as easily. I understand that basketball is a game of runs, but with Mizzou it seems so abrupt. In a flash this team goes from good to bad, or bad to good.
In the first 2 regular season games the light switch was flipped on right at the end of the half and in both games it stayed on until the “good” (the guys that play all the time) players came out of the game.
We seem to forget to flip it on at the beginning of games. We are not going to be able to fall behind good teams like we have to begin the game. This team has to come out with fire and put some points on the board early in order to get the rhythm going (and keep from turning the switch off).
Also, good teams play well all the time. They may go into shooting funks or have problems scoring at some points in a game, but it doesn’t last long, and the defense never suffers. With Mizzou, when that switch is off, both ends struggle. This must be fixed if we want to be successful this weekend.
In conclusion, there are two options:
A) Turn it on, and keep it on for most of the game.
B) When we feel like we start to struggle and it may be in the process of being turned off, pick up the intensity, and bear down on D.
We do that, this team will be able to hang with some good teams.
-Ken Boehlke
Filed under: Preview | Tags: Fairfield, Memphis, O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip -Off, Seton Hall, USC, Virginia Tech, Xavier
There have been a number of discussions that I have been a part of as well as ones that I have overheard about the upcoming tournament Mizzou is about to play in. The way it works you are guaranteed 3 games no matter how many you win or lose.
That being said the difference in competition Mizzou will face is vast based on whether the Tigers win or lose their first game. The game against Xavier is obviously a good one for Mizzou to have on the schedule. Tigers beat Xavier they go on to play Virginia Tech (Unless Fairfield knocks off VT), lose to Xavier and Mizzou plays Fairfield. But that’s not where the discussion comes in. The interesting part of the tournament is where losers go. If Mizzou loses game 1 they fall to the losers bracket where the best team they could play barring any massive upsets is Seton Hall. Win game one and VT is followed by USC or Memphis (Mizzou would play the team that has the same result as them in respective game 2’s.)
So the question is, do you want to beat Xavier and take your chances with VT and Memphis or USC, or lose to Xavier and basically guarantee yourself a winning record in the tournament?
I am here to answer the question for you. While I fully understand the logic behind wanting to win as many games as possible while in Puerto Rico. I don’t think feeling good about losing a game so that you can win 2 more is the way to think. Not to mention if Mizzou beats Xavier, they should not have that hard of a time knocking off Virginia Tech so that 2nd win shouldn’t be a monumental climb after game 1.
The more I look into it the more I can see a Mizzou/Memphis final, which I can tell you will not be pretty to watch for the Gold and Black Tigers. The reason why I see this as possibile has nothiung to do with Xavier. To set the record straight I don’t think Mizozu will beat Xavier. But in the event that they do, they would be playing their next game against a slightly worse opponent (based on polls, Xavier is receiving votes while VT is not). Therefore if Mizozu can beat Xavier, in theory they can beat VT too. But don’t get your hopes too high.
So when you sit down mid-afternoon tomorrow to watch Mizzou face off with Xavier, don’t even think about the benefits of losing that game, because if it happens then we can talk about how nice it was to lose later.
-Ken Boehlke
Filed under: Preview | Tags: Add new tag, Athlon Sports, Columbia Tribune, Davidson, DeMarre Carroll, Keith DeWitt, Mike Anderson, Norm Stewart, Praire View A&M, Southern Conference, Stephen Curry, Steve Walentik, Tennessee, UT-Chattanooga, Xavier
On Saturday afternoon the Tigers finally put together an effective full-court defense for the first time since CMA (Coach Mike Anderson) has been at Mizzou. Seeing as this is allegedly his specialty, that is pretty exciting. Yes it was against a weak opponent, but Prairie View A&M played most of the game with a four guard lineup, and it still worked against all those ball-handlers. Against Tennessee last weekend, Chattanooga committed 24 turnovers. Put the pedal to the medal tonight CMA!
Look at that athleticism!
Tonight’s game against UT-Chattanooga should keep the thrills coming. Athlon Sports has Chattanooga winning their division in the Southern Conference (where Stephen Curry the excellent lives and rains 3’s). I’m no SoCon expert, but Davidson will probably win that conference, but who knows, maybe Chattanooga can get a conference tourney uspet and sneak into the NCAA’s. So potentially tonight we are facing a team that could wind up in the NCAA’s. All feeble attempts to hype up this game aside, I am excited.
Athlon Sports lists Chattanooga’s main weakness as ball-handling, and notes that last season they committed 80 more turnovers than they forced. This could mean a great time for Tiger fans tonight with the newfound press taking over. If the ball isn’t rolling all around Norm Stewart Court tonight than the press should probably be scrapped.
It looks like the Chattanooga’s best player is 6-7 forward Nichaeus Doaks, who went for 16 and 9 against Tennessee. This will be nice test for DeMarre Carroll early in the season, especially before next Thursday’s game against Xavier.
- Greg M.
Here is an interesting article dealing with new recruit Keith DeWitt from Steve Walentik at the Tribune.
Filed under: Postgame | Tags: Keith Ramsey, Leo Lyons, Mike Anderson, NBA, Tiger Talk
I was not exactly thrilled with this afternoons game. I will say I was very encouraged with a number of things I saw in the game but still there were spurts of the “old” Mizzou. Hopefully that is am real term that I will continue to write because that would mean that the garbage we have seen the last few years is old. But I’m afraid it may not be true.
The first 4 minutes of this game almost made me vomit. It was like a nightmare. I keep having flashes of last year go through my head. I could just see 5 guys passing the ball abound the outside never once making a cut towards the rim, and therefore never once having a legitamate scoring opportunity. Luckily Leo decided it was time to impress the NBA scouts and we got going a little bit.
But the real fun came when we got to see some “young” guys (I put young in quotes because they are like 2 years younger than me and Ramsey is probably older than me). We began to see the real press. We began to see turnovers, made threes, fast breaks, GOOD BASKETBALL. It was great.
This flash of good play got me to realize exactly what will make this team successful and what will not. And it’s actually quite simple. Mike Anderson’s stubborness to play the guys he feels need to be in the game. I am not picking on one guy in particular and I am not throwing coach under the bus. But I feel like at times he makes substitutions that seem out of the ordinary, or unneccesary. I woud start listing examples but I’d like to keep this as short as possible.
My point is the success of this team rides on how much Anderson goes with hot hands and not how much he goes on preparation, age, and other factors that I can’t explain because I’m not him. For the first time this year I can honestly say I think this team has enough talent to be successful in the Big 12 and even enough to make it to the tourney. But these dreams will only be realized if the only committment Coach has is to winning. He cannot worry about playing time, cannot worry about who practices the best, cannot base subs on personal problems. No commitments but to winning the game in front of him. He does that and I think this team can be successful. He doesn’t and there’s going to be a lot of posts from me about Anderson’t stubbornness. He subs to my liking and I may actually kiss his ass at Tiger Talk on Mondays.
-Ken Boehlke
Filed under: Preview | Tags: DeMarre Carroll, J.T. Tiller, Zaire Taylor, Marcus Denmon, Matt Lawrence, Leo Lyons, Kimmie English, Praire View A&M, SWAC, UCLA, Tim Meadows, Chris Jones, Derek Johnson, Dorian McDaniel, Darnell Hugee
The Tigers season officially begins tomorrow afternoon with the Prairie View A&M Panthers of the SWAC dropping by Mizzou Arena. PVAM (0-2) had the privilege of playing UCLA in their opener and lost by 24 points, which frankly I think is a bit impressive just looking at the number. I didn’t watch the game and don’t how if UCLA called off the dogs or if PVAM hit some 3’s at the end, but losing by 24 to a top 5 team strikes me as not that bad.
Here are what I gather to be the probable starters
Mizzou: G Zaire Taylor, G J.T. Tiller, G-F Matt Lawrence, F DeMarre Carroll, F Leo Lyons
Prairie View A&M: G Tim Meadows (6-3), G Chris Jones (6-0), G Derek Johnson (6-1), G Dorian McDaniel (6-6), F Darnell Hugee (6-7)
PVAM apparently has quite the celebrity lineup what with funnyman Meadows and KC Chiefs linebacker Johnson (albeit the spelling is off) working in the backcourt. All joking aside, if this is clearly a game the Tigers need, should, and in all likelihood, will win. Here are a few things I really want to see in this game –
- Leo be assertive and really attack the rim instead of settle for mid-range shots. He is a great mid-range shooter, but against such an undersized team I want to see him really use his length and size in the post.
- Watch how the press handles a four-guard lineup. I’m assuming that all four guards can handle the ball, and this could make it easier for them to break the press. We will get an early look at how well this version of the Tigers can run the press.
- Watch someone hit a few threes. The obvious strength of this team will be its interior, so if someone can start shooting consistently from beyond the arc, it will be free things up for Leo and DeMarre. Possible candidates: Denmon, English, Lawrence
Here is what Athlon Sports said about PVAM…
“The Panthers aren’t expected to fare much better than the middle of the SWAC pack after losing Aaron Smith and Brian Ezeh, who combined for 24.7 points per game last season. Help could come from Derrick Johnson (11.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg) and Dorian McDaniel (5.5 ppg). Senior forward Jacoie Shivers will need to step up his inside game at both ends of the floor to make Prairie View A&M SWAC title contenders.”
- Greg M.
