Basketball Links
- InsideSTL.com (Gabe Dearmond): Critics may be wrong again about Mizzou
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KC Star (Jason Whitlock): K-State-Missouri game played like a WWE match
Winners write history. So it’s not all that surprising that the Tigers would describe Saturday’s 41-turnovers, 15-assists affair as a glorious war that they won. The Wildcats saw something a little different, a game so unevenly officiated and brutally sloppy that it was impossible for Pullen, Clemente, Jamar Samuels and Curtis Kelly to showcase their skill.
"I’ll call it a physical game and you can continue to fill out the sentence from there," Frank Martin responded when I asked if the game was both physical and poorly officiated.
The refs didn’t favor any particular team. Andrew Walton, a lower-conference ref moonlighting in the big time, appeared to work the game with a blindfold and blew his whistle every 30 seconds in rhythm. Not to be outdone, O’Neill and Davis hammed it up for ESPN face time, too.
"The refs tried to clean (the game) up a little bit," Marcus Denmon remarked.
Rather than quick whistles, the game needed a midcourt pow-wow and warnings issued to both coaches and players to reduce some of the physical play.
We ended up with a WWE match and an off-the-top-turnbuckle finish.
...The Tigers benefited Saturday from the carryover from last season’s Elite Eight tournament run. Mizzou knows how to win big games. They embrace the big moment. Taylor begged for the responsibility to guard Pullen on K-State’s ensuing possession. K-State’s Little Mr. Big Shot had previously drained a huge three to tie the game. This time, with the game on the line, Taylor caused Pullen to shoot an airball.
When these two teams meet again at the end of February, I expect the game will be just as physical. Hard, physical play is in the DNA of Anderson and Martin.
Big 12 Basketball Links
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KC Star: Top-ranked KU falls to No. 16 Tennessee
KC Star (Upon Further Review): Keeping it in perspective -
Rock Chalk Talk: #1 Kansas Falls to the Vols
Rock Chalk Talk: KU vs Tennessee: Plus/Minus -
Topeka Capital-Journal: Rocky toppled: Vols stun KU
Topeka Capital-Journal: Cole Aldrich output baffles Self - Searching for Billy Edelin: Tennessee shocks Kansas, conventional thinkers
- Burnt Orange Nation: Say Hello to No. 1
Big 12 Football Tuberville Links
- Dallas Morning News: Tommy Tuberville promises, 'We're going to be fun to watch'
- Houston Chronicle (Jerome Solomon): Tech won't miss a beat with Tuberville
Other Mizzou Links
- MU Women's Basketball
The Trib: Missouri women fall at Colorado