ozark trout fisher

We'll see. I do want the NIT to give the younger guys more games and more practices to improve. Kind of like making the Independence Bowl in football....who cares about the game itself but it's a chance for the team to get better for next year. Luckily, I don't think they can play their way of of that tournament at this point, short of losing every single game the rest of the way.

That sucked. Couldn't even bring myself to come on here for two days after that result. NIT. Looking forward to the extra home games in mid-March though.....if we get a top 4 seed in the NIT. Maybe we can actually win a game or two in that tournament. I know we could still make the NCAAs, but we must win out the regular season and do damage in the SEC tournament. I'd give us 15-20% odds of making it, even though some bracket projections still have us in. Just an awful, awful loss. It makes to home defeat against Georgia look like a quality result. And we are going to get destroyed in Athens tomorrow, let alone in Knoxville to close the season. Might be able to take out Mississippi State and A&M at home to get to 9-9, but that seems like the ceiling. Was planning on going to the MSU game this weekend, but screw that. I've now got other plans. I will never give up on this team but dedicating a perfectly good Saturday and spending good money just ain't happening if you can't beat freaking 'bama. I am literally a diehard fan, but my fandom for this season still died quite a bit on Saturday. I do plan to come and watch the NIT games though (if we get a home game), as well as senior night against A&M. Not giving up on Mizzou, but goodness do I need a little break after that.

Yeah, with the RPI in its present territory I don't see how a loss to Tennessee knocks Missouri out.....but any other loss on our schedule could. I've seen us listed everywhere from an 11 seed in the "last four byes" (meaning the last four teams that don't have to do a play-in game) all the way up to a 9 seed. That said, Tennessee probably did knock itself right out of the picture by losing at A&M. 16-11, and getting swept by A&M isn't bubble material. They probably need the automatic bid. LSU came up short at Kentucky, and they're done. Ole Miss lost to Florida, and they are going to need to get the automatic bid as well. Honestly, you're starting to wonder if Georgia (15-11, 9-5 conference) has passed up that pack of teams. But their RPI will keep them NIT bound at best. So practically, (besides UK, UF, and Missouri), Arkansas is the only team with a real chance at getting an at-large after a really bad day for the conference's hopes of getting 4-5 bids. Basically all of the other bubble teams lost. Beating MIssissippi State on the road was a nice step...The Hogs are very close to the cut-line for the tournament now. They can probably still get in if they lose to Kentucky if they win the rest and do damage in the SEC tournament....like get to the semis or maybe finals. A win at Rupp would do wonders for ya'll, though. Got to say I'm impressed with the way Arkansas has come back from the dead in the SEC after that 2-6 start. Even if you guys come up short of the NCAAs this has to be considered a pretty serious improvement over last year.

Every road games tough, even against one of the worst teams in the league. Can't afford to lose this one. If Missouri just beats 'bama, Georgia, Texas A&M and Mississippi State they'll make the tourney. This is pretty much a must win. 7PM ESPN 2.......

I think the recruiting class he has this year has the potential to be a foundation, as I've said before. For this year, I do think we are in the tournament right now and will stay there with a 3-2 or 4-1 finish and a win (or maybe two) in the SEC tournament. So we're not a lock but we are in very good shape. A top 40 RPI is generally pretty safe territory if we can keep it there. Whether they can win a game or two (assuming they make it) depends on matchups. They have proved they can beat a team with a good frontcourt against Tennessee, but they won't want to have to try to do that again in an elimination game. Have to admit I haven't really watched SLU play much this year (I only have time to pay attention to one team and Mizzou always comes first), but apparently they're doing pretty well. Might watch them come NCAA tournament time.

Yeah, last night was something of anomaly. If a few shots fall early we probably aren't in a fight in the last two minutes. But they literally always find a way to let these kind of "easy" games end up really, really close. Heck, even South Carolina gave us a minor scare on our home floor in the last couple minutes. I agree with you that things are fine right now, and I'm not exactly in the FIRE HAITH camp. His record is rock solid and he may get his first three teams to the big dance if we can finish reasonably well. That's pretty good. But his inability to develop big men or get any kind of continuity going in the program has many of us pretty concerned. With that said, if the freshman like Wes Clark, Johnathan Williams III, and Torren Jones can continue to improve like they have, then the future is pretty bright. Wes Clark and J3 are already legit players, and Jones has Alex Oriakhi potential if he can improve his offensive game. Haith's first recruiting class was a bust (except for Rosburg) but this second class is looking like a potential foundation for some good teams in the future. So Haith will have his chance to become the long term answer here, and he's earned that. But he has more to prove. I'm keeping faith, but not blind faith either.

Yeah, I was there. The student section was pretty sparse, but the rest was okay given the opponent and a weeknight game. I really agree with you about Haith. Not anything special about him as a coach. But it's just gonna be impossible for an AD to fire him with the record he has. Have to wait until he has a bad year or two. Otherwise, other coaching candidates are going to stay away, thinking that the AD is quick to run coaches off. It makes it tough to get a good replacement. I'll defend, for example, Gary Pinkel if he has a 5-7 year because he takes 2 and 3 star recruits and makes great teams out of them. Frank Haith takes 4 star players and big time transfers and makes decent teams out of them. It's not a bad situation, but it leaves you wanting more. That's how I feel about Haith; I'm fine with letting him run things another year, maybe two, because things are going basically fine most of the time. But do I see him here in 5 years? Probably best not to ask me that question. Missouri beat Vandy, but Kevin Stallings showed us what a really good coach can do. He brought a Vandy team with only 7 real players (and that's stretching it) into a tough place and almost beat a far more talented and deep team. He kinda reminds me of Norm Stewart. I wish we could have someone like him. I just don't know if Haith can win without great talent. He's a good recruiter (especially of transfers) so we may not know for awhile. Which is his one really solid redeeming quality.

Ugly game, but a win is a win. It's three straight now. I don't think Haith is at any risk of being fired this year, even if we were to lose out. I'm not sure he is a great coach, but his overrall record is far too strong for him to be anywhere in the hot seat. If we miss the tournament, then he better do well next year. But that is a big "if" at this point. Despite the bad performance, it's another top 100 win. Missouri moves to 19-7 and 7-6 in SEC play, with an RPI that should be in the mid-30s in the morning. They are not a tournament lock at this point, but they are getting closer. A 3-2 finish down the stretch to get to 22-9 should put them in good shape with a win or two in the SEC tournament, while a 4-1 finish would probably lock up a spot regardless of what happens on the rest of the bubble. Considering the schedule, 4-1 looks manageable. But we'll need to play better than tonight. A "nothing to gain, everything to lose" road trip is next, starting @Alabama on Saturday then @Georgia. We need to beat Alabama, because that would be a terrible loss. A loss to Georgia (with their improved RPI since we last met) wouldn't kill our chances, but it wouldn't help. If we even had one more top 50 RPI win, the computer numbers and the overall record would have us totally off the bubble and in contention for something like a 5-7 seed in the big dance. But wins over UCLA, WVU, Tennessee, NC State, and Arkansas could be plenty if we can avoid any more bad losses.

When it wouldn't load, I honestly wondered for a minute if I'd gotten banned for the little argument that broke out over the weekend.......Guess not, LOL.

LOL

VCU is the best possible matchup for SLU. Team that plays methodically and never turns it over vs. a team that relies a huge amount on turnovers? Not surprised by that result. Anytime VCU beats SLU under Jim Crews it will be a massive upset due to the conflicting schemes, regardless of how good either team is. What SLU won't want in the tournament in another team that plays their slow, tough defensive style. Like Wisconsin or Virginia..

I can sympathize with that.Before this week Mizzou just choked away three straight games against the teams that with a win they could have locked themselves in the tourney. Had great chances to win all three, but couldn't come through. The good news is, close games are mostly luck (IMO.) Right after Missouri played terrible at the end of three straight close ones they won two straight close ones. It'll even out for Arkansas before the season is done too.....some of those 1 point losses will become 1 point wins.

I think if they can get to 10-8 it would put them in the conversation. They'd have to play well, but it's far from impossible.

Noticed that Arkansas beat LSU. That's a quality win. The Hogs still have life as a potential bubble team if they can get really hot down the stretch. The RPI isn't too far from where it needs to be, and the Kentucky game is a big chance to help that.

They were not at the game but on campus. It was handled pretty well though by Missouri fans......formed a huge human wall to block them from view and sang the alma-mater and other school songs. Michael Sam was at the game and was greeted with an exceedingly hearty standing ovation......even louder than the crowd was when UT had the ball with a chance to tie and 7 seconds left. Cool moment. For anyone who make think otherwise, none of this is to restart an argument, simply relaying facts.

What a game. I honestly didn't think we had much of a chance with the size Tennessee has. And it was a problem, but Missouri managed to at least survive the rebounding battle and get out with another nice, RPI helping win. Mizzou moves to 6-6 SEC, 18-7 overall. With an RPI that will either be in the high 30s or low 40s tomorrow, for the moment they've basically played their way onto the right side of the bubble. If they can avoid a letdown against a Vandy team that's already beaten us on the road, things will look very good headed into a couple of road games. I have to mention this though I'm hesitant......but it was more notable and important than the game itself. Westboro Baptist Church sucks so incredibly much. Luckily their hollering was mostly drowned out by MIZ-ZOU chants.

Another huge game against Tennessee this afternoon....3PM ESPN2. Tennessee has some great big men, and might be able to take advantage of our front court in the same way that Kentucky did. But they don't really play defense, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that Missouri could just outscore them. It's definitely not a game I expect Mizzou to win, but it's one they need to win to get back to .500 in the SEC and start making their final tournament case. Hoping for a better crowd for this one. Not getting a sellout for Arkansas was a pretty deep disappointment, though somehow it was our best attended game all year. That has become a serious, serious issue that may be a direct causal factor to losing two home games this year. But I digress. I plan to make it there for the second straight game.....from the time the season started I figured Arkie and UT would be important games so I wanted to make sure to go. Sure enough they are.

Al, there are a lot of things wrong with this team. But I'm just fine that we basically never feed it into our big guys. They just are incapable of doing anything offensively. 90% of the time it's either a turnover (none of them can reliably catch a perfectly routine pass) or a missed layup. I'd rather have Jabari Brown driving into a double team and taking a tough shot than Rosburg or Keanau Post having a much easier shot attempt. You can't rely on our big men, and honestly I think our guards are smart that they finally realized that. I hate to sound so bitter about it, as they all play hard. But Haith needs to recruit better big men yesterday, or just start putting everything in the hands of JIII and Torren Jones to get ready for next year.

Haith is not very good at working with post players unless they come prepackaged (ie Alex Oriakhi and Ricardo Ratliffe, who were already really good players when he got his hands on them.) I actually think Rosburg is about at his potential now, but we saw last night that Criswell can actually play. Where was that Tony Criswell for the first 23 games? That is one of the great mysteries of this Missouri season.

What a game. I guess it was defense optional. Missouri nearly had an epic collapse there. I was at the game, and I've rarely heard Mizzou arena louder or more crazy than those last 10 seconds where Arkansas had one last chance to ruin our season (because losing this game would have basically eliminated Mizzou from tournament contention.) I don't know how we hung on there but I'm glad we did. Arkansas showed an incredible amount of guts with that comeback, and probably deserved to win. But at this point we'll take any win we can get under pretty much any circumstances. It's desperation time for a bubble team. At this point, I have no idea where it leaves us in our search for a tourney berth. We should probably wait until after the Tennessee game after Friday to think too hard about that anyway. That's a big opportunity for a second quality win in three days if we can get it, and would certainly put us on the right side of the bubble for the moment. That's a huge "if" though, the Vols are going to be just as tough as this one.

I plan to be there in the stands cheering like crazy against that happening. But the Hogs are capable of getting the road win if Mizzou doesn't bring it's A-game. Let's just be honest, the way this game is called by the refs is going to have a huge impact. Honestly (though it's not right) I expect a pretty significant foul differential in Mizzou arena tonight, given what should be a pretty raucous crowd. If that's not the case, then the game becomes pretty even.

The bracketologists still have us in for the most part........even after the Ole Miss loss. Missouri's resume is bad, but that's the case with every bubble team or else they wouldn't be hoping for a spot in one of the play-in game at this stage of the season. That win over UCLA seems like it was three years ago, but it's better than most bubble teams can show. And those road wins at Arkansas and NC State at least display a base level of competence away from home, which is a good thing. I think we an afford another loss (and maybe two) but who knows how it will play out. A couple of wins over Tennessee (the last two real quality games on our schedule) would really help the RPI and give us some margin for error back. So I say win out at home and avoid disaster at UGA and Alabama. The home slate is not easy, but a tournament team should be able to beat Arkansas, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M on their home floor. I'm not sure we are a tournament team, but there's real hope our homecourt advantage (though greatly lessened) may carry us through those five unscathed. I'm more worried about the games in Tuscaloosa and (especially) Athens against a Bulldogs team that broke our massive home winning streak and put us on the bubble to start with. That leaves a road game at Tennessee to close the regular season. I think if we do everything I just listed above, that game (and the SEC tournament) will be for NCAA tournament seeding purposes only. If we drop even one other game, it becomes absolutely critical.

That's exactly the problem. Could be a two bid league when all is said and done. I think Mizzou can afford one more regular season loss to be in good shape for the NCAA tournament when we enter the conference tournament. That's it. But looking at the schedule, it's at least possible they could pull it off. They obviously can't afford a home loss, or a bad road loss @UGA or Alabama. If they win everything else they can probably afford to lose @UT in the season finale. They'd then enter the SEC tournament 23-8 and in need of probably one more win to make the dance. At 10-8 (22-9) they'd have a chance for sure, but they'd probably have to make something of a run in Nashville to feel good about their position headed into selection Sunday. Anything worse than 10-8 and they probably have to just get the automatic bid.

I agree completely. He's done great bringing in some of the best backcourt players in the country.....and NO ONE in the front court to support them. JWIII will be good before long, but he is more of a small forward in a power forward's body-think Laurence Bowers. Rosburg plays hard and is a pretty good rebounder, but his offensive game isn't getting it done and he struggles to get his hands on pretty routine passes. Criswell has regressed terribly from last year and is at best a backup to Rosburg. We just don't even have a Steve Moore on this roster, let alone a Ricardo Rattliffe or Alex Oriakhi. I continue to be perplexed by Tony Criswell. He played pretty good basketball last year behind Alex Oriakhi. I just assumed he'd be a solid, if not specatular starter this year. That said, let's go beat the heck out of Ole Miss. If there is one team in the SEC that I just don't want to lose to, it's them. I have WAY more legitimate feelings of dislike for the boys in Oxford than our supposed rivals in Fayetteville. Rebel fans are just so dang arrogant. They are never particularly good at any sport, but they always think they are world beaters (especially in football.) And they hate us too.....I think they prefer to call Missouri fans "Yankees". So the feeling is mutual I guess.

I really wish we had them at home. They are more consistently good than UK due to their coaching.......but they just felt a lot more beatable. Anyway, Mizzou played two really good games against UK and UF and lost both. It puts a ton of pressure on all the rest. The Ole Miss game is the closest to a must win you can have in February. It's one of our last chances at anything resembling a quality win (the two games against Tennessee are the others), and we can't afford to fall very far below .500 in SEC play. Because in reality we are going to need to get to at least 10-8 in conference play to have a decent chance at the NCAA tournament. If Ole MIss beats us, we fall to 4-6. That would be exceedingly tough to rebound from, even with a pretty soft schedule the rest of the way. Missouri hasn't played bad in conference this year, with the exception of two games (Georgia and Vanderbilt). But we haven't beaten a potential tournament team since UCLA (or NC State, if you want to stretch it) and if they want to be taken seriously, it's high time they do so this weekend in Oxford.