Mizzou Bball

[moguy1973]

The addition of Brown really showed last night. He's going to be a big help with Dixon being out.

[Al Agnew]

I had a blast at the game. Terrific atmosphere. Great game. And a big win for Mizzou.

One of the occasional posters on these boards has a son playing for Illinois...and he darned near shot them back into it in the last few minutes. Griffster, your son played a heck of a game.

[exiledguide]

I had a blast at the game. Terrific atmosphere. Great game. And a big win for Mizzou.

One of the occasional posters on these boards has a son playing for Illinois...and he darned near shot them back into it in the last few minutes. Griffster, your son played a heck of a game.

When I lived in St Louis (until 99) This game was the hardest ticket to get I had an easier time getting world series and final four tickets than braggin rights tickets. I guess it was as much fun to be there as it used to be

[joeD]

I was at the game also. On the floor directly across from the Illinois bench. The speed, skill, and athleticism displayed by both teams was incredible. Really. Call me a sports snob, and you would be correct, but I only go to sporting events if my seats are close to the action. But, nevermind.

The point is: Mizzou beat Illinois! Regardless of your frustration with Phil Pressey, Mizzou found a way to come back from a late second half deficit and win the game.

Despite grumblings to the contrary, Frank Haith is a good coach. Please do not judge his effectiveness by the lack of national coverage from ESPN. They know nothing. (Example: 24/7 coverage of Tim Tebow. who doesn't even play.)

Frank Haith and Mizzou are good. They will get even better as the conference season progresses. Don't get dismayed or sidetracked by occasional losses. It happens. Trust me, they're good. Jabari Brown makes them better.

M-I-Z....

[ruthead]

I was at the game also. On the floor directly across from the Illinois bench. The speed, skill, and athleticism displayed by both teams was incredible. Really. Call me a sports snob, and you would be correct, but I only go to sporting events if my seats are close to the action. But, nevermind.

The point is: Mizzou beat Illinois! Regardless of your frustration with Phil Pressey, Mizzou found a way to come back from a late second half deficit and win the game.

Despite grumblings to the contrary, Frank Haith is a good coach. Please do not judge his effectiveness by the lack of national coverage from ESPN. They know nothing. (Example: 24/7 coverage of Tim Tebow. who doesn't even play.)

Frank Haith and Mizzou are good. They will get even better as the conference season progresses. Don't get dismayed or sidetracked by occasional losses. It happens. Trust me, they're good. Jabari Brown makes them better.

M-I-Z....

Z-O-U!!!

I concur!!

[ruthead]

Like to see the tigers put together another complete game tonight. Hope Brown continues to settle in. Hate hearing Criswell is out. He wasgiving us some good minutes off the bench.

M-I-Z...

[stlfisher]

missouri beat themselves tonight. ucla is a good team and road wins are tough, but they gave this one away. they will learn from it, but 17 turnovers is gonna hurt and it did.

[joeD]

As I said, don't lose heart fans... this was a tough loss, no doubt..but, no joke, it will make them better in the long run. March is all that counts.

[Al Agnew]

Some really bad homer refereeing didn't help.

But this was one of those "perfect storms" that Mizzou seems to run up against at inopportune times. They REALLY missed Criswell. Oriakhi was never in the game, due to foul trouble, the really ridiculous technical called on him, and being fouled repeatedly with no call. It also didn't help that he seems a little slow to get up and down the court when teams like UCLA are running. Jankovic and Rosburg aren't ready for prime time. So one of Mizzou's strengths was negated, with Bowers the only effective big man in the game (and Bowers isn't really a true power forward).

And then there was the fact that Pressey was in the game all but a minute or two. The loss of Dixon will be what hurts this team the most, because they simply don't have anybody who can spell Pressey. He played a heck of a game up until the last few minutes, but in the kind of fast paced game that one was, he had to be gassed at the end.

I suspect they all were. What was looking like a big strength in this team when they were playing lesser teams, a deep bench, is not there. Tonight they had five effective players plus Oriakhi, who arguably wasn't very effective. Webster-Chan was barely adequate when he was in. Ross played very well. Brown mostly played well. Bowers got into some foul trouble as well, and was defended well on the perimeter, and missed a couple of Pressey's passes. Bell was pretty good. And then there was Pressey. That was it. The only other player to even see any playing time was Jankovic, and he was ineffective.

And with all that plus some really bad refereeing, they still almost pulled it out. (Only two fouls second half fouls on UCLA until the last minute? Not even looking at the monitor on the flagrant foul on Pressey that wasn't called? UCLA traveling at least five times, including on the tying basket at the end of regulation--he picked up his dribble four feet to the right of the lane and the shot left his hand off the left side of the lane...and he didn't even jump, just took three steps--that wasn't called on UCLA, while even Walton noted that traveling was being called on Mizzou's end of the floor and not the other end? Pressey obviously hit on the arm on the three pointer at the end of the shot clock late without it being called?)

[Justin Spencer]

It doesn't seem like Mizzou can tighten up on defense and really put a team away when they need to, their offense is going to have turnovers, getting back and getting stops after those turnovers will be a must. 88 points should be enough to beat about anyone. No reason to panic this is a good team that could be great.