Mizzou in the Big 12 Tourney: Statistical Champs

Yes, yes, yes.  Since I didn't get a post up about the OSU game, let's make this a double.  It'll be quick, as I'm fried and have homework to do, but it needed to be done...

Missouri 67, OSU 59

• The numbers basically tell us what we already knew--this game was u-g-l-y.  Shooting ended up about even, and the game ended up decided by...you guessed it...BCI!!  Despite having Reid Gettys' OMG favorite point guard of all-time (Byron Eaton), OSU was unable to match Mizzou's passing and turned it over about 4-5 times too many.
  

* AdjGS = a take-off of the Game Score metric (definition here) accepted by a lot of basketball stat nerds.  It does the same thing my previous measure of choice did (it takes points, assists, rebounds (offensive & defensive), steals, blocks, turnovers and fouls into account to determine an individual's "score" for a given game), only the formula is more used and accepted.  The "adjustment" in Adjusted Game Score is simply matching the total game scores to the total points scored in the game, thereby redistributing the game's points scored to those who had the biggest impact on the game itself, instead of just how many balls a player put through a basket.

• Leo Lyons and Zaire Taylor won this game, and Goose Lawrence applied the 3-point daggers at the end.
• J.T. Tiller didn't do much of anything offensively, but holy crap did he play great defense in this game.

Missouri 73, Baylor 60

• This was more Mizzou's style--a True Shooting % in the upper 50%'s, a BCI over 2.0, and even some nice rebounding numbers to boot!
• Whereas 3-point shooting almost murdered Mizzou against OSU, 3-point shooting basically won the Baylor game.

• DeMarre told Zaire Taylor that he was going to play well after an iffy OSU game, and that he did.  He wreaked havoc on the interior of the zone (and even made a killer 3-pointer), and Goose came through big-time from behind the arc.  Leo had a few too many turnovers, and it drove down his overall statline, but the three seniors really wanted this one, and they went and took it.
  
  Throughout the season, different freshmen have stepped up at different times, but tourney time was senior time, and all three came through.
  

Big 12 Tournament

• It's very indicative of this team that there was no statistically dominant player. 
  
  For the tournament, Mizzou's tourney MVP--DeMarre Carroll--was actually Mizzou's 4th-best player statistically.  But his leadership in the finals, along with JT Tiller's defense and great contributions from different bench guys each game (Safford and Denmon against Tech, Safford against OSU, English against Baylor), won this tourney for Mizzou.  Yes, they ended up with a favorable draw--beating the #7, #9 and #11 seeds on the way to the title, but a) they beat the teams that beat KU and OU, and b) I don't care.
  

And finally, not to be a downer, but to my buddy Jeffrey, who passed away at the end of January, I just want to say, I choked myself up a bit thinking about how you would have reacted to this, and I've been thinking about you a lot in this awesome run Mizzou has embarked upon in the last month and a half.