Mizzou Tiger Hoops

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