Mizzou Gets A Voice

Just a few quick final thoughts on tonight’s Border War.  It occurs to me that I’ve neglected to include the opinions from the other side in the body of my posts, so I’m going to give the Tigers a chance to speak for a moment.

 

“It’s the best atmosphere in college basketball, no doubt about it.”  --Missouri guard and Kansas City native, Michael Dixon, talking about Allen Field House with the Lawrence Journal-World recently.  Sadly for Dixon, he was not offered a scholarship to join his AAU teammates Travis Releford, Tyrell Reed and Brady Morningstar at Kansas, where he could have experienced that atmosphere more than once a year.

 

“It’s my favorite place to play.  It’s a great atmosphere.  It’s an exciting game.  It’s deafening for 40 minutes, plus warm-ups.”—Missouri guard Kim English, also talking about Allen Field House with the LJW.

 

“You’re not going to get a call going to the basket or anything like that (as the visiting team in Allen Field House).”  --Once again, Missouri guard Michael Dixon, who is taking a page from the PowerMizzou.com and Tigerboard.com message board posters in whining about Kansas getting preferential treatment from the officials.

 

While I personally feel the Tiger fans are misplacing their frustration with the officials when it comes to the lop-sided nature of the Border War series, I don’t blame them for their frustration.  I once read (and I paraphrase, here) that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.  That’s got to be the feeling Mizzou nation is having with the way Mike Anderson approaches the Kansas game. 

 

The “Fastest 40 Minutes” feels more like “Fasting for 40 Years” when applied against the Jayhawks.  It just doesn’t work.  Kansas’ passing is too precise, their guards are too patient and too experienced, and everyone on the team is just too good at finishing the play.

 

On top of that, the wildcard is that the Morris Twins handle the ball (and pass, or that matter) easily as well as most team’s shooting guards.  I know that the philosophy is to speed the other guys up and make them make mistakes, but there really isn’t a turnover-prone guy on the floor at any time.

 

ONE THING that Missouri does have going for them is that it appears that Kansas will be playing the game without standout freshman guard Josh Selby, who is missing his second straight game with a stress reaction in his foot.  Even if Selby wasn’t as good as he is, games with Missouri can be a war of attrition, and you want as many bodies as you can have.  And you certainly prefer to have Selby eating the minutes, over Elijah Johnson—not that there’s anything wrong with Johnson, but there is a drop-off.

 

But I don’t think Selby’s absence is going to make the difference.  In Columbia, I give the Tiger’s a puncher’s chance.  After all, they haven’t lost there yet.

 

BUT Missouri is 0-4 on the road in Big 12 play, and I cannot fathom why their first win would come in the toughest place to play.

 

Kansas 86, Missouri 74