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Marquette somehow comes back. Feel really bad for Davidson. They played well enough to win. That said, you have to admit Marquette showed all kinds of heart down the stretch. They definitely earned this one.

Barely an upset if it happens though, honestly. Davidson's a really good team and Marquette is overrated in my opinion. Only a big upset by tournament seed.

My nonexistent hopes of a perfect bracket are certainly dashed at this point, and I'm sure I'll be ready to throw the thing in the trash by the time the evening is over. I've missed on Wichita State over Pittsburgh and Memphis over St. Mary's. Marquette is looking like they may lose to Davidson, which would mess up my bracket further. But that's what I love about March. If I could predict it with any regularity it wouldn't be any fun!

St. Louis' defense has been excellent so far. If they keep playing like that they can probably withstand some cold spells on offense and still make a run in this tournament. And that's especially good, because it seems like so far, offense is nowhere to be found anywhere in the tournament. Everyone is coming out nervous I guess.

Well forget that. Of course as soon as I posted that Michigan State went on a big run and basically put the game out of reach (at least you'd think so.) Butler-Bucknell is a lot closer, but at least for now not the most exciting you'll see this March with a score of 21-14 at halftime. Things are bound to pick up though....I think these teams come out a bit nervous at first.

Valparaiso is going to give Michigan State a game here. I think they're one of the most undervalued low seeds in this years tournament. It's early but they sure look like they belong against one of the better teams in the Big Ten.

Well, the tournament starts today (well at least the round of 64, as there were a few games played already.) I'm a Mizzou fan, so I'm really looking forward to the Missouri-Colorado State game later this evening. Both teams are extremely good rebounding teams, both are good offensively and neither are elite defensively. When you look at them, it kind of seems like they are both the same team-so I guess it's basically a toss-up. I am expecting it to probably be entertaining for a full 40 minutes, and we'll just have to see where it ends up. All that said, I always hope the Billikens do well (short of playing Missouri, suddenly a real if rather remote possibility), and SLU and New Mexico State should also be a great game that I'm excited for also. New Mexico State is a really good team, but I do think SLU has more of an advantage there than Mizzou does in its first round game. Still, if you think that a New Mexico State is going to be an easy team to beat I wouldn't be completely sure-they game Indiana quite a game last season in the tournament, and they've beaten some good teams this year already. So that one should be fun, too.

I agree. But I guess it's better that Mizzou tends to lose a whole bunch of close games than if they were losing by 10-15 on a regular basis. The close losses are excruciating, but I guess you could also turn that around to say that Missouri has had a chance to win every single game in the last minute except for Louisville, @Ole Miss, and @Florida. I guess as much as it hurts I'd rather lose close ones than get run out of the gym. To me the two most painful games of the year were @Ole Miss and @Florida, because we didn't even have a chance (I didn't really worry during the Louisville game because it was really early and they might be the best team in the country.) But basically outside of those two games, Mizzou has at least shown a whole lot of heart all season long. You have to admit that they don't give up, even when they're down 10-15 early, and I can definitely respect that. I'm thinking of the road losses to LSU, and the home wins over Florida and LSU, specifically, but there were others. Even if it hasn't resulted in too many close wins in the past, it's got to be worth something at some point, doesn't it? I'm still hopeful.

To me, filling out a bracket is just fun and doesn't get in the way of rooting interests. Every year, I do try to pick Mizzou as far as I honestly think they'll go-not as far as I hope they'll go. But I hope they prove me wrong and absolutely ruin my bracket! Last year I picked upsets like crazy. Didn't work out. Now I have two 1 seeds, a 2 seed, and a 3 seed in the final four. I know that's boring, so watch a couple of 8 seeds somehow make it in there.

New Mexico State is a good mid-major. The WAC may have been a one-bid league this year, but two other teams (Louisiana Tech and Denver) were legitimately tournament quality teams if they were in a bigger conference, and Utah State was right there too. So New Mexico State is used to playing (and beating) good teams. So I wouldn't be stunned if an upset occurred. But SLU is a really good, experienced team, and I just don't see them going down in their first game. They should be good enough defensively to win. Assuming they do, I expect them to really be tested by the winner of Oklahoma State and Oregon. Both are good, highly talented teams. Oklahoma State has Marcus Smart and LeBryan Nash, and the rest of their roster is very talented as well. They, like SLU are a potential final four team, and they have all kinds of NBA talent. I would be extremely excited about that game if it happens, I think it would be one of the best possible match-ups in the entire tournament. Oregon is also really good. They went 26-8 and finished tied for second in the Pac-12-and somehow are sitting there as a 12 seed. They beat both Arizona and UCLA though, and I expect them to be a tough out in the tourney. So assuming SLU moves on against New Mexico State (not a walkover) there will be a good team waiting for them. I do think they can definitely beat either Oregon or Oklahoma State-but after I took some time to look at it, it's sure a tough draw for a high seed. If SLU makes the final four run that I still think they're capable of, it will be well earned, to say the least.

One thing that I thought was interesting was how the committee apparently placed so much importance on winning road games, as that was their main reasoning for putting in Middle Tennessee in (and leaving out other bubble teams, pretty much all of which were from the SEC.) But they really didn't hurt Missouri too much for a 2-8 road record (even if you count neutral sites as away games, we're still looking at a 6-10 record.) I mean, a 23-10 team from a so called "power" conference with an RPI in the 30s usually gets something like a 9 seed. I really thought they might move Mizzou down a couple seed lines just because of the road record, but it doesn't seem like they did. Kentucky and other teams have to be wondering why they were hurt by what they did away from home even though they won more road games. Why am I making this point? Because selfishly, I was hoping Missouri would move down the bracket a little more, only because I think that would actually help them win games. It's easier for an 11 or a 12 seed to win a couple games than a 9. But really there's nothing to complain about.

I hope you're right. And I have a specific 9 seed in mind!

Not Missouri related, but I think the committee did a really good job selecting teams. Some tournament quality teams got left out, but none that I really think got snubbed-and every team in the tourney deserved to be there in my opinion. Good job putting in mid-majors like Middle Tennessee State and St. Mary's that are good enough to win games. Middle Tennessee was a surprise, but we do need teams like that. That said, I thought the seeding was a little bit weird in a couple cases. Oregon somehow got a 12 seed despite going 26-8 and winning the Pac-12 tournament. Their computer numbers weren't great, but they had plenty of quality wins, and it's not like the Pac-12 is nearly as bad as it was last year-it's not even the worst "power" conference this season. I heard that Oregon moved down from an 11 for bracketing reasons, but even that was way too low in my opinion. They maybe should have been in a 5 vs. 12 game, but probably as the five seed. I also thought that Ole Miss can't be feeling too good about its seed, though it's probably not as extreme of a case. They also finished 26-8 and won the SEC tournament, beating Missouri and Florida along the way. They got a 12 seed also, and in my opinion have a really good 5 seed in Wisconsin. But they did have somewhat mediocre computer numbers and some bad losses. And the SEC was slightly worse than the Pac-12 by most measures this year. So that was at least slightly more understandable. In the end, they did a very good job. Figuring out which teams get a chance to play in the tournament is much more important that what seed they get. And they got the first part of that pretty close to perfect, in my opinion. So no huge complaints for me.

Colorado State is an excellent team for an 8 seed. Mizzou can win but it won't be easy. They are one of the best rebounding teams in the country, which could work against Missouri's biggest strength. I thought SLU was well rewarded for an excellent season. They can make a run.

Mizzou is a 9 seed playing Colorado State. With a win, we play Louisville. Tough draw, but we're in, so I won't complain. And we were the first 9 seed listed, so no nervous waiting. SLU a 4 seed. Could meet Mizzou in tournament if both win two games.

So Mizzou did not really make a run in the SEC tournament like we hoped, but will now (almost certainly) have a chance to make that right in the NCAA tournament. They finished up 23-10, and 11-7 in the SEC. Good computer numbers make sure they're basically a lock for the tournament, but losing early to Ole Miss really hurt their seed. It will be interesting to see where they end up. I tend to believe they will be an 8 or a 9 seed. That is usually very bad news. It sets a team up with a fairly winnable (but tough) first game, but then you get a likely top 5 team in the next game. Since I don't think under any reasonable circumstances Mizzou can be any higher than a 7 seed, I actually wouldn't mind them dropping a couple lines. An 11 seed would be ideal-because it sets you up with a slightly tougher first game, but the next opponent might be considerably less frightening than a 1 or 2 seed. So cheer for Mizzou to stay out of that 8-9 seed territory! And if we can get our first game or two in Kansas City by some form of luck, all the better. As for SLU, they did take care of business winning the Atlantic 10. They have a good chance at a 4 seed, and I think they should at least get a 5.

Well, we'll have to wait until Thursday or Friday to see them play again, I'm afraid. This team still can win a couple games in the tournament, so it's at least worth watching. I am hoping not to get an 8 or 9 seed. I'd much prefer an 11, because it's much easier to make a tournament run from there- though I just don't think we'll fall that far. As upset as I am right now, I'm already excited to see who we're matched up against.

Well, that whole SEC tournament thing was fun. Time to forget this one and move on to the tournament that matters a whole lot more.

I'm really looking forward to seeing which Ole Miss team shows up tonight-the one that can be the best offense in the SEC (and one of the best in the country) or the one that is absolutely decimated by poor outside shooting (and not getting the ball inside.) What will Marshall Henderson play like today? I think that will go quite a way towards determining who wins. In other news, whoever wins this game is probably going to have a really unexpected semifinal opponent in Vanderbilt. They are routing Kentucky right now, and if that coninues the defending champions might not be in the tournament. That might make the path to the championship game a little easier for whoever gets to the semis between Ole Miss and Missouri-but maybe not, because Vanderbilt looks really, really good right now, and they are basically at home in Nashville. And a win there wouldn't really help Missouri's seed like one over Kentucky might.

That would be cool, to see them play in the tourney. Sadly I don't think we're going to get a first round match-up between the two. Missouri is for the moment staying put at about an 8-10 seed, while St. Louis should probably be anywhere from a 4-6 if they can go on to win the Atlantic 10 tournament. So unless both teams advance probably at least a couple games, it's hard to see it happening. Anyway, we have a couple of great games coming up in the next couple days for the two teams. Mizzou plays Ole Miss tonight, which should be a good test. With a loss it's probably on to an 8 vs. 9 game in the tournament, but a win sets up a semi-final against Kentucky/Vanderbilt. I'd be very happy to get there in any situation, but a rematch against Kentucky would be awesome. But Vanderbilt could definitely land there, because they basically have home-court advantage and they're better than most think. And then SLU gets a chance for another huge win against Butler tomorrow, which could really start to move their seed into the 4-5 range. I hope both teams are playing all the way through this weekend. If they can win the conference tournament they could be a team that I could see picking in my bracket to make the final four-if they have a decent draw.

Well, Mizzou got a win that they needed. They most likely would have made the tournament with a loss here, but now I think we can say they're probably a lock, barring a really crazy set of circumstances. Missouri's defense was excellent all night long. I didn't know if they could handle a really slow paced game like this, but they did. It was not an exciting game to watch in my opinion (both teams seemed to use up the entire shot clock just about every time) but that doesn't matter now. They played solid, efficient basketball, even if it wasn't going to catch anyone's eye. The game against Ole Miss tomorrow should be a good one. Neither game between the two was close in the regular season (both won big at home) but I think this one will be a lot more interesting. Both teams play really well at home and not as much on the road-so a neutral court should in theory even that out. I think Missouri has a really solid chance in that one, but it could definitely go either way. Ole Miss is a good team.

So Texas A&M it is. I'd rather play them anyway. It will give us a decent test before hopefully moving on to play Ole Miss. And there's considerably less to lose, because Texas A&M's RPI is much better than Auburn's...should we lose. We should try to avoid that anyway.

I hear what you're saying. Our late game play has had me pulling my hair out all season. That said, I know I want Pressey back next year, if he's not going to be a first-round pick. I know he has his moments late in games, but a lot of the times, he's one of the main reasons that we even have a chance to win it in the end. Take the LSU and Kentucky road games for example. He had monster games in both to even get us close to walking out with a win. But a few tough decisions down the stretch (including in those two very games) have gotten him a bad reputation in some circles. It's kind of unfair. He was voted a first team all SEC player (along with Laurence Bowers on the second team.) Everyone else in the conference must think he's pretty good, and I tend to agree with them.

I have to take your word for it on this specific game...have to admit I was only able to listen to it on the radio. Basically I was just assuming it was like about every other road game Mizzou has lost-where Missouri just didn't seem able to show the ability to close out the game at the end, and the refs just made it a bit worse. The only real game that I've seen where a fairly significant amount of the blame can be placed on the refs was @Arkansas. But Missouri still should have been able to hold onto their lead even in that case. Tennessee, and Kentucky were very respectable road losses, if their is such a thing. But I'm sorry, LSU and Arkansas should never have been able to hang around to the degree where the refs (and much more importantly, our own clutch play) had the chance to become involved. None of them are even remotely bad teams, but still...this is the same Missouri team that was able to beat Florida and rout Ole Miss and Arkansas at home. I still really like this team, but I'm not going to blame this kind of a road record on refs. They didn't help, but at most you can blame 1-2 of the losses on them (and that's a stretch.) So if things were a bit more even maybe we're 3-7 or 4-6 on the road instead of 2-8. That's not really a huge difference. But none of this matters anymore, because road games are done... at least as long as we don't play Kentucky in the semi-finals (who's huge fan-base causes them to have home court advantage at every neutral site everywhere.)

I think it was Missouri State (then "Southwest" Missouri State I guess.) Their RPI may have only been below 30 once, but it was within the top 40 multiple times in the past decade, and they got left out each time. If you're anywhere close to the bubble in the Missouri Valley, you had better win the conference tournament because chances are you won't get in otherwise. It seems to be a trend. I have no idea why, but it just seems to be true. Honestly, this year Wichita State fans should be prepared for the possibility of an unpleasant surprise, even though I think they're pretty clearly deserving of a bid.