Mizzou Bball

[Al Agnew]

Okay, so Mizzou pulled out their first SEC road win in football, so they're still relevant this year...one more win and they're bowl eligible. But, I'm a lot happier because basketball season has started.

Last year, even with the horrible ending, was the most fun I've ever had following Mizzou basketball. But this year could be very interesting. Lots of new faces who are apparently very good players. A lot more size. A lot bigger, stronger guards and swing men. Transfers who are proven top players on their former teams. Some freshmen that look like they can contribute.

And...assuming he gets out of Haith's dog house, Dixon could be a top scorer. Pressey is probably easily one of the top five point guards in the country. And it looks like Bowers is back pretty close to what he was before the knee injury.

I didn't get a chance to watch the two televised exhibitions, so yesterday, the first real game, was my first chance to see this year's team.

Bowers is gonna be terrific this year as long as he stays healthy. Flip is going to be terrific as long as his teammates are able to move to open spots and be ready for his passes. I thought he looked for his shot a little too much in the first half, but partly that was because the others were kinda standing and watching him. He showed accuracy on three pointers, and if that is a harbinger of things to come, he's going to be absolutely scary to ANYBODY trying to guard him, because if they have to guard the three, he's going to blow by them constantly.

The two new guys from Canada are going to be players. Webster-Chan showed he's a real three point threat, and Jankovic is a 6-11 guy who can step out and hit threes as well. He needs to play better and smarter defense, and needs to get a little stronger, but there's a lot of promise there. Criswell is going to be a big contributor on defense and rebounding. Rosburg could give them valuable minutes.

Oriakhi is a rebounding and shot blocking beast. Bell and Ross had some first game jitters and weren't too effective on the offensive end, but they'll settle down and be very good.

And of course, Jabari Brown, a terrific scorer, will be joining the team in December. The biggest problem Haith will have is figuring out everybody's roles, and getting them all to buy in to their roles. There are easily seven guys on this team who could start for any team in the country, and four more who would see plenty of playing time on just about any team. How is Haith going to find enough minutes for everybody?

In fact, last year was in some ways easy for Haith. He had seven guys who could play, and it was easy to figure out everybody's role. He had no choice but to play those seven somewhat interchangeably. This year he has so many potential combinations it could be easy to end up with players playing for themselves and not for the team, or playing in ways that don't go to their strengths.

On the other hand, all those potential combinations could mean that this team could really be something special, something that is a match-up nightmare for any opponent.

They have a tough early schedule. We'll know pretty quickly whether they are jelling or whether it will be a work in progress for much of the year. I can't wait.

[ozark trout fisher]

It will be interesting to watch. Between the two exhibition games and the game against SIU-Edwardsville, they've had stretches where they've looked great, and plenty of stretches where they've looked very average. I'm expecting this team to improve as the season goes on. Another 30 wins or anything close to that is a major stretch, but this definitely should be a solid NCAA tournament team, barring major chemistry or injury issues.

I do need to see a bit more consistence before I believe that this team can be much more than a 7-9 seed. Denmon, English, Matt Pressey Rattliffe, and Steve Moore are heavy losses. There are examples of good teams being built primarily via transfer (last year's Iowa State.) Not many great teams put together like that though. That would be a first if Missouri can get there. Phil Pressey will need to have a great year for this to be more than another early exit. We'll see how it goes, and it should be exciting regardless.

[Justin Spencer]

If the talent is there like you say Al, it is all on Haith this year. The best teams always have good players that sit the bench most of the year, it falls on the coach on how best to use the talent, and how deep on the bench to go. Should be a fun year!

[stlfisher]

I am pumped for basketball. MU has the talent and are much deeper than last year. It they can gel it could be something to watch. Haith's transfer class is being called the best in history...so that says something. If they bring it together on paper they are much better equipped for a deep tourney run this year. They were great last year, but they couldn't stop anyone on defense. That shouldn't be an issue this year.

I think they will finish the regular season with 6-7 losses, but make a deep run come tourney time as they begin to gel.

[Al Agnew]

Interesting thing about the whole transfer thing is that many of those guys spent last year playing against the team, and from what I heard they very often beat the team in practice. They should know what Haith wants to be done, at least. I agree that the defense on last year's team just wasn't that good, mainly due to being undersized at every position. This year that shouldn't be a problem. One nice thing about this last game was that there weren't many turnovers, which was apparently a problem in the exhibitions. Most teams play down to the level of the competition at some points during the game, but I thought Mizzou mainly played pretty well until the last few minutes, but SIU-E was lights out from three in the first half and that kept them in the game.

The tournament coming up will tell us a lot, because Mizzou could be playing three of the top teams in the country in it. If they come out of that tournament with a couple of wins, it should be a great season, with as few as 4-5 losses in the regular season.

[ruthead]

I've been a MU FANatic for over 30 years and this is by far the deepest team I remember. It'll be nice not to worry so much if someone has foul trouble. We haven't had a REALLY good big man since Stepo. Now we got 6-11, 6-10, and 6-9 and all look at this point like they can shoot and catch AND jump!! Tonights game showed the depth and I think we'll see the scoring vary from game to game. I just hope that we don't have a bunch of guys that all think they're a Anothy Peeler scorer. Course if they are that just might be a good problem to have. May take them a while to gel and figure each other out. They'll be much much better by the end of the year. Next week will be interestin with the posibility of playing Louieville and Duke. Gonna be a fun year.

[ozark trout fisher]

Should be fun...The upcoming Stanford game and whoever we play in the next round (if we beat Stanford it could very well be #2 Louisville) will be a great measuring stick for this team. I don't expect Missouri to win that tournament because to do so they would have to beat Louisville and probably Duke in the finals...but getting two wins in three tries would probably mean this is a very good team, considering how strong the Bahamas tournament appears this year. It would also more than likely get this team a couple of good RPI wins.

I'll say it again though, this team needs to be infinitely more consistent or we will struggle in those kind of tough early games. The first half they had yesterday will absolutely not cut it-if we did that against Stanford we'd be down 20 or 25 at the half. But the second half was near flawless, which told me that this was probably more of a lack of focus issue than anything else.

On a more positive note, Laurence Bowers is 6' 8" and he can hit threes like a shooting guard. If he keeps that up, how in the world will opposing teams defend him? And Stefan Jankovic is a stud. I kind of thought he'd take awhile to develop into a good player for us, but as it stands he looks deserving of major minutes right of the bat.

[ruthead]

Yep, definitely need more consistency. Thats what the regular season is for, to develope that consistency. They're a long way from being a top 5 team but I've never seen this much potential at MU. Think we got a lot of STUDS!! Gonne ba a fun year.

[Al Agnew]

I'm impressed by Jankovic. He played a very good game last night, and looks like he's that rarity, a big skinny guy who can play like a guard (almost). Ross looked very good, too...nice to see big, strong, athletic wing men, another thing Mizzou has lacked in the past.

When Dixon returns (assuming he does), who loses minutes? Webster-Chan? He's playing pretty darned well. Bell? He's supposed to be lights out, although he hasn't shown too much so far, and he's supposed to be the defensive stopper. I'm kinda worried this team is TOO deep at guard/small forward. All these guys can play:

Bell and Ross start with Pressey.

Webster-Chan has been the first off the bench and plays at least as much as Bell and Ross.

When Dixon returns he'll probably spell Pressey at point guard, which Webster-Chan did last night, and otherwise play the two guard, which Webster-Chan usually does. Which leaves Webster-Chan spelling Ross and Bell.

And Jabari Brown enters the mix in December, and is supposed to be a terrific scorer, taking minutes from everybody above but Pressey.

And they have two more guards who apparently aren't good enough to see minutes or are in Haith's doghouse, plus Corey Haith, who didn't look all that bad in a mop-up role last night.

[ruthead]

All good problems to have!! Just hope they all are into shareing as some are gonna have to share the spotlight.