Mizzou............

[Al Agnew]

Yep, Missouri State, back a few years ago when several MO Valley teams DID get in.

Otf, I know what you're saying about needing to just get enough ahead that you don't have to worry about close games on the road, but it's kinda hard to do that when there is such inconsistent refereeing. As I said before, one of the big factors in the Tennessee game was calling the phantom fouls on Bowers that meant he didn't play for 14 minutes of the first half. Add in the fouls on Oriakhi and the result was that Mizzou couldn't get any kind of a lead in the first half. We really remember the bad calls near the end of close games, but there have been a lot of bad refereeing throughout the games that have made it difficult to get and keep a big lead.

Having said that, in the end Mizzou lost four or five games because of horrible play and bad decisions in the closing minutes. There may have been bad calls going against them as well, but the team made things worse, not better.

[ozark trout fisher]

.Otf, I know what you're saying about needing to just get enough ahead that you don't have to worry about close games on the road, but it's kinda hard to do that when there is such inconsistent refereeing. As I said before, one of the big factors in the Tennessee game was calling the phantom fouls on Bowers that meant he didn't play for 14 minutes of the first half. Add in the fouls on Oriakhi and the result was that Mizzou couldn't get any kind of a lead in the first half. We really remember the bad calls near the end of close games, but there have been a lot of bad refereeing throughout the games that have made it difficult to get and keep a big lead.

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.)

[joeD]

Pressey is 5 for 35 on 3 point shots in SEC play.

The LESS Pressey does, the BETTER the team plays. It almost seems as if, instead of playing within himself, he is playing to what he thinks the media and fans expect, and want, of him. That he has to be spectacular and dynamic and a playmaker ALL the time. Especially in close games. He needs to trust his other teammates.

Also, water under the bridge, but Mizzou, and Phil Pressey, is not the same without Michael Dixon. Unfortunately, Dixon is the missing link. His absence is a killer. (what a waste)

The Mizzou emotional rollercoaster continues into March!

[Al Agnew]

Yep, this team would be very different with Dixon. Not only was he a gifted offensive player who would have given them a lot more consistent three point shooting, but he was Pressey's backup at point guard, and would have allowed Haith to sit Pressey a lot more when he started doing stupid things.

I don't know whether Mizzou would be better off next year with Pressey, or without him if he gets drafted. If he could ever learn to be the "good Phlip" all the time and not the "bad Phlip", I'd love to have him back. But he might be even worse next year.

I suspect, though, that he'll be back...unless he turns into the good Phlip during the tournament, I think he may have played his way right out of being a first round draft pick.

[ozark trout fisher]

I don't know whether Mizzou would be better off next year with Pressey, or without him if he gets drafted. If he could ever learn to be the "good Phlip" all the time and not the "bad Phlip", I'd love to have him back. But he might be even worse next year.

I suspect, though, that he'll be back...unless he turns into the good Phlip during the tournament, I think he may have played his way right out of being a first round draft pick.

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.

[snap]

......let the tournaments begin!!! I have the haith, I mean the faith in them.....GO TIGERS!!!!

[ozark trout fisher]

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.