SB Nation - Michael Anderson Jr.

Mizzou Basketball Preview (Part One): You Never Know, Take Two

Bill C. — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:00:35 -0000

College football has always been and will always be my favorite sport. That's just the way it is. And even when Mizzou had heavy basketball expectations in the early part of the decade while, simultaneously, the football team was half-wretched, I couldn't really throw myself into basketball until football officially ended. This was never more so than a year ago. As Mizzou was trying to win their 30th football game in three seasons last November, Mizzou Basketball was pushing forward in anonymity. Maybe this team could be decent, maybe not. We didn't know for sure, and with football on the forefront, we didn't really care yet. And then last season happened.

You really do not ever know when something amazing will take place and suck you in, and while I'm sure we'd all love to be fans of a school that is perpetually in the national title hunt in both major sports (and minor ones too), it usually doesn't happen that way. What we witnessed last year was potentially the greatest set of personalities Mizzou Basketball has ever produced, winning more games than Mizzou has ever won. We saw DeMarre Carroll bawling on Senior Night, Leo Lyons maturing at the latest possible opportunity, J.T. Tiller scoring clutch points with an injured hand, Zaire Taylor becoming Mr. Coffee, Matt Lawrence becoming lovable GOOOOOOOOOSE, Marcus Denmon nailing a three-quarter court shot against Memphis (and creating great stories like this one), Laurence Bowers throwing down dunks from stupid angles, Justin Safford becoming a better Travon Bryant, Keith Ramsey swatting shots into the sixth row, MIguel Paul trying to get his brain to go as fast as his feet, Jared Sutton seemingly making 115% of his junk-time three-pointers ... and Kim English being Kim English.

The love even continued in the offseason, as English discovered Twitter and Tiller started showing up at every sporting event for every Mizzou squad.

Last season really was potentially the most emotionally rewarding Mizzou season I have witnessed in any sport, even when compared to the 2007 football season. When I realized that basketball season was starting soon, I just smiled. Not because I thought we would win another 31 games and go to another Elite Eight (though, knowing this group, it would be silly to completely count it out), but because I was simply happy to have these guys back in my life again. It's going to be fun.

With that said, I thought it appropriate to relive one of my favorite posts that I've ever written, my "You Never Know" post from the morning before the Sweet Sixteen game against Memphis. Let all the emotions come flooding back to you, and get as psyched for basketball season as I am.

I'm not going to lie. Four months ago, I was worried about this basketball program. And it really didn't even have that much to do with the team on the court. I was happy about the new blood, I thought a low seed in the NCAA Tournament was at least plausible enough to aim for it, and I still thought Mike Anderson really might be able to put together some winning records here.

That said, I was worried about the program as a whole, meaning fans, attendance, money generated, etc. There had been two entire four-year classes ('04-'07, '05-'08) that had come to the university and graduated without seeing their team go to the NCAA Tournament. That hadn't happened since well before I was born. The thought of having a great basketball program was something of a joke (I think we even made some of those jokes on RMN in a football podcast way back when). I mean, hell, look at how hard we were struggling to find great, encouraging things to say about the team not that long ago. Even if we snuck into the tourney as a 10-seed or something, would anybody notice? That's the basketball version of making the Independence Bowl. Would a connection still have been made?

Now look at us. Again, I'm not necessarily talking about the 30 wins, the Sweet Sixteen, and the Big 12 Tournament title, though that's been absolutely fantastic. I'm talking about more than that. In just four months (and really, it's been less than three), this university has grown to love its basketball team again.

Everything that happened to connect Mizzou Football to its fans in the last couple of years--the personalities (Daniel, 'Spoon, MotherRucker), the sick athletes (Maclin, Willy Mo), the wins (I don't know if you've heard this, but we won 30 games in three years), the forever-memorable moments (Sod Reesing, the Cotton Bowl, Maclin's kick returns, Coffman's nunchuk thrusts), the SI covers--has happened to Missouri basketball. Personality? This team has DeMarre's hair, and Leo's humor, and Goose's self-deprecation, and Zaire sticking out his tongue, and JT Tiller's lack of regard for human life. Wins? This team has more wins than any Mizzou squad has ever compiled. Moments? How about the win over Kansas? Kim English's free-throws against Marquette? Zaire's drive against Texas? Laurence Bowers' SportsCenter dunks? Goose's clutch 3's in the Big 12 tourney? JT Tiller's jump balls against Kansas? Is that enough for you? How about the win in Stillwater? The absolute destruction of team after team in Mizzou Arena? JYD's timely putbacks? Hell, they even had a (regional) SI cover as well.

How far have we come? Four months ago, Zaire Taylor was a decent defensive point guard who didn't shoot enough. Now he's Mr. Coffee. Always Be Closing. Four months ago, Laurence Bowers was a thin, anonymous freshman forward with some athletic ability. Now he's the Party Starter. Four months ago, Kim English was a lovable gymrat who talked a big game but had plenty to learn about how to play college basketball. Now he's put together possibly the most successful, most memorable postseason performance ever for a Mizzou freshman.

And it goes on. Four months ago, Matt Lawrence was a much-maligned three-point specialist who, for long stretches of time, couldn't even seem to specialize in three-pointers. He was given the nickname of Grey Goose, and not necessarily as a compliment. Now he's GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!! Four months ago, DeMarre Carroll was a scrappy player, fun to watch, but limited in size and shooting ability. Now he's JYD, a rangy, rugged all-conference forward in a conference full of great forwards.

Four months ago, JT Tiller was an intense, rather out-of-control guard who had brilliant stretches of defensive play among brainfarts and foul trouble. Now, he's not only Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, but (listen up, Marquette fans) also a ballsy, clutch shooter (see: two FTs against Marquette with 90 seconds left, go-ahead jumper against KU with 50 seconds left).

And then there's Leo. Four months ago, Leo Lyons was an enigmatic, moody, rather schizophrenic player who could be amazing one moment and pouting on the bench for most of a game the next. Now, he's Good Leo, an enigmatic, moody, rather schizophrenic player who has been amazing for most of his only NCAA Tournament, who never turned his brain off after getting pushed and hacked for a good portion of the second half against Marquette, and who persevered in the form of a clutch 3-point play and three big-time free throws in the last minute. Against heavy odds, Leo will end up being remembered for his play down the stretch of his senior season* instead of the suspensions and frustrating tendencies of his first 3.5 seasons.

* And for Leo Lyons' Planet.

And possibly most importantly, four months ago, Mike Anderson was a likable coach who brought an entertaining brand of basketball to Columbia, but who hadn't shown many game-coaching chops, had briefly let bad characters take over his program, and was already having his name come up in the "I'm not saying he has to win this season, but he might not get more than four seasons if Mizzou doesn't start to improve" type of speculation. No one knew if his style would work in the Big 12, if his program would be able to attract the caliber of athletes it would take to succeed with his style, if he would be able to guide Mizzou to the NCAA Tourney, or if the fans would ever come back en masse to Mizzou Arena.

Now, he's the subject of the "Other teams want our coach because he's so great" type of speculation. If there's a cloud in the Mizzou sky right now, it's because of the lingering (and small) possibility that he still may be coaching elsewhere next year. But that cloud is slowly dissipating, and besides...next year is next year, and memories don't go away. Missouri is back, and it is because of Mike Anderson.

I mentioned yesterday that when Missouri faces a game they're supposed to lose, I start getting defiantly confident as game time approaches. But despite my own confidence, I realize that when Missouri and Memphis tip off at 8:37(ish) tonight, it very well might be the last time we see Leo Lyons, DeMarre Carroll, and Matt Lawrence in a Missouri uniform. Hell, I doubt it, but this could be the last time we see Mike Anderson roaming the Missouri sideline. A lot could change after tonight, but what won't is the simple fact that Missouri loves its basketball again, and watching and feeling this unexpected connection this team's players and coaches--every single one of them--has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've had as a fan.

Once again, I'm not going to lie. I look at these pictures, and as they say, it gets a little dusty in my house. It's hard to believe that something so simple (sports team wins games, fans rejoice) could end up being so emotionally, and unexpectedly, satisfying as this 2008-09 basketball season has been. Win or lose tonight, the impact has been made. You truly never know when seasons like this will come about (if they ever will, or if they ever will again), and while you live your life as a sports fan full of hope and faith (and lots of frustration), you have to hold closely the great moments that do happen, and there's just no question that I'll remember every moment of this season for a long, long time. To DeMarre Carroll, Leo Lyons, Matt Lawrence, Zaire Taylor, J.T. Tiller, Kim English, Laurence Bowers, Justin Safford, Keith Ramsey, Marcus Denmon, Miguel Paul, Steve Moore, Jarrett Sutton, and Michael Anderson Jr., I salute you.

(Or as Norman Dale would say, "I love you guys.")

But all that said, why don't we keep this train rolling for another few games?

Mizzou-UConn: Statistical...so close

Bill C. — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:40:40 -0000

I guess we used up our luck with Marcus Denmon's 5 points (the bank shot and the 70-footer) at the end of the first half of the Memphis game. When the game was on the line, Mizzou's shots rimmed out and UConn's shots banked in. That was the difference. It's basketball.

All the credit in the world to UConn for making their free throws, grabbing the rebounds, and regaining their composure when Mizzou's pressure all but broke them down at the beginning of the second half, but in a game where both teams' styles dominated (Mizzou with the turnovers, UConn with the boards), the game came down to bounces, and UConn got them.

(You'd think the Sports God would have favored the underdog--especially one in the "Best program to never make the Final Four" race--but I guess after George Mason got the bounces over UConn in '06, UConn got the nod. Such is life.)

With that minor bout of self-pity out of the way, it's on to the stats!

NCAA Basketball Stats

	Mizzou	UConn
Points Per Minute	1.88	2.05
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.01	1.11
Points Per Shot (PPS)	0.99	1.55
2-PT FG%	46.6%	61.0%
3-PT FG%	27.8%	16.7%
FT%	50.0%	58.3%
True Shooting %	46.1%	61.1%

	Mizzou	UConn
Assists	21	15
Steals	10	3
Turnovers	6	17
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	5.17	1.06

	Mizzou	UConn
Expected Offensive Rebounds	17	10
Offensive Rebounds	12	11
Difference	-5	+1

Rarely do you see a game in which both teams' identities came out in such full force. MU dominated with its style (5.17 BCI), while UConn dominated with its style (+6 expected rebounds, major advantage in true shooting %). Mizzou had a couple of opportunities with open shots in the second half, but they just didn't fall.

Player Stats

NCAA Basketball Stats

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Line
J.T. Tiller	14.63	0.56	8 Pts, 5 Reb. 5 Ast, 2 Stl
Keith Ramsey	12.77	0.75	8 Pts, 3 Reb, 3 Ast, 2 Stl
Matt Lawrence	11.84	0.44	13 Pts, 3 Reb, 2 Ast
Leo Lyons	10.24	0.41	13 Pts, 2 Reb, 4 Ast, 2 Stl, 3 TO
Justin Safford	8.78	0.59	9 Pts, 4 Reb
Zaire Taylor	6.25	0.17	8 Pts, 2 Reb, 4 Ast, 2 Stl
DeMarre Carroll	6.12	0.25	12 Pts, 4 Reb
Marcus Denmon	2.53	0.18	2 Pts, 2 Reb, 2 Ast
Miguel Paul	2.26	0.45	2 Pts
Laurence Bowers	1.33	0.66	2 minutes
Michael Anderson Jr.	-0.53	-0.53	1 minute
Kim English	-4.26	-0.53	0 Pts, 2 Reb

* AdjGS = a take-off of the Game Score metric (definition here) accepted by a lot of basketball stat nerds. It does the same thing my previous measure of choice did (it takes points, assists, rebounds (offensive & defensive), steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls into account to determine an individual's "score" for a given game), only the formula is more used and accepted. The "adjustment" in Adjusted Game Score is simply matching the total game scores to the total points scored in the game, thereby redistributing the game's points scored to those who had the biggest impact on the game itself, instead of just how many balls a player put through a basket.

If Mizzou had won this game, chances are very good that a guy scoring in single digits would have been the MVP. JT Tiller (8 points), Justin Safford (9) and Keith Ramsey (8) were freaking outstanding.
Really, a disappointing final game of the season for Kim English, but...yeah, without English Mizzou would have been knocked out in the second round.

Keys to the Game Revisited

From this morning's preview.

Pace. This was a 72-possession game. That slightly favored Mizzou, but not nearly enough. Mizzou sped UConn up a couple of times, but one more good run of craziness could have made the difference.
DeMarre & Leo's Points Per Shot. Leo & DeMarre's points per shot in the first three games of the tournament: 1.46. Today: 1.00. An average of 1.46 would have meant another 12 points. In a 7-point loss.
The last five minutes of the first half. In the last five minutes of the half, UConn outscored Mizzou, 14-10, with Hasheem Thabeet on the bench. Mizzou had two opportunities on which they just couldn't cash in, and this was one of them (the other being the five minutes after Mizzou took the lead in the second half and UConn was severely on the ropes).

Mizzou vs NCAA Tournament

	Mizzou	Opp
Points Per Minute	2.11	1.94
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.17	1.08
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.30	1.26
2-PT FG%	54.6%	50.0%
3-PT FG%	30.3%	25.8%
FT%	69.8%	72.5%
True Shooting %	55.7%	52.9%

	Mizzou	Opp
Assists/Gm	17.8	12.5
Steals/Gm	7.3	4.0
Turnovers/Gm	7.3	13.0
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	3.45	1.27

	Mizzou	Opp
Expected Offensive Rebounds/Gm	13.3	13.5
Offensive Rebounds/Gm	10.8	14.8
Difference	-2.5	+1.3

Really just an outstanding set of numbers for a 4-game set against Cornell, Marquette, Memphis and UConn. Mizzou established its identity and won basically every category but rebounding.

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Line
DeMarre Carroll	16.44	0.56	14.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.3 SPG
J.T. Tiller	15.76	0.52	13.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 4.3 APG, 2.0 SPG
Leo Lyons	14.93	0.51	17.3 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 2.0 APG
Matt Lawrence	8.74	0.33	11.0 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.0 SPG
Zaire Taylor	8.19	0.28	8.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.3 SPG
Kim English	7.14	0.66	9.0 PPG, 1.5 RPG
Keith Ramsey	4.12	0.37	3.0 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 1.3 APG
Justin Safford	4.06	0.43	4.0 PPG, 1.8 RPG
Marcus Denmon	1.60	0.11	3.0 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 1.3 APG
Steve Moore	1.60	1.60	1 minute
Laurence Bowers	1.35	0.34	8 minutes
Miguel Paul	0.46	0.07	0.5 PPG, 1.3 APG
Jarrett Sutton	0.00	0.00	<1 minute
Michael Anderson Jr.	-0.06	-0.06	2 minutes

Compared to season averages, here are the players who outplayed their season AdjGS/min averages in the NCAA Tournament: Kim English (+0.35), JT Tiller (+0.14), Justin Safford (+0.09), Keith Ramsey (+0.03).
Here are the players who didn't outplay their season average (some of which is to be expected considering the jump in competition): Marcus Denmon (-0.21), Laurence Bowers (-0.17, albeit in an extremely small sample size), Miguel Paul (-0.12), Leo Lyons (-0.07), Matt Lawrence (-0.07), DeMarre Carroll (-0.06), Zaire Taylor (-0.03).

Plenty will be written in the next few days about what this season meant, how much we'll miss these seniors, how bright the future may be, etc., but for now I'll just say that I hope people enjoyed these wrap-ups (and previews), I hope people came to understand the team more because of them, and...well...only eight months until your next basketball stat preview! Start the countdown, and after a few days of post-mortem posting, flip the switch to football season!

You Never Know

Bill C. — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:00:10 -0000

I'm not going to lie. Four months ago, I was worried about this basketball program. And it really didn't even have that much to do with the team on the court. I was happy about the new blood, I thought a low seed in the NCAA Tournament was at least plausible enough to aim for it, and I still thought Mike Anderson really might be able to put together some winning records here.

That said, I was worried about the program as a whole, meaning fans, attendance, money generated, etc. There had been two entire four-year classes ('04-'07, '05-'08) that had come to the university and graduated without seeing their team go to the NCAA Tournament. That hadn't happened since well before I was born. The thought of having a great basketball program was something of a joke (I think we even made some of those jokes on RMN in a football podcast way back when). I mean, hell, look at how hard we were struggling to find great, encouraging things to say about the team not that long ago. Even if we snuck into the tourney as a 10-seed or something, would anybody notice? That's the basketball version of making the Independence Bowl. Would a connection still have been made?

Now look at us. Again, I'm not necessarily talking about the 30 wins, the Sweet Sixteen, and the Big 12 Tournament title, though that's been absolutely fantastic. I'm talking about more than that. In just four months (and really, it's been less than three), this university has grown to love its basketball team again.

Everything that happened to connect Mizzou Football to its fans in the last couple of years--the personalities (Daniel, 'Spoon, MotherRucker), the sick athletes (Maclin, Willy Mo), the wins (I don't know if you've heard this, but we won 30 games in three years), the forever-memorable moments (Sod Reesing, the Cotton Bowl, Maclin's kick returns, Coffman's nunchuk thrusts), the SI covers--has happened to Missouri basketball. Personality? This team has DeMarre's hair, and Leo's humor, and Goose's self-deprecation, and Zaire sticking out his tongue, and JT Tiller's lack of regard for human life. Wins? This team has more wins than any Mizzou squad has ever compiled. Moments? How about the win over Kansas? Kim English's free-throws against Marquette? Zaire's drive against Texas? Laurence Bowers' SportsCenter dunks? Goose's clutch 3's in the Big 12 tourney? JT Tiller's jump balls against Kansas? Is that enough for you? How about the win in Stillwater? The absolute destruction of team after team in Mizzou Arena? JYD's timely putbacks? Hell, they even had a (regional) SI cover as well.

How far have we come? Four months ago, Zaire Taylor was a decent defensive point guard who didn't shoot enough. Now he's Mr. Coffee. Always Be Closing. Four months ago, Laurence Bowers was a thin, anonymous freshman forward with some athletic ability. Now he's the Party Starter. Four months ago, Kim English was a lovable gymrat who talked a big game but had plenty to learn about how to play college basketball. Now he's put together possibly the most successful, most memorable postseason performance ever for a Mizzou freshman.

And it goes on. Four months ago, Matt Lawrence was a much-maligned three-point specialist who, for long stretches of time, couldn't even seem to specialize in three-pointers. He was given the nickname of Grey Goose, and not necessarily as a compliment. Now he's GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!! Four months ago, DeMarre Carroll was a scrappy player, fun to watch, but limited in size and shooting ability. Now he's JYD, a rangy, rugged all-conference forward in a conference full of great forwards.

Four months ago, JT Tiller was an intense, rather out-of-control guard who had brilliant stretches of defensive play among brainfarts and foul trouble. Now, he's not only Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, but (listen up, Marquette fans) also a ballsy, clutch shooter (see: two FTs against Marquette with 90 seconds left, go-ahead jumper against KU with 50 seconds left).

And then there's Leo. Four months ago, Leo Lyons was an enigmatic, moody, rather schizophrenic player who could be amazing one moment and pouting on the bench for most of a game the next. Now, he's Good Leo, an enigmatic, moody, rather schizophrenic player who has been amazing for most of his only NCAA Tournament, who never turned his brain off after getting pushed and hacked for a good portion of the second half against Marquette, and who persevered in the form of a clutch 3-point play and three big-time free throws in the last minute. Against heavy odds, Leo will end up being remembered for his play down the stretch of his senior season* instead of the suspensions and frustrating tendencies of his first 3.5 seasons.

* And for Leo Lyons' Planet.

And possibly most importantly, four months ago, Mike Anderson was a likable coach who brought an entertaining brand of basketball to Columbia, but who hadn't shown many game-coaching chops, had briefly let bad characters take over his program, and was already having his name come up in the "I'm not saying he has to win this season, but he might not get more than four seasons if Mizzou doesn't start to improve" type of speculation. No one knew if his style would work in the Big 12, if his program would be able to attract the caliber of athletes it would take to succeed with his style, if he would be able to guide Mizzou to the NCAA Tourney, or if the fans would ever come back en masse to Mizzou Arena.

Now, he's the subject of the "Other teams want our coach because he's so great" type of speculation. If there's a cloud in the Mizzou sky right now, it's because of the lingering (and small) possibility that he still may be coaching elsewhere next year. But that cloud is slowly dissipating, and besides...next year is next year, and memories don't go away. Missouri is back, and it is because of Mike Anderson.

I mentioned yesterday that when Missouri faces a game they're supposed to lose, I start getting defiantly confident as game time approaches. But despite my own confidence, I realize that when Missouri and Memphis tip off at 8:37(ish) tonight, it very well might be the last time we see Leo Lyons, DeMarre Carroll, and Matt Lawrence in a Missouri uniform. Hell, I doubt it, but this could be the last time we see Mike Anderson roaming the Missouri sideline. A lot could change after tonight, but what won't is the simple fact that Missouri loves its basketball again, and watching and feeling this unexpected connection this team's players and coaches--every single one of them--has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've had as a fan.

Once again, I'm not going to lie. I look at these pictures, and as they say, it gets a little dusty in my house. It's hard to believe that something so simple (sports team wins games, fans rejoice) could end up being so emotionally, and unexpectedly, satisfying as this 2008-09 basketball season has been. Win or lose tonight, the impact has been made. You truly never know when seasons like this will come about (if they ever will, or if they ever will again), and while you live your life as a sports fan full of hope and faith (and lots of frustration), you have to hold closely the great moments that do happen, and there's just no question that I'll remember every moment of this season for a long, long time. To DeMarre Carroll, Leo Lyons, Matt Lawrence, Zaire Taylor, J.T. Tiller, Kim English, Laurence Bowers, Justin Safford, Keith Ramsey, Marcus Denmon, Miguel Paul, Steve Moore, Jarrett Sutton, and Michael Anderson Jr., I salute you.

(Or as Norman Dale would say, "I love you guys.")

But all that said, why don't we keep this train rolling for another few games?

Mizzou-Cornell: Statistical Round of 32!

Bill C. — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:00:12 -0000

Yeah, no way am I not patting myself on the back for this one. Nailed it...for once. Poor shooting and paranoid offense (doing whatever it took to avoid a turnover) kept the first half slow and close. In the second half...not so much. Mizzou once again methodically wore their opponent down and pulled away.

NCAA Basketball Stats

	Mizzou	Big Red
Points Per Minute	1.95	1.48
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.26	0.95
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.32	0.92
2-PT FG%	59.0%	39.5%
3-PT FG%	25.0%	28.6%
FT%	89.5%	58.3%
True Shooting %	57.9%	42.6%

	Mizzou	Big Red
Assists	19	11
Steals	4	1
Turnovers	4	9
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	5.75	1.33

	Mizzou	Big Red
Expected Offensive Rebounds	11	15
Offensive Rebounds	9	17
Difference	-2	+2

While Mizzou's BCI was thrown out of whack in the first half because of only one turnover, check out CU's:

First Half BCI: Cornell 2.00 (6 assists, 3 turnovers)
Second Half BCI: Cornell 1.00 (5 assists, 1 steal, 6 turnovers)
If there's a concern to take from this game, it's simply that Cornell rebounded well. A 4-board margin based on expected rebounds is pretty hefty, and while CU's actually bigger than Marquette, they're not that much bigger. Mizzou will simply have to rebound better on Sunday.

Player Stats

NCAA Basketball Stats

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Line
Leo Lyons	23.27	0.80	23 Pts, 10 Reb (4 Off), 2 Ast, 0 TO
DeMarre Carroll	18.46	0.60	13 Pts, 7 Reb, 5 Ast, 2 Stl, 0 TO
Kim English	13.11	1.19	13 Pts, 2 Reb
J.T. Tiller	9.72	0.34	11 Pts, 6 Reb, 6 Ast
Zaire Taylor	5.68	0.17	8 Pts
Keith Ramsey	4.48	0.32	4 Pts
Justin Safford	1.86	0.37	0 Pts, 3 Reb
Steve Moore	1.42	1.42	2 Pts
Michael Anderson Jr.	0.33	0.33
Jarrett Sutton	0.00	0.00
Marcus Denmon	-0.22	-0.01	2 Pts, 2 Reb, 2 Ast
Matt Lawrence	-0.33	-0.01	2 Pts (on 7 shots), 2 Stl
Miguel Paul	-0.44	-0.09

I think it's safe to say that anytime DeMarre and Leo combine for 7 assists and 0 turnovers, Mizzou's going to win the game. Combined with 13-for-23 shooting (9-for-9 from the FT line), 4 offensive rebounds (all from Leo), 13 defensive rebounds, 2 steals and a block (from DeMarre), and...yeah, Mizzou's senior bigs came through in a major, major way.
Kim English in the last two games: 5-for-8 from 3-point range, 5-for-5 from the FT line, 20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover. It appears he's (however momentarily) plowed back through the freshman wall. Which is a good thing because...well, Goose was bad today. Really bad.
JT Tiller did have three of MU's four turnovers, but otherwise he had a Tiller-esque game: 11 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists...and Ryan Wittman went 2-for-7 from 3-point land.
So um...Laurence Bowers?

Keys to the Game Revisited

(From Monday's Preview)

The 3-pointer. Take Kim English out of the picture, and Mizzou shot 2-for-16 from 3-point land. That could have killed Mizzou against a better team, but luckily Cornell was pretty miserable too, going just 6-for-21. Harvard needed to go about 11-for-21 to have a chance.
The offensive glass. Cause for concern. Cornell grabbed too many of them, and Mizzou didn't grab enough.
Turnovers. Cornell only had 9 turnovers (4 from Mizzou steals), but according to Mike Anderson, they were so focused on holding onto the ball that they were quite distracted from actually running their offense, so...in a roundabout way this was still a winner for MU.

Marquette-Utah State

So while we eagerly await ghtd36's next Better Know an Opponent piece, let's check out what we can glean from Marquette beyond this week's earlier preview.

NCAA Basketball Stats

	Marquette	USU
Points Per Minute	1.45	1.43
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.01	0.99
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.23	1.08
2-PT FG%	42.9%	50.0%
3-PT FG%	26.3%	30.4%
FT%	82.6%	75.0%
True Shooting %	50.8%	50.4%

	Marquette	USU
Assists	7	11
Steals	4	2
Turnovers	9	9
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	1.22	1.44

	Marquette	USU
Expected Offensive Rebounds	11	11
Offensive Rebounds	10	7
Difference	-1	-4

The Golden Eagles held a very strong offensive rebounding team to an extremely poor showing on the boards--if Utah State had just grabbed an average number of offensive boards, they'd have probably won the game. This could be a strength against Mizzou, especially if the Tigers are shooting poorly again.
Marquette managed only 7 assists in 17 FGs, and against a defense that allows a pretty high BCI, they had a pretty poor one.
Maurice Acker (Dominic James' replacement): 24 minutes, 5 points, 2 assists. Meanwhile, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews shot 6-for-26 (1-for-9 frmo 3-point range) and had 3 assists and 7 turnovers. Almost no way do they play that poorly again on Sunday, but the turnovers are an encouraging sign, to be sure.
The game was played very much at USU's pace (62 possessions), and if Marquette's that susceptible to Mizzou's pace, this thin team (they played 7 guys against USU) will be dead tired with 10 minutes left.

Sunday prediction (since I clearly know what I'm talking about, ahem): Mizzou shoots poorly enough and Marquette rebounds well enough to take a lead into halftime, but (get this) Mizzou wears the Eagles down in the second half and moves on with a 78-69 win.

Mizzou-Tech: Statistical Bucking the Trend

Bill C. — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:30:06 -0000

Another quick runthrough today...

NCAA Basketball Stats

	Mizzou	Tech
Points Per Minute	2.03	1.50
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.24	0.92
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.45	1.09
2-PT FG%	61.4%	40.0%
3-PT FG%	33.3%	26.7%
FT%	65.2%	72.7%
True Shooting %	61.3%	46.4%

	Mizzou	Tech
Assists	16	12
Steals	8	4
Turnovers	11	14
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	2.18	1.14

	Mizzou	Tech
Expected Offensive Rebounds	10	13
Offensive Rebounds	12	13
Difference	+2	+0

Shooting better. dominating BCI, winning the rebounding battle. Pretty sure Mizzou will always win when they manage all three of those.
We're not going to go into huge statistical detail, but here are some quick 1st Half vs 2nd Half numbers:

First Half BCI: Mizzou 1.00, Tech 1.25
Second Half BCI: Mizzou 5.33, Tech 1.00

Actually, that's pretty much all you need to know. Both teams shot roughly the same in the first and second halves, but when the ball wasn't in the air, Mizzou was dominating in the second 20 minutes.

Oh yeah, and Mizzou outrebounded Tech 21-12 in the second half as well. Tech lost its legs, and Mizzou found fifth gear. It's a pretty thing to watch.

Player Stats

NCAA Basketball Stats

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Line
DeMarre Carroll	16.65	0.57	19 Pts, 5 Reb
Zaire Taylor	15.70	0.60	8 Pts, 7 Reb, 7 Ast, 2 Blk
J.T. Tiller	12.25	0.42	13 Pts, 3 Reb, 2 Ast
Matt Lawrence	11.42	0.71	13 Pts, 2 Reb
Leo Lyons	10.94	0.48	9 Pts, 9 Reb (4 Off), 3 Ast
Justin Safford	6.54	0.47	7 Pts, 3 Reb
Miguel Paul	5.00	0.25	7 Pts, 2 Reb
Marcus Denmon	2.74	0.20	4 Pts, 2 Ast
Jarrett Sutton	1.19	1.19	1 minute
Keith Ramsey	1.07	0.09	0 Pts
Michael Anderson Jr.	0.83	0.21	4 minutes
Steve Moore	0.36	0.18	2 minutes
Laurence Bowers	-0.95	-0.48	2 minutes
Kim English	-3.09	-0.39	1 Pt

Thank goodness the starters came to play (at least in the second half) because the bench left much to be desired. Miguel Paul was EASILY the second-best bench player last night, if that tells you anything.
That sounded like more of a dig on Paul than I intended--he played pretty well last night, and as The Beef mentioned, making a couple shots could do wonders for his confidence.
What a quietly great game from Mr. Coffee last night. More minutes, and he may have flirted with a Jason Kidd-esque 10-10-10 triple double.
Not much you can say about DeMarre and Tiller (other than "Hey Fran Frischilla, you've done way too many Mizzou games this year to screw up nicknames as badly as you did last night. JYD = DeMarre, not Tiller."). They played very DeMarre- and Tiller-like games last night, and they were the reason Mizzou outscored Tech at a 50-29 clip in the second half.
More good minutes from Justin Safford. Everybody knows I'm a Bowers man, but this is a very positive development.
Kimmie...man, I love you and all, but damn. I hope you've been saving all your good play for future moments in the postseason because it's been a while since you played with confidence.
All Goose did was score--his only other non-zeroes in the box score were two defensive rebounds and a foul--but this team was points-challenged for a while, and Goose came through with what was needed.

Keys to the Game Revisited

(From Thursday's Preview)

Foul trouble. Fouls were evenly distributed--22 for Tech, 21 for Mizzou--but Mizzou's were spread out. Tech's were much more costly--five in 28 minutes for Nick Okorie, who was about the only Red Raider shooting well, and four in 18 minutes for bench catalyst Darko Cohadarevic. Win.
The 3-pointer. Tech can beat anybody if one of their guards gets hot from long-range, but they were only 4-for-15 last night. Mizzou allowed very few open looks, and it showed--Alan Voskuil was 1-for-7, John Roberson 0-for-3. Okorie could have gotten really hot if not for foul trouble--he was 3-for-4. But overall...win.
Turnovers. Tech cut their turnovers in half from their first meeting with Mizzou--from 29 to 14. That would be a win for Tech, only a) Mizzou had only 11 turnovers, and b) the improvement in turnovers coincided with a slide in rebounding differential. We'll call this one a draw.

Alright, same time and place tonight, folks. I must say, I think OSU's going to play VERY well tonight.

That said, I've been wrong about just about everything Big 12 Tourney-related, and I clearly don't know what I'm talking about. So with that in mind...OSU 74, Mizzou 70. Heh heh heh...

Unheralded moments that changed Missouri's Big 12 season: Mikey's Moment

RPT — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:00:09 -0000

In this four-part series leading up to Missouri's debut at the Big 12 Championship on Thursday, rptgwb will take a look at some of the smaller moments that played a huge role in shaping Missouri's run through the Big 12. Today, this installment examines one of the biggest moments of one of Missouri's biggest wins, thanks to a limited but inspired performance that very few saw coming.

Mikey's Moment

The Date: March 4, 2009
The Game: Mizzou vs. Oklahoma
The Place: Mizzou Arena
The Result: 73-64 W
The Moment: "Michael Anderson Jr. defensive rebound (18:34), DeMarre Carroll made layup, Michael Anderson Jr. assist (18:21)"

Why it mattered: We all knew coach Mike Anderson loved letting his seniors start on Senior Night. Then again, never before in his tenure did he have a chance to knock off a Top 5 team to complete a perfect home season to worry about.

Nevertheless, Anderson stuck to his convictions, and Coach Mike had the honor of watching Player Mike have his name announced in the starting lineup. If nothing else, the appearance in the starting lineup was going to be an admirable gesture, a bullet that had to be bitten as a way to say thank you for the time Junior had given to the program. Instead, we were all treated to one of the more surprising, inspired five minutes of basketball we've seen from a player all year.

As The Boy noted in the March 5 RMN Weekly Podcast, it seemed like a classic case were Missouri would call a quick timeout to get Mikey off the floor and try to minimize the early damage from Oklahoma. What does Mikey do? He comes out with the fire and intensity you expect from Anderson's players, much less his direct descendants. Mikey got on the stat sheet after collecting a rebound on a missed shot by Austin Johnson and then setting up DeMarre Carroll 13 seconds later to record an assist.

Over the course of the next two minutes, Anderson Jr. may have played a larger role than we realize even today. MA Jr. came up with two steals, both off of mistakes by Oklahoma's sensational freshman Willie Warren. Warren finished with the night with only seven points and a total of four turnovers, perhaps rattled early by the likes of Anderson Jr., Missouri's relentless style of basketball, and a Mizzou Arena crowd that only fueled the intensity.

When it was all said and done, Mikey's one minute of fame turned into five minutes of glory. And, more importantly, it gave Missouri a 13-8 lead at the time of his exit (13-5 before a three-point play from Taylor Griffin). In a game that was about being perfect at home and making a statement after an embarrassing loss a few days earlier, it was not Leo, DeMarre, or J.T. that set the tone. Nope. It was quiet ol' Michael Anderson Jr. enforcing Missouri's will and setting the Tigers on the path to another program-establishing win. Here's to you, Mikey.

Mizzou-ATM: Statistical Oh Well

Bill C. — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:34:37 -0000

Well...if you're going to lose by 10 to a team you're supposed to beat, and you're going to (momentarily) lose any chance you have of sharing the Big 12 title, this is the way you want it to happen--with the other team's bench playing unsustainably well (unsustainable = good, since Mizzou and ATM will quite likely be meeting again next week), with a few important guys (Goose, Taylor, and Safford from long range...plus DeMarre from the FT line) finding their shooting rhythm in the second half, and with the whole team almost making an unbelievable second-half comeback. One or two more buckets, and the last two minutes might have unfolded in a completely different way. ATM deserved to win, but Mizzou never quit. Moral Victories R Us!

Let's take a look at the stats...from a "what happens when we (probably) play them Thursday night" perspective.

NCAA Basketball Stats

	Mizzou	ATM
Points Per Minute	2.13	2.40
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.17	1.32
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.47	1.92
2-PT FG%	52.6%	69.7%
3-PT FG%	55.0%	47.1%
FT%	59.1%	74.3%
True Shooting %	62.8%	73.4%

	Mizzou	ATM
Assists	17	15
Steals	8	7
Turnovers	14	14
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	1.79	1.57

	Mizzou	ATM
Expected Offensive Rebounds	11	8
Offensive Rebounds	9	7
Difference	-2	-1

After the hot second half, Mizzou finished the game having shot 7.6% above their conference true shooting % (55.2%). ATM, 21.7% above (51.7%). They were almost automatic from inside the 3-point line and, in the first half, almost automatic from outside it too.
Meanwhile, Mizzou got nowhere near their conference average BCI of 2.31, actually even falling below ATM's 1.85 allowed. A 1.79 BCI for Missouri against a weak defense is like a Tom Osborne's Nebraska teams rushing for 175 yards against somebody like Missouri or Iowa State a decade or two ago--it's a decent number, but it shouldn't have happened.
A&M's own 1.57 was well above their conference average (1.15) as well. When it's your night (or afternoon), it's your night (or afternoon). Mizzou just couldn't force enough turnovers, and whether that's because they weren't making enough shots to set up the press, or if ATM was just in a great rhythm and had a great gameplan, I'm not sure. Guess we'll see if these two teams play again.
Mizzou got just close enough to mourn that their poor FT% could have made a difference. While DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons went a solid 7-for-10 from the line, the rest of the team (i.e. the backcourt, for the most part) went a stunning 4-for-10. Normally when MU's struggled from the line, it's been because of DeMarre, or maybe Keith Ramsey, laying some bricks. But if you take out JT Tiller's 3-for-4, the combination of Kimmie English, Marcus Denmon, Matt Lawrence and Justin Safford went 1-for-6. That can't happen.
One positive for Mizzou--rebounding was even. If you'd have told me that before the game, I'd have been convinced that Mizzou won by 15. Whoops.

Player Stats

NCAA Basketball Stats

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Line
Zaire Taylor	22.44	0.75	17 Pts, 4 Ast
DeMarre Carroll	20.71	0.74	18 Pts, 6 Reb, 4 Ast
Justin Safford	15.53	0.74	15 Pts, 3 Reb
Leo Lyons	10.21	0.64	11 Pts, 4 Reb
Matt Lawrence	10.07	0.37	13 Pts, 2 Reb
Keith Ramsey	5.32	0.41	2 Pts, 2 Ast
Marcus Denmon	1.15	0.07	1 Pt, 2 Stl
Michael Anderson Jr.	1.01	0.20	0 Pts, 1 Ast
J.T. Tiller	0.43	0.02	5 Pts, 3 Ast, 4 TO
Laurence Bowers	0.00	0.00	2 Pts
Miguel Paul	-1.01	-0.34	0 Pts
Kim English	-2.73	-0.23	2 Pts, 2 Reb

Seriously, if you think of every hot shooting streak Zaire Taylor has had, it's almost completely been when Mizzou was down big. He's an interesting combination of a stat-padder and...well, Mr. Coffee.
DeMarre looked completely harmless for about the first 32 minutes of the game, and then when ATM started guarding the 3-point line, DeMarre went to town and took the reins on the comeback attempt.
The 'backup bigs' hierarchy from the last seven days: 1) Justin Safford, 2) Laurence Bowers, 3) Keith Ramsey. Yeah, I wouldn't have guessed that either. Safford has either turned the corner and become a viable weapon for Missouri, or he's hit a hot streak, but either way...it was well-timed. Especially since Ramsey's confidence hasn't been lower all season.
For those wondering why Leo Lyons barely touched the floor in the second half, here's a small explanation.

Lyons hobbled off the court with 14:26 to play in the first half. A trainer appeared to briefly examine his right knee, and Lyons went back in for an eight-minute stretch.

But the senior forward, who finished with 11 points on 4 for 12 shooting, played only two minutes in the second half.

“We just had some other guys,” Anderson said. “He’s probably banged up, but we had some other guys. I thought they gave us the energy, and that’s what we were looking for.”

So there you go.
Last time JT Tiller had a game this bad (at K-State), he followed it up with a month of almost flawless play. Just sayin'.
I once again will have trouble complaining about Laurence Bowers' three minutes of P.T., especially since DeMarre was great and even Leo Lyons took a backseat to Unstoppable Force Justin Safford (and Matt Lawrence was playing very well at SF to boot), but still...you're attempting a 25-point comeback, and your best overall athlete is sitting fresh on the bench. Not saying I'd have been able to do much differently, but being that I'm the president of the Bowers Needs More Floor Time Committee (or, BNMFTC), I had to mention it.

And since neither Mizzou's nor ATM's sites provided 1st half vs 2nd half data, we'll at least take a look at ATM's player stats to see who played okay and who played at a much, much higher level than normal.

A&M Player Stats

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Avg/Gm (Conf)
B.J. Holmes	16.59	0.64	8.74 (+7.85)
Bryan Davis	14.38	0.51	9.28 (+5.10)
Josh Carter	12.66	0.47	15.46 (-2.80)
Donald Sloan	12.41	0.40	8.45 (+3.96)
Nathan Walkup	12.17	0.61	1.69 (+10.48)
Derrick Roland	9.83	0.35	6.27 (+3.56)
Dash Harris	6.51	0.47	1.05 (+5.46)
David Loubeau	6.39	0.40	3.82 (+2.57)
Chinemelu Elonu	5.04	0.50	13.67 (-8.63)

So ATM's two best players (Carter, Elonu) played well below their average (a combined -11.43), and that probably won't happen next week if Mizzou and ATM play again--they'll probably be worth at least another 6-8 points. But...
The ATM bench (Holmes, Loubeau, Harris, Walkup) was worth 26.36 points more than in the normal game. Some of that can be attributed to the fact that Carter spent part of the first half hurt, and Elonu spent most of the game in foul trouble. Plus, you always have to figure that matchups will account for some of the skews from average. But come on...26.36 points? Also, look at the per-minute averages. If you've been reading these posts for the last couple of months, you've seen that bench numbers are usually pretty scattered--a couple of guys are probably going to put up per-minute averages of higher than 0.30 or 0.40, and a couple are probably going to do almost nothing (0.00 or a negative number). Only one ATM player averaged less than 0.40 AdjGS per minute. That's almost certainly not going to happen again next week, no matter how hot ATM is right now.
If Mizzou and ATM play next week and ATM wins again (always possible), it's likely going to be because they played well in the typical way ATM plays well--with Davis and Elonu grabbing a ton of rebounds and Carter and Sloan making big shots. Walkup and Holmes, at the very least, probably won't do nearly as much, win or lose.
I should also mention, by the way, that the last time a team played that well against Mizzou in the first half (KU), they turned around and laid a big, fat midweek egg against Texas Tech. So all of this talk about what might happen when Mizzou and ATM play again could be made moot Wednesday night.

Keys to the Game Revisited

(From Friday's Preview)

Pace. Swing and a miss by me. Each team had about 72 possessions in this game...which is EXACTLY where Mizzou wanted this game to be played (ATM games are usually around 64 possessions).
The 3-pointer. ATM couldn't miss in the first half, but it wasn't Josh Carter who did them in. It was Nathan Walkup (3-for-4), Donald Sloan (2-for-3), and B.J. Holmes (2-for-5). In the second half, Mizzou almost pulled off a miraculous comeback because they couldn't miss, but the damage of the first half was clearly costly, and it was the 3-pointer that did the most damage.

If Mizzou is to play ATM again in a week, odds say they won't have to worry about being killed by Walkup...but Josh Carter really didn't have to do much yesterday--he could do more damage later on.
Turnovers. Mizzou had 14 turnovers, which isn't too bad for them--they had a ton in the first half when ATM was making its move, but for 40 minutes, 14's not bad. Problem was, ATM also had only 14...which was a killer. ATM was much better handling the ball than they could normally be expected, and whether that's because of their great play, or Mizzou's poor play, or bad calls, or whatever, it was what it was.

vs Big 12
Mizzou: 12-4

	Mizzou	Opp.
Points Per Minute	1.96	1.75
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.08	0.97
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.30	1.24
2-PT FG%	50.4%	48.3%
3-PT FG%	37.8%	34.5%
FT%	68.5%	68.7%
True Shooting %	55.6%	53.0%

	Mizzou	Opp.
Assists	281	206
Steals	159	102
Turnovers	194	299
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	2.27	1.03

	Mizzou	Opp.
Expected Offensive Rebounds	203	198
Offensive Rebounds	168	197
Difference	-35	-1

Player	AdjGS/Gm*	GS/Min	Line
DeMarre Carroll	18.43	0.62	17.4 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 2.4 APG
Leo Lyons	13.20	0.59	14.1 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.7 APG
J.T. Tiller	9.42	0.38	8.6 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.7 APG
Zaire Taylor	9.20	0.33	6.8 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 3.8 APG
Matt Lawrence	6.52	0.32	7.5 PPG, 1.9 RPG
Marcus Denmon	5.94	0.32	6.8 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 1.3 APG
Laurence Bowers	4.49	0.68	3.7 PPG, 1.9 RPG
Keith Ramsey	4.43	0.29	3.8 PPG, 2.5 RPG
Kim English	4.09	0.25	6.0 PPG, 1.6 RPG, 1.2 APG
Justin Safford	2.95	0.40	3.0 PPG, 1.6 RPG
Miguel Paul	0.84	0.10	1.6 PPG
Michael Anderson Jr.	0.39	0.09	0.0 PPG
Jarrett Sutton	0.21	0.10	1 walk-on
Steve Moore	-0.37	-0.13	1 Truman Patriot

So Mizzou finishes the BIg 12 season having basically broken even on defensive rebounds, but coming up short on the offensive boards. You'd have thought with this system it may have been the obvious.
The shooting success of KU and ATM at the end of the season have hurt Mizzou's true shooting % defense. At this point they're a team that allows an average shooting % but still forces enough turnovers to win most games easily.
DeMarre Carroll: first-team all-conference.

And even though we lost, there's a prime opportunity for a photoshop job that shouldn't go to waste...

Do your worst.

Mizzou-Oklahoma: Statistical Thanks to the Seniors

Bill C. — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:00:11 -0000

The four seniors on this team have been through a ridiculous number of highs and lows. Two of them--Matt Lawrence and Leo Lyons--were part of Quin Snyder's last recruiting class and have experienced MAJOR ups and downs in terms of production level and (in Lyons' case) engagement with the team. But they've been two of the more unique and enigmatic players Mizzou has had in a long, long time, and it's absolutely thrilling that they can end their careers in the NCAA Tournament.

DeMarre Carroll, on the other hand, wasn't a Quin guy. He was in Mike Anderson's blood. He came to Mizzou because of his uncle, but anybody who saw him failing to hold it together during the Senior Night ceremonies knows how much this place means to him now. In just one season, we've gone from complaining/worrying about dreadful attendance to selling out (or almost selling out) every game. And considering DeMarre has been the face and personality of this program this year (or the valedictorian, as Mitch Holtus referred to him last night), that has to mean more to him than anybody else.

Not only did all three of these players contribute mightily to a win last night...but so did fellow senior Michael Anderson Jr., who played the five minutes of his life in starting. I think we're all excited about where this program is headed, but this team loses a lot of both talent and personality when these seniors head off into the sunset.

NCAA Basketball Stats

	Mizzou	OU
Points Per Minute	1.83	1.60
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.04	0.92
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.14	1.07
2-PT FG%	47.7%	50.0%
3-PT FG%	35.0%	22.2%
FT%	58.8%	52.6%
True Shooting %	51.1%	46.8%

	Mizzou	OU
Assists	13	13
Steals	12	5
Turnovers	9	22
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	2.78	0.82

	Mizzou	OU
Expected Offensive Rebounds	14	14
Offensive Rebounds	10	21
Difference	-4	+7

Neither team shot very well last night--both teams' True Shooting % was well below average. OU had a TS% of 60.1% in Big 12 play and was held over 13% below that; meanwhile, Mizzou was closer to their average of 55.5% but still 4% below.
BCI! BCI! A low number of assists for the Tigers, but the steal and turnover numbers were drastically in Mizzou's favor. And as usual, that made the difference in the game.
Mizzou got off to a VERY hot start on the boards...and then OU dominated. I would, however, love to see the number of points OU and MU got off of putbacks. It seemed like every Mizzou offensive rebound ended up in a bucket.

Player Stats

NCAA Basketball Stats

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Line
DeMarre Carroll	19.74	0.58	15 Pts, 10 Reb (4 Off)
Zaire Taylor	14.03	0.54	10 Pts, 3 Reb, 3 Ast, 3 Stl, 4 PF
J.T. Tiller	12.73	0.64	13 Pts, 2 Reb, 3 Ast, 4 PF
Justin Safford!	9.74	1.39	6 Pts, 3 Reb, 3 Stl
Leo Lyons	7.01	0.26	15 Pts, 2 Reb, 5 TO, 4 PF
Matt Lawrence	5.85	0.28	7 Pts, 4 Reb
Marcus Denmon	5.85	0.22	6 Pts, 3 Reb, 2 Ast
Michael Anderson Jr.	2.99	0.60	0 Pts, 2 Stl
Laurence Bowers	1.69	0.56	0 Pts, 2 Reb
Keith Ramsey	-0.52	-0.06	0 Pts, another missed layup
Miguel Paul	-2.34	-0.29	0 Pts
Kim English	-3.77	-0.27	1 Pt

Typical reliable game from JYD. Nothing crazy in the BCI department--just points and rebounds and hustle.
Meanwhile, Leo had a surprisingly poor game in the box score. I didn't realize as the game was progressing that he was struggling so much with turnovers--I just noticed the Good Leo plays. But with Bad Leo committing 5 TOs and 4 fouls, that significantly impacted the overall numbers. Lost in the box score, however, was the defensive job Leo did on Blake Griffin. Griffin scored only 5 points after halftime and was harassed into 6 turnovers. The TOs mostly came from double-teams and team pressure, but Lyons' on-ball and post-up defense kept BG from getting too many easy looks. Really, even when he was scoring 11 points in the first half, four of those points came off of jumpers that you'll HAPPILY let BG take any time. Fantastic job in your last home game, Good Leo.
Two VERY unsung Tigers combined for 12 huge minutes. Justin Safford, who has undoubtedly been outplayed by Laurence Bowers over the last two months, had easily the best game of his career last night. In just 7 minutes, he managed 6 points (on two unlikely 3-pointers), 3 defensive rebounds, and 3 huge steals, at least two of which came directly from Griffin. He even got in Griffin's face a couple times, almost overdoing the "I'm not scared of you" gambit, but not quite.

Meanwhile...how about Michael Anderson Jr.?? We were worried that Papa Anderson was going to need to call a pretty quick timeout early in the game to get him out of there after giving him the start. Instead, Jeff Capel had to call timeout five minutes into the game because Mizzou was playing so well with Junior on the court (up 13-5). I love the idea of the +/- measure despite its obvious flaws (who else was on the court while your +/- was going up or down?), but there's no questioning that Junior's +8 from last night, while on the court with nine other starters, was well-earned. Kudos, Junior.
You know Safford must have played well when I'm not even getting cranky about Bowers only playing 3 minutes.

(Okay, I'm still a little cranky about it, but that's just because I am who I am.)
You could tell Goose was a little amped early, as most of his missed jumpers went long, but he still managed 21 solid (and needed) minutes. Why needed? Because Kimmie English continues to struggle mightily. Another game with a negative AdjGS for #24. I do believe he may have left his jumper in Boulder.
Meanwhile, 26 HUGE minutes from Marcus Denmon, who has shown a lot of calmness and steely play in pressure situations ever since his near-meltdown against OSU (Remember that 6-point play? Seems like three years ago, doesn't it?). Denmon only went 2-for-8 from the field, but both makes came at big times, and he continues to play noticeably strong team defense and puts together a few rebounds and assists each game.
Keith Ramsey has NOT had a good few games. He still plays good defense, but his offense has been dreadful. He's missed at LEAST three layups in the last two games. Jarrid Famous, we need your offensive ability next year. DeMarcus Cousins, you too (that's right, we're strangely back on his list now).
Hustle & Flow: 26.76 AdjGS points. Both guards averaged over 0.50 per minute, which is a VERY nice rate for the two guys who handled the ball the most. Six assists, two turnovers, four steals, oh yeah and 8-for-15 shooting from the field in 46 minutes. Outstanding.

Keys to the Game Revisited

(From Yesterday's Preview)

The number '3'. Mizzou needed to limit OU's 3-point shooting and 3-point plays. OU shot 4-for-18 from 3-point range (win), and while Taylor Griffin had, I think, three 3-point plays, I'm not sure Blake Griffin had any. Not more than one, anyway. Win. Mizzou did a good job of, when they were beaten, accepting they were beaten and moving on to the next play. Even when Juan Pattillo had that monster dunk after the offensive rebound, and it looked like OU was about to on a run, Mizzou immediately answered and stretched the lead back to double digits. They had the answer all night, and they REALLY had the perimeter defense all night.
The last five minutes of the first half. Last five minutes: Mizzou 13, Oklahoma 7. Win.
Turnovers. Turnovers: OU 22, Mizzou 9. BCI: MU 2.78, OU 0.82. Win. Oh yeah, and Blake Griffin had six turnovers of his own. Win win.

vs Big 12
Mizzou: 12-3

	Mizzou	Opp.
Points Per Minute	1.95	1.71
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.08	0.95
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.29	1.20
2-PT FG%	50.2%	47.1%
3-PT FG%	36.6%	33.8%
FT%	69.1%	68.1%
True Shooting %	55.2%	51.7%

	Mizzou	Opp.
Assists	264	191
Steals	151	95
Turnovers	180	285
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	2.31	1.00

	Mizzou	Opp.
Expected Offensive Rebounds	192	190
Offensive Rebounds	160	190
Difference	-32	+0

Player	AdjGS/Gm*	GS/Min	Line
DeMarre Carroll	18.26	0.62	17.3 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 2.3 APG
Leo Lyons	13.36	0.59	14.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 1.8 APG
J.T. Tiller	9.91	0.40	8.8 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.7 APG
Zaire Taylor	8.42	0.31	6.1 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 3.7 APG
Matt Lawrence	6.30	0.32	7.1 PPG, 1.9 RPG
Marcus Denmon	6.20	0.33	7.2 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 1.4 APG
Laurence Bowers	4.76	0.69	3.9 PPG, 2.1 RPG
Kim English	4.47	0.27	6.3 PPG, 1.6 RPG, 1.2 APG
Keith Ramsey	4.37	0.28	3.9 PPG, 2.7 RPG
Justin Safford	2.23	0.35	2.2 PPG, 1.5 RPG
Miguel Paul	0.94	0.10	1.7 PPG, 1.0 APG
Jarrett Sutton	0.21	0.10	1 great walk-on
Michael Anderson Jr.	0.32	0.08	1 great senior night!
Steve Moore	-0.37	-0.13	1 Truman Patriot

I'm not sure when Justin Safford passed Keith Ramsey on a per-minute basis, but he has. Meanwhile, the per-minute stats as a whole are certainly falling--only four players are averaging over 0.35 AdjGS/min, though clearly that's not a tremendous concern, as Mizzou is 25-5. Twenty-five and freaking five!
(And yes, there's Party Starter Laurence Bowers still cranking at a 0.69 per minute rate.)
You can tell it's moved into the conventional wisdom: DeMarre Carroll will be 1st-team all-conference. And while Leo won't make it, he's getting a lot closer. He should certainly be 2nd-team now. No idea what they'll do with JT Tiller--he probably won't make 2nd- or 3rd-team, but he is the front-runner for defensive player of the year. Awesome.

Next up, a HUGE game in College Station. I've said for a while that I'm a bit worried about that game--Texas A&M is playing for their tourney lives, and Mizzou wasn't going to have as much to play for. But with the possibility of not only a #2 seed in the Big 12 Tourney on the line, but also a share of the conference title overall (in the unlikely scenario that KU loses at home to Texas), I think Mizzou will play well. It will depend on how the two teams match up...and we'll take a look at that tomorrow.

Oklahoma: Know Your Rival

Bill C. — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:00:11 -0000

So from the biggest game of the season, we go to the...new biggest game of the season. Winner gets a chokehold on second place in conference when MU and OU tangle tonight. How does MU match up? Let's take a look...

vs Big 12
Oklahoma: 12-2

	OU	Opp
Points Per Minute	1.95	1.73
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.15	1.02
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.43	1.14
2-PT FG%	54.3%	45.2%
3-PT FG%	41.2%	33.6%
FT%	69.4%	68.4%
True Shooting %	60.1%	50.5%

	OU	Opp
Assists	204	173
Steals	78	77
Turnovers	196	161
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	1.44	1.55

	OU	Opp
Expected Offensive Rebounds	152	189
Offensive Rebounds	150	170
Difference	-2	-19

What OU's good at: shooting, efficiency, defensive rebounding. Their offense runs through Blake Griffin (when he's out there), and running the ball through him likely means either an easy dunk/layup or open 3-pointer more often than not. Pick your poison.
What OU's not as good at: Forcing turnovers, turning the ball over. Their BCI number of 1.44 is decent--they seem to be a high risk, high reward passing team with lots of assists and turnovers--but their 1.55 BCI allowed is simply too high. Like KU, they have a solid FG% defense, but because they're not forcing many turnovers, they're allowing teams to take a lot of shots...minimizing the advantage of the opponent's poor FG%.

Stats by StatSheet.com

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Line
Blake Griffin	22.88	0.69	21.8 PPG, 13.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.2 BPG
Willie Warren	12.21	0.38	13.9 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.0 SPG
Taylor Griffin	11.28	0.39	9.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.1 SPG, 1.0 BPG
Austin Johnson	11.27	0.34	10.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 4.1 APG
Juan Pattillo	8.00	0.49	7.6 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 1.5 BPG
Tony Crocker	7.22	0.23	9.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG
Cade Davis	4.15	0.32	4.6 PPG, 1.4 RPG, 1.0 APG
Omar Leary	1.46	0.18	1.6 PPG, 1.1 APG
Ryan Wright	1.11	0.14	1.3 PPG, 2.1 RPG
Beau Gerber	0.73	0.73	4 minutes
Orlando Allen	0.33	0.16	14 minutes
Ray Willis	-0.17	-0.17	3 minutes
T.J. Franklin	-1.19	-0.59	6 minutes

Fun stat for fans of Laurence Bowers: Bowers and Blake Griffin average the same AdjGS per minute (0.69). Cool, huh? Of course, Griffin does it for 33 minutes a game while facing constant double- (or triple) teams. Bowers does it for 7 minutes a game while wandering around the court as the team's #4 offensive option. But hey...why pick nits? Bowers = Griffin!!!!

(Yes, I'm playing around there.)
Something encouraging: OU has four guys who average over 30 minutes per game (B. Griffin, Johnson, Crocker, Warren). That's advantageous for Mizzou because either a) Jeff Capel tries to spell them a bit more, meaning more minutes for inexperienced backups in a hostile environment, or b) Capel plays them the normal amount, and they're exhausted with 8 minutes left.
Blake Griffin has a very high turnover rate (0.11 per minute), and Mizzou MUST exploit that. He's going to get his points and rebounds--he just needs to also have a handful of wasted, empty possessions.
Taylor Griffin: glue guy. When brother Blake went out against Texas, TG was one of the main catalysts for OU's second-half comeback (that, and Willie Warren hitting about 17 3's). He does everything the team needs of him, be it scoring, or grabbing rebounds, or making stops.
Willie Warren is good, but really, Austin Johnson is equally important to OU's success. Warren took over in Griffin's absence, and he looked great, Johnson is the point guard, the catalyst. He's a streaky shooter, and he's got a great assist-turnover ratio. When he's looking good, OU is unbeatable. But he's prone to slumps, and it would behoove Mizzou if he had one tonight.
Cade Davis grew up in Elk City, OK. It's a) one of my hometown's bigger rivals, and b) one of the only schools in the country whose team colors are brown and white.

And while we're at it, former Mizzou baseballer James Boone grew up in Clinton, OK, my hometown's main rival. Think of Clinton as Weatherford's KU, while Elk City is more like Weatherford's KSU.

See? You can't get information like this just anywhere.

Keys to the Game

The number '3'. As in, don't give up too many 3-pointers to OU's guards, and if you give up an easy dunk to Blake Griffin, don't be stupid and foul him to give him an easy 3-point play. The number 2 is Mizzou's friend in this game.

As key to OU's success as Blake Griffin clearly is, as important is that OU is shooting well from the 3-point line. It seems like every game they play, one of their guards is on fire from downtown, be it Warren, or Johnson, or Crocker, or even Davis. This makes sense, really. Griffin gets double-teamed and swarmed just about every time he touches the ball, which means somebody's open somewhere. And he's a highly underrated passer (his 0.07 assists per minute is pretty high for a big man), which means that OU will find that open man more often than not. The balancing act is clear: you can't give BG easy baskets, but you can't abandon the guards because you will pay big.

And if you do give up an easy basket to him, accept it. Taking a desperate hack at him won't keep him from making the basket and embarrassing you, plus it will give him a free throw. I see Justin Safford finding this out the hard way.
The last five minutes of the first half. I suggested before the second K-State game that it was the first 15 minutes that mattered, but really, when you think about it, it's what happens in that last portion of the half that matters most. In Mizzou's five losses, they've been drastically outscored in the last five minutes of the half four times (11-3 vs Xavier, 11-6 vs Illinois, 15-6 vs Nebraska, 15-15 vs KSU and 11-5 vs KU). That's a pretty visible trend right there.

In some games, the "energy" unit of guys Mike Anderson likes to play at the end of a half--Laurence Bowers, Matt Lawrence, Keith Ramsey--is able to tread water (as against KU at home) or even cut a deficit (@Texas) or build a lead (KSU at home). It's pretty clear that it is the last 5 minutes of the half, not the first 15, that have led to such a huge disparity between the halftime scores of Mizzou's wins and losses (Average halftime score of a Mizzou loss: Opponents 39, Mizzou 25. Average halftime score of a Mizzou win: Mizzou 41, Opponents 29.).
Okay, turnovers. I was going to try not to mention them as a key this time, but...well, they're always a key. If OU shoots reasonably well and ends up around the 15-turnover mark, they are in VERY good shape here. But if they end up closer to 25, it might not matter how they shoot or how well Blake Griffin plays. OU is extremely efficient on offense, but tipped passes and steals can muck that up in a hurry.

Prediction

For a while now, I've been much more confident about this game than a lot of people (and consequently less confident about the ATM game on Saturday). I'm clearly not going to give up on that meme now. If Mizzou can get 5-6 turnovers from Blake Griffin and generally muck up the passing lanes, their own offense should be efficient enough to outscore the Sooners. However, if the 3's start draining for the Sooners, it's a seriously uphill battle. Mizzou is 40 minutes away from an undefeated home record and at least momentary control of the #2 seed in the conference. On Senior Night, DeMarre, Leo, and Goose (and Mikey Junior?) find a way to win this one. The last five minutes of both halves belong to the Tigers. Mizzou 79, Oklahoma 71.

Kansas: Know your rival (again)

Bill C. — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:52:26 -0000

UPDATE: Okay, no update, but I'm bumping this back to the top of the page.

Gotta love this blurb from PowerMizzou's MU-KU preview:

Just another game? Not even close. DeMarre Carroll remembers when he first got to Mizzou and his cousin, Michael Anderson, Jr., was telling him about the place.

"He told me, 'You're going to trip out when you see this.' And he showed me the Kansas game, I guess, when the Kansas dude missed the free throws, Moody or whatever. And they went crazy. He was just like, 'Man, they got big time rivalries up here,'" Carroll said. "When I first got here, I was like, 'Why you all hate KU?' I really didn't get why they hate them. As I keep playing, the way they play, the way their fans act towards us, I kind of see why they hate them. I guess I'm falling in that mode of Missouri versus KU, I kind of dislike them just like they dislike us."

Further proof that you don't have to be born a true son, to end up a true son, I guess.

Not too much has changed since last time I analyzed Kansas, but with the magnitude of tomorrow's game, it's worth taking another close look.

vs Big 12
Kansas: 12-1

	KU	Opp
Points Per Minute	1.88	1.58
Points Per Possession (PPP)	1.11	0.94
Points Per Shot (PPS)	1.43	1.15
2-PT FG%	53.6%	42.1%
3-PT FG%	41.2%	31.6%
FT%	72.6%	71.4%
True Shooting %	60.2%	49.3%

	KU	Opp
Assists	188	153
Steals	83	96
Turnovers	207	170
Ball Control Index (Assists + Steals) / TO	1.31	1.46

	KU	Opp
Expected Offensive Rebounds	135	169
Offensive Rebounds	130	121
Difference	-5	-48

What KU's good at: shooting, preventing good shots on defense, defensive rebounding.
What KU's not as good at: ball-handling, offensive rebounding. Now, they're certainly solid in both regards--I think we would all love to have a guy like Cole Aldrich crashing the offensive glass, and a 1.31 BCI is certainly far from terrible. But if you're going to beat them, it's by stealing the ball and, if they do get a shot off, holding them to one. Especially at home, where one offensive rebound and kick-out for 3 creates an insane amount of momentum.

Stats by StatSheet.com

Player	AdjGS*	GmSc/Min	Line
Cole Aldrich (So)	18.66	0.60	14.6 PPG, 11.5 RPG, 2.2 BPG
Sherron Collins (Jr)	16.12	0.45	18.4 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 4.6 APG, 1.1 SPG, 3.1 TOPG
Tyshawn Taylor (Fr)	8.50	0.34	10.0 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.5 APG, 2.7 TOPG
Brady Morningstar (So)	7.97	0.24	6.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.4 SPG
Marcus Morris (Fr)	6.59	0.38	7.0 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 1.2 APG, 2.3 TOPG
Mario Little (Jr)	6.07	0.43	5.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG
Markieff Morris (Fr)	4.75	0.37	4.4 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.0 BPG
Tyrel Reed (So)	4.58	0.22	5.7 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 1.2 SPG
Travis Releford (Fr)	1.33	0.22	2.3 PPG, 1.1 RPG
Matt Kleinmann (Sr)	1.05	1.05	3 minutes
Jordan Juenemann (Fr)	0.00	0.00	1 minute
Brennan Bechard (Sr)	-0.04	-0.04	3 minutes
Tyrone Appleton (Jr)	-0.22	-0.13	12 minutes
Chase Buford (So)	-0.46	-0.61	3 minutes
Quintrell Thomas (Fr)	-0.46	-0.14	0.1 PPG, 1.4 RPG
Conner Teahan (So)	-0.58	-0.36	8 minutes (and still 1 lifetime of shame)

When Sherron Collins is on fire, KU's more or less unstoppable. We know that. But when he's not on fire, they're still damn solid because of the underrated presence of Aldrich underneath. As I mentioned (I think) in the Podcast the other day, Aldrich has mastered the art of leaning on his man when the ball's in the air and giving them no leverage or good angle with which to jump and grab the ball.

Is it a foul? Probably so, in a technical sense--I know every single fan of every single KU opponent thinks Aldrich got away with about 17 fouls in their game(s) against KU--but it doesn't really matter because it's subtle enough that he's clearly always going to get away with it, and he's so skilled at the nuances of rebounding (like that) that he's going to grab just about any board that ends up on his side of the rim. When Mizzou caught up in the second half against KU, it was because a) they were merciless in tipping balls and attacking Aldrich with whatever bodies were around, and b) Aldrich was completely gassed. It will be harder to duplicate that at Allen, but Mizzou has to try.
Like everybody who dabbles in basketball stats, I do wish there were better ways to measure defensive ability. Because if there were, Brady Morningstar (and to a lesser extent, Tyrel "Reggie Cleveland All-Stars" Reed) would clearly be averaging well over 0.25 AdjGS/min. Morningstar and Reed are not really offensive threats--they will nail open 3's, and that's a great weapon to have, but they're not going to punish you in a lot of different ways. But on defense, they're one of the main reasons KU's opponents have a true shooting % under 50%.

Granted, you're able to take chances on the perimeter when your interior defense is so good--and the first time around against KU, their interior D was what impressed me the most--but KU fans think of Morningstar the way we think of J.T. Tiller on the defensive end, and that's clearly not just because of interior D.
Mario Little's averages have fallen since last time MU and KU played. He entered that game averaging about 0.55 AdjGS/min--tied for first on the team with Aldrich (and he reaffirmed his importance by confidently hitting the tying jumper with under a minute left). Now that number's tumbled by about 20% (meanwhile, Aldrich's has gone up to 0.60).
Other changes since the first time around: Collins has improved slightly, Reed has regressed (as has, to a lesser extent, Marcus Morris), and Releford has improved a bit with more playing time (give me Kim English if I had to make a choice, of course, but Releford would have done some good things in Mike Anderson's system). But this team still clearly revolves around Aldrich and Collins. If Collins has his "great Chicago-style player" mask on, making fearless shots, playing great defense, and in general refusing to be denied, then KU is a killer team. But if he's in "bad Chicago-style player" mode, taking stupid shots, turning the ball over, and suffering brain farts on D, then KU's imminently beatable.

Keys to the Game

Turnovers. Have you caught on that this will probably always be the #1 key to a Mizzou game? It goes double for KU, whose biggest armor chink comes in the form of ball-handling. They clearly won't turn the ball over 27 times like they did at Mizzou Arena, but if Mizzou doesn't lay a first half egg this time around, they won't have to force 27--17-20 will do. Any less, and Mizzou's probably in trouble.
Wear Cole Aldrich out again. The offense runs through Collins, but the team's success runs through Aldrich, who completely and totally dominates every inch of the paint when he's on. If Mizzou can take other interior weapons (a.k.a. the Morris twins) out of the picture and make Aldrich dominate for a longer period of time, then his "0.60 AdjGS/min" starts to fall precipitously down the stretch.
Hustle & Flow (a.k.a. JT Tiller and Zaire Taylor). They were 3-for-12 from the field the first time around (1-for-10 in the first 39 minutes), but their late-game heroics earned them all sorts of well-deserved love and admiration from Mizzou fans. That's great...but they can't go 3-for-12 this time around. KU is custom built to stop the inside threat of DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons (and I'm thinking the outside shot of Carroll and Lyons is much less likely to be successful in a hostile environment like AFH), and Mizzou is going to have to get great games from Hustle & Flow on both ends of the court to take the pressure off the bigs.

Technically it doesn't have to be Tiller and Taylor--basically Mizzou needs a backcourt threat on offense, be it Tiller, Mr. Coffee, Goose, Denmon, English, whoever. But Mizzou's probably not going to win if Mike Anderson has to severely dip into the bench, so the best case scenario is that Tiller & Taylor both play big minutes, and one of them is hitting some shots.

Prediction

Back when The Beef and I did Tigerboard Radio, I would always base my predictions with this disclaimer: "If Mizzou wins, I want to say I called it. So if they win, it will be something like..."

So with that in mind, if Mizzou wins at AFH for the first time since 1999, it's going to be in the "74-70 dogfight" range. As I said on the Podcast the other night, Ken Pomeroy's odds (38% chance of Mizzou winning) are more or less dead on. If MU and KU play this game three times, you'll probably see two dogfights (and at this point, I like Mizzou's chances of winning a dogfight against anybody--I'm a convert) and one easy KU win. Clearly I'm hoping for the former. So with that said...hell yeah I'm picking Mizzou to win! 74-70 Mizzou (unless it's 82-66 Kansas, ahem). Bring home the Big 12 lead, boys.

And because it needs to be done...

SB Nation - Michael Anderson Jr.

Mizzou Basketball Preview (Part One): You Never Know, Take Two

Mizzou Basketball Preview

Mizzou Basketball Preview Series

Mizzou-UConn: Statistical...so close

Player Stats

Keys to the Game Revisited

Mizzou vs NCAA Tournament

You Never Know

Mizzou-Cornell: Statistical Round of 32!

Player Stats

Keys to the Game Revisited

Marquette-Utah State

Mizzou-Tech: Statistical Bucking the Trend

Player Stats

Keys to the Game Revisited

Unheralded moments that changed Missouri's Big 12 season: Mikey's Moment

Mizzou-ATM: Statistical Oh Well

Player Stats

A&M Player Stats

Keys to the Game Revisited

vs Big 12Mizzou: 12-4

Mizzou-Oklahoma: Statistical Thanks to the Seniors

Player Stats

Keys to the Game Revisited

vs Big 12Mizzou: 12-3

Oklahoma: Know Your Rival

vs Big 12Oklahoma: 12-2

Keys to the Game

Prediction

Kansas: Know your rival (again)

vs Big 12Kansas: 12-1

Keys to the Game

Prediction

vs Big 12
Mizzou: 12-4

vs Big 12
Mizzou: 12-3

vs Big 12
Oklahoma: 12-2

vs Big 12
Kansas: 12-1