Mizzou Links: One(ish) last go-round for Shamburger and a Softball sweep

Mizzou Hoops prepares for its first conference tournament under Kim Anderson, Keanau Post wins a community service award, and Mizzou Softball completes its first SEC sweep of the season.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Mar 10, 2015, 5:01am CDT

What's On

Well, watch either this Mizzou Network countdown to the Mack Rhoades press conference...

...or this piece on the Mizzou Arena video board.

The countdown's kind of hypnotic, isn't it?

One(ish) game left

MUTIGERS.COM: SEC Tournament Up Next for Youthful Mizzou Squad
The Trib (Courtside View): Anderson hoping Missouri can finish strong in SEC Tournament

On how Wes Clark’s absence changes things against South Carolina after he was injured in the first game …

"I think losing Wes in that game and subsequently for the rest of the season took away a guy who could help handle the ball with Keith Shamburger. They could kind of share those duties. Now, it’s fallen more on Keith, and I think Namon Wright has improved. Tramaine Isabell has had some time in there playing. But against South Carolina, we have to do a better job of helping each other get open. We have to try to relieve some of the pressure that Keith will feel, especially in the halfcourt. As I went back and watched the game against South Carolina, it turned out to be a lot of dribbling. We dribbled around a lot, and we set some ball screens, but we weren’t as effective as we needed to be. We actually shot the ball decent from 3. But I think a real key to the game is can we attack against them. They’re a team that denies the basketball a lot, so can we create some backdoor situations, can we throw the ball up over the top. I think that’s a big challenge for them because that’s something we’ve struggled with all year."

On if players are looking at the tournament as a new lease on life and an opportunity to build for next season …

"I do. I told them yesterday, there’s always three or four parts to your season, and in our case, the fourth part will not occur unless you win the third part. But you’ve got your nonconference schedule and then you’ve got your conference schedule, then you have the conference tournament, and then obviously if you do well you go to the NCAA Tournament or postseason, and we talked a little bit about being 0-0 again. Obviously, the competition will be very challenging, but I think it is refreshing with the idea of, hey, you’re going in and you have a chance to build some momentum to end the season or extend the season and maybe build some confidence going into the offseason and into next year."

The Trib: SEC Notes Part 2

Well yeah
The Missourian: Missouri basketball's historically poor season evident in the numbers

Cool, Keanau
MUTIGERS.COM: Mizzou's Keanau Post Named to 2015 SEC Community Service Team