The national media is just as confused as the rest of us
Mizzou will open up its NCAA Tournament journey on Saturday night against the Oklahoma Sooners. As far as predicting how they’ll fare? Well, your guess is as good as anyone.
The national consensus around Missouri seems to fit their No. 9 seeding, with notes that the Tigers are a hard team to figure out. The Kansas City Star put together a helpful post collecting the thoughts of national writers like Dan Wolken and Myron Medcalf, who all seem to agree that the Tigers have the ability to beat nearly anyone... they just aren’t playing to that level right now.
The piece did include a snippet from NCAA.com writer Andy Wittry, who sees the Tigers moving on to the Round of 32.
“Missouri’s first five games of the season came against NCAA tournament teams and it won all five, including a game against future No. 1 seed Illinois,” Wittry wrote. “The Tigers have stumbled down the stretch but they have as much experience and continuity as almost any team in the country.”
It goes back to what we’ve been saying about the Tigers for a while — they seem to play to their level of competition, which can be useful when you’re only playing good teams. Unfortunately, it puts you in a rough position in terms of seeding.
As far as the local media is concerned, Missouri probably didn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt, but there are definitely some inconsistencies with the seeding results. Dave Matter published a thorough breakdown of the results, detailing how little difference there is between teams like Mizzou (the first No. 9 seed) and Florida (the last No. 7 seed), but how that difference can mean a lot in just two games.
[C]onsider their vastly different paths to the Sweet 16. If Mizzou gets past Oklahoma, the No. 32 overall seed, next up is No. 1 seed Goliath, errr Gonzaga, the field’s only undefeated team, and surely a Vegas favorite in every game the rest of the way.
Florida, just five seeds higher than Mizzou, opens with No. 38 Virginia Tech, but then faces a much more forgiving second-round matchup with Ohio State, a worthy 2 seed but the field’s No. 6 overall — and a team that lost five of its last eight games. Gonzaga has lost five of its last 86 games!
I suppose there’s no use in crying about it now. Missouri has to face the path forged for them. But we still have four full days until game day, so we might as well talk about something, right! Let’s air out this grievance until we can air it no more!
Yesterday at Rock M
- Sizing up the NCAA Tournament’s West region
- Meet the two newcomers who could find their way into the defensive line rotation
- NCAA Men’s Tournament: Missouri takes on Oklahoma in first round Saturday
- Mizzou Baseball Builds Momentum Heading into SEC Play
- BREAKING NEWS: The Tigers are WNIT Bound!
More Links:
- It was a disappointing year for the Mizzou Women’s basketball team, but their strength of schedule ended up paying some dividends. Robin Pingeton’s Tigers will head to the NIT and face Fresno State in Forth Worth on Friday at 2pm.
- PowerMizzou subscribers can read Sean Williams’ weekly football recruiting roundup, as well as Gabe’s Monday morning thoughts.
- The athletic department got a big gift yesterday, one that will help both the football and men’s basketball programs.
Mizzou has received a $1.4 million donation from an unnamed donor. $ will go toward the football team's proposed indoor practice facility and to the men's basketball program.
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) March 15, 2021
- Markus Golden is headed back to Arizona to join forces with JJ Watt and form one seriously terrifying defensive front.
Welcome back, @markusgolden!
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) March 15, 2021
We have agreed to terms with LB Markus Golden on a two-year contract.
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