KCRag Forum

It has begun and not well for Missouri fans. Maybe it's the year UMKC makes its first NCAA tourney appearance? What are the expectations for UMKC - I know there has been some guarded excitement about UMKC with Richardson now at the helm. Too early to tell if Mizzou is really that bad or UMKC is actually pretty good.

Roo Up.

UMKC is not that great. Mizzou is that bad, which is to be expected to a certain extent. But I don't think Kim Anderson is the right person to lead this team. Which makes me place the blame on Mike Alden.

You can't lose to UMKC and expect to have even a fair season.

As far as UMKC, I would love to see them in the tournament, but I didn't like what I saw from them either. I hope this is their season.

AllThingsKC wrote:UMKC is not that great. Mizzou is that bad, which is to be expected to a certain extent. But I don't think Kim Anderson is the right person to lead this team. Which makes me place the blame on Mike Alden.

You can't lose to UMKC and expect to have even a fair season.

As far as UMKC, I would love to see them in the tournament, but I didn't like what I saw from them either. I hope this is their season.

I would say Mizzou basketball may be at an all time low in terms of talent level. They lost nearly all of their talent from last years NIT team and ALL of their scoring, lost most of the legitimate replacements for whatever reasons (Jones, Price, Bliecheid, and maybe even Gant), have almost no front line presence, and return some mediocre players to mix in with unheralded transfers and at least a couple of promising freshmen. I blame this more on Haith than Anderson though although I agree Alden is ultimately responsible. Alden has really mismanaged Mizzou basketball. Anderson is in a tough spot - I truly think he can coach but not sure he has the experience and wherewithal to turn what could become an imploding D1 program around.

Mizzou hoops is horrible this season. They will probably finish dead last in the SEC.

The big debate among Mizzou fans is:

Mizzou has a brilliant coach, but has no talent. - OR - Mizzou has great talent, but a horrible coach.

Until something changes, I'll assume it's the latter. I have never heard of Elon before. But Mizzou beat them by 5. 5!

Not sure anyone thinks they have great talent. Coach is completely up in the air.

AllThingsKC wrote:UMKC is not that great. Mizzou is that bad, which is to be expected to a certain extent. But I don't think Kim Anderson is the right person to lead this team. Which makes me place the blame on Mike Alden.

You can't lose to UMKC and expect to have even a fair season.

As far as UMKC, I would love to see them in the tournament, but I didn't like what I saw from them either. I hope this is their season.

I

StL_Dan wrote:Mizzou hoops is horrible this season. They will probably finish dead last in the SEC.

I was really hoping to see some improvement (and thought I had for a while) during the course of the season but the team has actually regressed from the time conference play started. Looks like Stl Dan is right - dead last looks to be a very plausible destination. Dead last in a conference with some very bad programs.

It's entirely open for debate whether the Big 12 is an unusually tough conference or a bunch of mediocre teams beating up on each other, but KU's streaks of 11 straight titles and 31 straight Senior Night wins are intact. West Virginia scored one 2 point basket in the final 24 minutes to squander an 18 point lead. As usual, the refereeing was atrocious.

But for a pair of blown 18 point leads on consecutive nights (OU @ ISU and WVA @ KU), Oklahoma would be playing for at least a share of the title on Saturday. Not sure what the odds are on that happening.

And Oklahoma somehow lost twice to a 15-15 K-State team.

I wish my favorite college team was 15-15.

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Missouri football will finish with more wins than Missouri basketball.

The tournament will be very interesting. I'm not sure how many favorable matchups the Big 12 will get since they only have one team in the top 10 in overall efficiency (Baylor, oddly enough) and will probably only get one #2 seed, but they are far and away the best conference by that same measure. The Big 12 has 6 teams in the top 25 in Kenpom.com efficiency, and OSU is #32. The current top 5 rankings by conference are as follows:

1 Big 12 .8446
2 Big East .7987
3 ACC .7927
4 Big Ten .7806
5 SEC .7704

There just aren't any really elite teams in the Big 12 this year, and someone is going to have to be really hot to make the final four. Time will tell if beating each other up is helpful to a tournament run, but it will be interesting to see if some teams like KU can get back to the things that made them really hot earlier in the season. I wouldn't underestimate the fact that all Big 12 teams play each other home and away. Those teams and players are pretty intimately familiar with how to approach the competition. This is even more important a distinction in the age of one and dones and frequent transfers.

AllThingsKC wrote:I wish my favorite college team was 15-15.

If Mizzou can beat MSU Saturday, win the SEC tournament and go onto to win the national championship - I think you would get your wish for a .500 season (21-21).

And the basketball capital of the world is .....

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-college ... S=St+Louis

kman wrote:And the basketball capital of the world is .....

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-college ... S=St+Louis

If Louisville is the hotbed for viewing, St Louis should be the hotbed for writing and coverage of College Basketball. You are super close to hotbeds like Kansas, Louisville, Lexington,Indiana National recruiting hub Chicago,and you have easy Access to Memphis, Xavier, Dayton, Cincinnati, Butler, Illinois, Northern Iowa, Creighton, and Marquette when those basketball heavy schools are good. You also have the NCAA HQ close by so you have easy trip to the Final Four every few years.

KU won more games than K-State and Mizzou combined. Wonder when the last time that happened was.

KCMax wrote:KU won more games than K-State and Mizzou combined. Wonder when the last time that happened was.

The MU football team won more games than the MU basketball team. When did that ever happen.

KU vs. Wichita St. may not be the dream lineup CBS is looking forward to, but it is going to be a pretty big deal for the state of Kansas (on the assumption that both advance). Oddly enough, I'm more concerned that KU will stumble in game #1 than I am with Wichita State, and KU has the 15-2 matchup. Still, KU has never lost in the first round as a 2 seed or above.

Wichita State, by Kenpom.com efficiency, is actually one of the only teams that meets the magic offensive and defensive efficiency balance of both metrics being in the top 20. There are six teams that accomplish that, and Kansas is not one of them. KU is 11th in combined efficiency, and WSU is 14th. That is a tough matchup in game #2. I can't remember a team whose offensive efficiency dropped so quickly as has happened with this Kansas team, and it remains to be seen if we are actually as good as our 11th rated efficiency would indicate. We were in the top 20 just over a week ago, and now we are #37.

Our best offense right now is driving to the lane to pickup fouls. Frank Mason is really good at it, and Oubre is either so athletic, you can't help but foul him, or so timid he is a non-factor. In the NCAA tourney, refs often swallow the whistle, so its about time to start draining 3s again or we are not making it out of the 1st weekend. Fun time of year, but this KU team is on even shakier ground than last year's team. It has a better potential for a deep run than last year's team since we aren't relying on one player to do everything for us, but the team has shown more than any other KU team I can remember, that they cannot hold a lead against anyone. They are more comfortable playing from behind, and that could spell disaster.