ozark trout fisher

I agree that the refereeing has left plenty to be desired in many of our games...and I've gotten just as angry about it as anyone. But I just can't blame these losses on that. If you don't want to lose because of a couple of bad calls on the road, win by ten points, don't leave it to the last minute. Missouri has gotten the calls on its home floor, and it has not gotten the calls on the road. It does work both ways. It's a bigger disparity than usual in the SEC, but you just have to understand that going in. Missouri wins its close games at home (admittedly there have only been three that match that description) and loses on the road. There is a reason for that. So simply put, don't be involved in extremely close games in the majority of your road games if you don't want to go 2-8 on the road. That said, there are no more road games, so I'm not going to think about them for the rest of the season. Win a few games in the SEC tournament, and we might move up to a 7 seed, and everyone will be reasonably happy again. Their RPI didn't drop at all from the loss, so I guess we are not as close to the bubble as I thought-very few teams in the top 30 ever get left out. But I really don't want to deal with even a slightly stressful selection Sunday... please beat Texas A&M/Auburn!

I'm starting to think you're right. Generally you do want the ball in the hands of your best player in the last few seconds...but when your best player happens to be a mediocre three point shooter, maybe it's time to look another direction. I think Haith is a good coach most of the time, but honestly it doesn't seem like he draws anything up at the end of game...he simply trusts the team to handle it themselves. That worked last year, with a rotation full of guys who had played with each other for years. It really doesn't this season. That's not an insult of this team. I think some teams just need a coach who is a bit more involved, and this is probably one of them. I don't want to play coach, but with 20 seconds left and a three point deficit, I'm getting the ball inside to get a high percentage shot or a foul. Then foul, and maybe you're only down two when you get the ball back, with 10 or so seconds to go. Then you can get it in the lane one more time to force overtime. Worse case scenario with a two there, is that you're basically back in the same position, with the ball down three. But missing a three with 15 seconds left basically ends the game, because all they need to do is make one free-throw to ice the game. Just get some points as quickly as possible, and extend the game. Anyway, I'll cheer like heck for them in the SEC and (probably) the NCAA tournament. They might break all our hearts, but who knows...teams like this have been able to suddenly get things together in the postseason before. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but the talent is still there. They'll play next on Thursday.

Missouri has a second half lead on the road and can't hold onto it. Then we find ourselves down by a bucket late, take a desperation shot, and lose. How many times has this happened? Missouri falls to 3-6 in games decided by three points or less (or in overtime) and is 0-6 in such games on the road. What can you really say about that? Is it bad luck, or poor play down the stretch? Some of both, for sure, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. We can never seem to get a decent shot off when we need it late in a game. Missouri ends the regular season 22-9 and 11-7 in the SEC. The quality wins still keep us safely in the tournament for now, but the six seed in the SEC tournament is hardly inspiring. They're probably looking at about a 9 or 10 seed in the tournament if things ended now. If they can win a game in the SEC tournament (against the winner of Texas A&M and Vanderbilt), they should be a lock. With a loss in their first game, they should still be in very good shape for a tournament bid-but selection Sunday isn't going to completely stress-free. Falling out of the tournament would be very unlikely, but one of those "First Four" play in games would suddenly be a real possibility. I don't want to cut it that close...Just win at least one more game, guys. I would cheer for Texas A&M in the first round game against Auburn, which will determine Missouri's first opponent. Auburn's RPI is outside the top 200, so if we did lose to them in our first game, it might doom us to the NIT. But if it's Texas A&M, we can almost certainly weather a loss-even if a loss might be more likely in that scenario. Meanwhile, congrats to SLU, who beat a good LaSalle team and won the Atlantic 10.

They need to find a way to beat LaSalle to lock up the A-10 title. Won't be easy...LaSalle is still not 100% sure about making the tournament so they'll come out playing hard. And they have beaten Butler and VCU already. St. Louis still wins at home though.

Xavier's a tough place to play, even in a down year. Not a real bad loss, in RPI terms or otherwise, so no real cause for concern at this point. The selection committee shouldn't punish it too much seed-wise, and it's pretty obvious St. Louis is still locked in the tournament. I doesn't change my belief that they have the potential to make a deep tournament run.

I hope so. Because Kansas will most likely be in the KC subregional. If that happened, the first game would be a virtual home game for Missouri...which with a win would set up an epic second round game against KU. I would be willing for Missouri to drop a couple seed lines to see this happen. Kansas will most likely be a 1 or 2 seed, so Missouri would have to be a 7-10 for this to be a possibility. A first round game against Illinois is even possible, if the committee is willing to do a regular season rematch.

I think we could move up a couple seeds, but it would probably take winning in Knoxville and doing some serious damage in the SEC tournament at this point. If we somehow won the SEC tournament we could move up as high as a 5. But anything less and we're probably looking at anything from a 7-9 seed

Mizzou up 25 on Arkansas with 12:00 to go. Normally I would never count my chickens before they hatch but Mizzou can't find a way to lose this one now. Missouri should make the tournament for the fifth straight year. I don't think there's any real doubt about that now, even if they lose two straight to close the season.

Of course, on a nationally televised home game our shot clock would be broken before the game, and we would have an ESPN announcer (Jimmy Dykes) up on a ladder trying to fix it. That is so like Mizzou:)

Oh, I think it will be sold out.LSU on Saturday was a packed house and a great atmosphere (I was there...) I think technically it was about 800 tickets short of a sell-out, but it felt like one. And the Arkansas game should be on an entirely different level. Wish I could be there. It see what you mean though. Early in the season, we did have quite a bit of trouble getting great crowds. Some of our first few conference games felt like they were November games against cupcakes, given the atmosphere (or lack there of.) People just didn't know anything about Auburn or South Carolina or Georgia so it was a tough ticket to sell. That said, ever since the Ole Miss game, it has been completely different. I think that was when Missouri started to fall to the tournament bubble so there was a bit more urgency amongst both players and fans. And ever since then the home games might as well have been against Oklahoma State or Texas or any of our other old Big 12 rivals. The Florida game might as well have been Kansas 2012, based on the atmosphere. I expect more of the same against Arkansas on senior night. Arkansas may not be a rival yet but we are well on our way to that point already.

Yeah, about that last thing... home teams always get the calls and I think we've seen it's considerably more true in the SEC than most other conferences. Especially considering there will be a very packed and loud Mizzou Arena tomorrow-the atmosphere should be at Missouri-Kansas levels after what happened in the first meeting. Arkansas has the talent to beat Missouri as we've seen, but can they handle Mizzou Arena and get out of there with a win? It's would be shocking, but weirder things have happened. Arkansas is desperate for a big road win, but it's not like Missouri doesn't have anything to play for. It should be a good game but it's hard not to see Missouri avenging it's earlier loss. I'll go 83-78 MU.

I've given up on ever trying to predict tournament success. Over the past decade, Missouri has proving that it's capable of being the lowest seed ever to make the Elite 8 and one of just a few 2 seeds to lose to a 15. So I guess I just want this team to get there and see what happens. We could make a run to the sweet 16 or elite 8 or lose by 20 to a middle of the road team in the first round. Neither would surprise me in the least.

Yes, this is a huge game. Missouri had better not let that home winning streak end now...as you're saying, this is developing already into quite the rivalry, and it would hurt to start 0-2. And I'd just assume Missouri not back its way into the postseason.

Thank you Smalliebigs. Pride-wise and for the purposes of the SEC standings, it's a must win, but I think that's about it. Based on the past I just don't think that the conference standings are going to play a significant role in tournament selection. It's always seemed ridiculous to me, but they just seem to care about wins over top 50 teams, bad losses, non-conference schedules, and a million other things more. I think Missouri needs either one or two more wins to feel good about making the tournament including these last two regular season games and the SEC tournament. Winning at Tennessee is probably too much to ask for this specific team, so we'll have to win a game or two in the SEC tournament if we lose to Arkansas. But I don't think we'll lose to Arkansas at home given how much this game means to this team and especially Laurence Bowers and Phil Pressey... and I think we'll do enough in the conference tournament to the NCAAs even if we do somehow lose. In reality the Florida win might get us in no matter what.

Kentucky would probably win head to head, but Boise State plays in a much better conference this year and has more good wins...Kentucky is talented but hasn't put much together this season outside of the big win over Missouri. So unless they beat Florida or go on a little run in the SEC tournament, in my opinion it'll be justified if they're left out of the field. I still think they'll do just enough to sneak in, but it's highly questionable. The SEC had an awful day yesterday, in terms of getting multiple teams in the SEC tournament. Florida is still a strong candidate for a #1 or #2 seed, and Missouri should make it quite easily but the so called bubble teams just can't seem to get it done... Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky all lost. And finally, Ole Miss is in trouble after losing to Mississippi State. They are not out of it altogether, but need a big time run spanning the rest of the regular season and most of the SEC tournament. So where does that leave us? Two safe tournament teams in Florida and Missouri, and two real bubble teams in Kentucky and Tennessee. So a two-bid league is actually one of the most likely scenarios, if Kentucky and Tennessee can't finish well. Ole Miss, Alabama, and even Arkansas and LSU could still get back into the conversation but all probably need to win out and go on big-time runs in the SEC tournament to have even a solid chance...It should never have been this way. Florida promised to be good, and is. Kentucky has struggled, despite sky-high expectations. Missouri might have disappointed slightly but is in the general vicinity of where we thought we'd be. Either in the preseason or at some point in the season, Ole Miss, Arkansas, and Tennessee all appeared to be solid NCAA tourney teams. So not much of our preseason/early season expectations ever panned out. The SEC is just left with a whole bunch of half-way decent teams. So don't be too surprised if our league ends up with two bids and a whole lot of scorn from the national media on selection Sunday, right or wrong. Significant tournament success by whoever does get in could really improve that image though, and I do think we're likely to see that.

LSU was as tough as I expected. They really came out playing well in the first half, and showed toughness coming from down 6-0 to getting a big lead. But Missouri recovered, and this talented team combined with the atmosphere of Mizzou arena has been too much for every team so far this season. I was a bit worried when we were down double digits, but it always felt like Missouri would right the ship. Mizzou has really helped itself in the last couple of weeks. This is actually a nice win, as LSU recent run has brought them up to 17-10 and into the top 100 of the RPI. Missouri found itself pretty close to the bubble after the Arkansas game, but winning three of four has really come close to ending that. At 21-8 and 10-6 in the SEC, Missouri is in very, very good shape heading down the stretch. A split in the last two games (home against Arkansas and on the road at Tennessee) would most likely lock up a tournament bid. Missouri can almost certainly afford to lose both if they can win a game or two in the SEC tournament. So it sure seems like a whole lot would have to happen for this to even be a slight concern come selection Sunday. But the next two games are still huge for seeding. With a couple wins, Missouri would be 23-8 heading into the SEC tournament. That by itself is probably worth something like a 7 seed. Go win the SEC the tournament and a 5 seed is still a possibility. But Missouri more than likely is still headed for an 8 vs. 9 seed game. It seems like too much has too go right to move higher than that.

Mizzou can come close to sealing up a tourney bid with a win today...Let's get it done, fellas. LSU will be tough though.

Missouri has definitely showed the capability of late to be a tough out in both tournaments (SEC and NCAA.) It will be interesting how they handle it (assuming they don't have an epic collapse and somehow find a way to miss the tourney altogether.) Laurence Bowers and Alex Oriakhi both have big time NCAA tournament success under their belt (Elite 8 for Bowers, national championship for Oriakhi.) Pressey will be wanting to get the thought of last year out of his head. But this team has struggled in tough situations this year. If we can get through our first game, we'll probably be playing a #1 or #2 seed...so a team like Indiana, Miami, or Michigan State. Missouri can absolutely beat any of those teams on any given day...but we could just as easily lose to a 9 or 10 seed. Should be a fun rematch with LSU on Saturday. Before we played them the first time, their season was going about as bad as could be...but beating us seemingly turned everything around for them. They were 10-7 at the time but now are 17-9 and not as far as some think from getting into the NCAA tournament conversation (though still pretty unlikely.) Missouri should win at home, but they force lots of turnovers so our guards will have to play pretty well. Also one of their post players, Johnny O'Bryant has been playing very well. That will mostly be on Alex Oriakhi to handle.

They handled their business nicely, especially on offense. Keion Bell and Jabari Brown were amazing. Phil Pressey focused on being a true point guard and did an admirable job. Oriakhi's game wouldn't jump right out at you, but he was good offensively. The defense was atrocious in the first half, but they really did an excellent job of fixing that in the second half. A loss here would probably have been Mizzou's last real chance to fall to the tournament bubble. It's not done yet, but one win in the final three regular season games (and at least one more in the SEC tournament) should get us in. Two more regular season wins and I will really breath a sigh of relief. Missouri's road record still isn't good (2-7) but I think that's not a terribly meaningful stat to the selection committee. They do seem to care about your record away from home, but that includes neutral site games. After all, the tournament will not be played in our opponents home arenas. So in away games, Missouri is 5-8 overall. That's not good, but when you mix it with the win over Florida and the 15-0 home record, it doesn't seem like such a huge deal. On a side note, this is now Missouri's 5th straight 20 win season. What a run this program has had of late. You never know how long these things will last, so we should be enjoying our good fortune now. I am.

The Chiefs can (and probably should) still draft a QB this season. The reality is that first rounders like Geno Smith and Matt Barkely might not end up being that much better than later round guys like Tyler Bray, Tyler Wilson, Landry Jones, and Matt Scott. They won't have that 34th pick (due to the trade) but chances are you can get a decent prospect in the third round. Potential stars like Russell Wilson can still be found in that range a surprising amount of the time, if you're lucky/good at evaluating talent. So all is not lost for those who want the Chiefs to take on another QB to develop. It would be a mistake in my mind if they didn't. But this eliminates the need to really reach and take one with the first overrall pick. You generally want to take the best overrall player with the first pick, pretty much regardless of need. And the Chiefs could really use a potential star left tackle like Luke Joekel or Eric Fisher. If you want to look to the defensive side of the ball, Jarvis Jones (or even according to some, Missouri's own Sheldon Richardson) would be another option. But you really want a true standout talent without that pick in my opinion, not just the best quarterback in a (seemingly) weak class. And Alex Smith would seem to be the perfect guy to mentor a "project" quarterback. I think he would give you solid production for a couple of years until you think the new guy is ready. It sure didn't seem to hurt Kaepernick to learn from him for a couple years.

Even if you're not a huge Alex Smith fan, if nothing else this should allow the Chiefs to get more out of the #1 pick...If they didn't acquire a solid veteran quarterback, then maybe you end up taking a QB with that pick...but with no (apparently) elite quarterbacks in this draft, that would seem like a reach. Now they can just take the overall best player (most likely Luke Joekel from Texas A&M), which is how most NFL teams want to do it anyway. I really think he will help bring your team success, along with (presumably) improved talent from the high draft picks this year. We'll see though.

According to various news sources, Kansas City is going to trade for Alex Smith. Now I'm not a Chiefs fan (actually, as a Denver Broncos fan, just the opposite) but if I was, this would strike me as very good news. On the heels of KC getting a proven coach, getting a proven quarterback that has taken a team to a conference championship game has to feel really good. I don't know if he can do anything crazy like take this team to the playoffs next year (he's not a star really, just a very reliable, steady quarterback) but this combined with the Andy Reid hire and the #1 draft pick should have this team very competitive in the AFC within a couple of years...And I'd be surprised if there isn't major improvement in the win column next year. He's one of those few big time free agents that is low-key and won't be a sideshow-at least based on the incredibly classy way he handled getting benched this past season because of an injury. As a Broncos fan, I do welcome some healthy competition in the division, because I feel like last year they played so many non-competitive games that they weren't ready for what happened in the playoffs. So I'm looking forward to the Alex Smith/Peyton Manning battles for the next couple of years, hopefully.

Missouri could finish behind teams like Alabama and Ole Miss in the standings, and get into the tournament ahead of them. This happens every year. Alabama once went 12-4 in the SEC and missed out on the NCAAs, while teams far behind them in the standings got in-because they played poorly out of conference. The selection committee doesn't really care about conference standings... And based the metrics that count, (RPI, strength of schedule, quality wins) Missouri is very clearly in the tournament barring a collapse. They aren't even on the bubble. It would take a 1-3 finish or a loss to South Carolina on Thursday for that to become something we have to think about. This isn't just a Missouri fan being overly optimistic. There are quite a few sports analysts outlets that spend a whole lot of time predicting the tournament field...And in every single one I've seen, Missouri is safely in the tournament.

Phil Pressey has been very good for us the past couple of games (extremely good for most of yesterday), but at this point there's no denying that he tries to do too much in late game situations. I think this is on Frank Haith as much as anyone else-apparently he is okay with Pressey almost always taking the final shot. Pressey is a very good player, but he's a point guard, and not our highest percentage shooter. In my opinion, down a couple with 30 seconds left you want Keion Bell driving to the bucket, or you want to get the ball down low to Oriakhi so he can hit a high percentage shot (or draw a foul.) Jabari Brown and Earnest Ross are also good options if we need a three. Haith is a good coach. He really is. He almost always puts this team in a position to win games, even if it doesn't always work out. But he needs to work on his end of half situations. He always runs the clock way to far down before getting a play going, in my opinion. This was on display in Missouri's last shot to win the game in regulation and avoid overtime yesterday. It's been proven time and again that if we wait until there are 5 seconds left on the clock, we rarely if ever get off anything besides a desperation fade-away jumper. It just has to be better than that. I would get something going with about 10 seconds left, and if this gives the opposing team an opportunity for a rebound and a desperation shot at the buzzer, so be it. It's a risk we really need to take if we're going to win some of these games. So at this point we really almost have to win by 10 or 15, or we're probably going to get in one of these situations. The close win over Florida was a breath of fresh air, but by and large that doesn't change the trend here. I feel legitimately bad for this team (and especially Pressey) because it has to be so frustrating. Maybe a little bit of adversity in the regular season will make them more prepared come tournament time. There's always that hope.

Missouri just can't catch a break on the road. With the exception of losses to Florida, Ole Miss and the win over Mississippi State every road game has either gone to overtime or come down to the last shot...and Missouri has lost them all. First UCLA, then LSU, then A&M, then Arkansas, and finally this heartbreaker. So Missouri is playing well enough to have an opportunity to win for 39 minutes, and just can't seem to close it out. It's inexplicable. Of course, this game wasn't as important as it would have been before the Florida win. Mizzou still probably isn't at serious risk of falling to the tournament bubble. A road win over South Carolina and a home win over LSU should be enough-and if they can get revenge by beating Arkansas at home that should remove doubt heading into the SEC tournament. The season ending road game at Tennessee probably has to be assumed to be a loss, and we could almost certainly afford that if we don't have a terrible collapse beforehand. This was a really big deal for seeding though. With a win here, Missouri was likely headed in the direction of something like a 5 seed. Now, it's going to be tough to do much better than a 7. Given our road struggles, I'm going to guess we finish 22-9, with a loss to Tennessee, although you never know. Lose in the first round of the SEC tournament with that kind of resume and we could suddenly be looking at an 11 or 12 seed. If we can manage to win out (which would give us a decent road win over Tennessee), and make a run to the SEC championship game theoretically a 5 or 6 seed is still possible, but that's looking really unlikely now. Missouri (assuming they do make it in) will probably have to look to make a run knowing it's going to be facing a very good team in the first round. Teams have done it before, but obviously it hurts.