Missouri Loses In First Round of NCAA Tournament, Kansas And Kansas State Play Today

The 2013 NCAA tournament is officially underway, and all three local Kansas City schools found themselves in the field of 68. One team is already out however, as Missouri lost to Colorado State yesterday. Kansas and Kansas State will play today.

(8)Colorado State 84   (9)Missouri 72

Colorado State jumped out to an early lead and held Missouri at arm’s length the rest of the way. Kansas native Dorian Green scored 26 points for the Rams, who won their first NCAA tournament game since 1988. The Tigers were led by Phil Pressey’s 20 points, while Alex Oriakhi added 16 points and Jabari Brown contributed 14.

It has been a frustrating last two years for Tiger fans. After a strong regular season last year, Missouri lost as a two seed in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament in one of the biggest tournament upsets of all time. This year, the team played well below expectations. Head coach Frank Haith showed early promise, but Tiger fans have to be disappointed in the team’s consecutive first-round tournament exits and poor 2013 regular season.

(1)Kansas   (16)Western Kentucky – 8:50 p.m.

NCAA tournament fans will recognize the Hilltopers, who have been a regular in the field over the past several years and have sprung a few upsets. WKU won four games in four days to win the Sun Belt tournament title and earn an automatic bid into the tournament.

A one seed has never lost to a 16 seed, and the Jayhawks should take care of business if they focus and avoid looking ahead to a possible second round matchup with Roy Williams and North Carolina. KU won the Big 12tournament with ease, and could be primed for another deep tournament run.

(4)Kansas State   (13)La Salle – 2:10 p.m.

The Kansas State Wildcats have avoided being upset all season, and they hope to continue that trend this afternoon. La Salle is a dangerous team, capable of hitting threes or getting to the rim. This is a game K-State should win, but don’t be surprised if the Explorers give the Wildcats all they can handle.

If KSU advances, they will play the winner of (5)Wisconsin vs. (12) Ole Miss with a rematch against top seeded Gonzaga possibly waiting for them in the Sweet 16.

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Painter Will Stay at Purdue, Mizzou's Search Goes On

Matt Painter was in an enviable position yesterday. He had two big time athletic programs basically bidding for his services. The day ended with him staying put at his alma mater with a sweet half a million dollar raise and eight more years on his contract.

This after a full court press from Missouri Athletic Director Mike Alden, who flew to Florida to meet with Painter who was vacationing there. The Missouri AD reportedly offered north of $2 million/year, but ultimately Painter wanted to stay at the school he played at, Purdue University.

Missouri fans were all a "twitter" yesterday as a report came out of St Louis that Painter would be accepting Missouri's offer. After news that he would stay at Purdue was announced, Mizzou fans felt that familiar punched in the gut feeling. With years of athletic disappointments in the past, most Mizzou fans, I'm sure, could feel it coming. I know I did. Alden went from hero to zero on Mizzou message board Tigerboard.

Mike Alden, the search goes on. There are still good candidates available, two of which are in this year's Final Four - VCU coach Shaka Smart, and Butler Coach Brad Stevens. Anything less than a Home Run hire could be trouble for Mike Alden - I don't think fans will stand for an unproven mid major coach this time around. I would also suggest to Mr Alden to do everything in his power to keep information out of the hands of the media. That can blow a potential deal in a heartbeat.

Mike Anderson Leaves Mizzou - Not As Significant As You Think

Many Missouri fans are up in arms after the news that head coach Mike Anderson will leave the program to coach the Arkansas Razorbacks. However, they really aren't losing that much. Anderson is a good guy, but in the end he is a system coach, and this season proved that he will never be able to get Mizzou to the top.

Missouri needed someone to clean up the program after the Quin Snyder debacle, and the coach has run a tight ship. In the end though, it is all about wins, and Anderson never really had a real memorable season apart from the 2008 campaign where the Tigers went 12-4 and made an Elite 8 run. Missouri has still never made a Final 4 in its program's history (which is simply embarrassing), and Anderson and Snyder both had an Elite 8 run.

Just for kicks, lets compare the two coaches:

(Big 12 record, then postseason finish)

Snyder Years:

2000 – 10-6 NCAA first round

2001 – 9-7 NCAA second round

2002 – 9-7 NCAA Elite 8

2003 – 9-7 NIT

2004 – 7-9 NIT

2005 – 3-7

Mike Anderson:

2006 – 7-9

2007 – 6-10

2008 – 12-4, Elite 8

2009 – 10-6, NCAA second round

2010 – 8-8, NCAA first round

Snyder had success when the Big 12 was at its competitive peak - Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State all crashed Final 4's and Iowa State was a dangerous team as well. I will give Anderson credit for cleaning up the program, but in the end, he hasn't really been anything special. However, there aren't a lot of sexy coaching picks out there this offseason, so Mizzou might make a coaching hire mistake, something like hiring Quin Snyder over Bill Self. Ouch.

Previewing the Last Weekend of Big 12 Play

The Big 12 regular season comes to a close this weekend, and there is still a lot to be decided. The current Big 12 standings have KU sitting alone in first, and the Jayhawks have already clinched a share of the regular season title. Texas will attempt to snap out of its annual tailspin for a shot at a share of the title as well, although it must go through Baylor in Waco, with the Bears fighting for their tournament lives.

In ESPN's current Bracketology, Joe Lunardi has Baylor and Colorado in his first four out grouping, while Nebraska is in his next four out. All three teams have a chance to boost their tournament stock this weekend. Colorado and Nebraska fittingly will face each other, as the Buffs will try to recover from a disasterous 95-90 loss to last place Iowa State. Colorado appeared in after its comeback win over Texas, however the Buffs tournament hopes are on life support at the moment. CU needs to beat Nebraska (who can only get in with a win today and a deep Big 12 tournament run) and make some noise in the conference tournament for a spot. Baylor's position is pretty simple: beat Texas and win its opening Big 12 tournament game, and the Bears are back in good shape. Anything less, and a talented Baylor team that reached the Elite 8 last year will be watching March Madness from home.

With all the bubble drama, fans can find a nice distraction in what should be another great Border War. Missouri has been unbeatable at home, and equally terrible on the road. The game should be a great opening for what looks like the best regular season weekend of the year.

Mizzou Finishes Road Conference Season at an Embarassing 1-7

Mike Anderson's Missouri basketball team plopped another turd on the court Tuesday night to end their Conference road season at 1-7. Now, we MU fans are generally not nearly as reactionary as KU fans, but that is F'n ridiculous! There is no way in hell this team should be only muster one stinking road win.

Even worse perhaps, was the way they lost on Tuesday night. The Tigers were out-rebounded 32-18 while tying the Cornholers in the turnover battle 17-17. Mizzou had ZERO second chance points. You're not going to win many games with those kind of stats. Really, to me, it seems they just don;t have their heads in the game - almost like the opposing crown is getting to them. That should not happen at this level and Coach Anderson is to blame.

That's not to say something stupid like Mike Anderson should be fired, but he is definitely having a down year and we should expect better from him in the future. The good news is that Missouri has no more road games left, and they have been decent on neutral courts. With just one home win over rival Kansas standing between them and an undefeated season at home, Missouri could sure make their faithful breathe easier if they take care of business on Saturday at Mizzou Arena. This team could still do some damage in the tournament and salvage the season.

Previewing This Weekend's Big 12 Matchups

We are only two weeks away from March, which means the conference regular season will soon be over. In the current Big 12 standings, Texas sits alone in first place with an 11-0 record, two games ahead of 9-2 Kansas. Baring an epic Texas collapse, it appears that KU's streak of consecutive conference championships will end at six.

Saturday provides an opportunity for several of the Big 12 bubble teams to make a strong statement for why it should make the NCAA tournament. Missouri will travel to Iowa State, where a win would put the Tigers at 7-5 overall in the conference. Missouri has yet to win on the road in Big 12 play, and a loss to the Cyclones would be a huge blow to the Tiger's tournament profile. In the teams' first meeting, Missouri hammered Iowa State.

KState will host a struggling Oklahoma team, which should provide the Wildcats with an opportunity to get back to .500 in conference play and move past Nebraska (who should lose big to Texas) in the standings. Baylor, who currently sits at 6-5 in Big 12 play, will host Texas Tech, a game the Bears should win.

The team with the most to gain this weekend is Colorado, who will travel to Lawrence to face the previously first-ranked Jayhawks. The last time these teams met, KU edged CU on the road 82-78 without forward Thomas Robinson. The Jayhawks will be without Robinson again, and is fresh off its worst game of the season. A victory for Colorado would be a huge boost for the Buffs' tournament chances.

Missouri's Struggles, Parity in the Big 12

Before the Big 12 season kicked off, the Missouri Tigers looked like a team finally ready to contend with KU for the Big 12 title. Last night, Oklahoma State beat Missouri 76-70, dropping the Tigers to 3-4 in a Big 12 that is officially now a two-team race.

The current Big 12 standings feature two familiar faces at the top: Texas and Kansas. The Jayhawks have won the league six straight years, and seem to be playing their best ball at the moment. Texas, the only team to give the Jayhawks a run for the conference crown in recent memory, is the hottest team in the nation. KU and Texas are clearly the best two teams in the conference, and once again will battle until the end for the conference crown.

While it is no surprise the Jayhawks and Longhorns are off to fast starts, the parity in the rest of the league is shocking. Consider Texas A&M and Oklahoma (yes, Oklahoma) are tied for third place with a 4-3 record, while Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Texas Tech are tied for second-to-last with a 3-5 record. The league has never been this close, and it still remains unknown who will emerge as an NCAA tournament team from the cluster.

Many schools who were expected to struggle have recorded upset wins (Oklahoma, and Texas Tech) while teams like Baylor, Kansas State and Missouri haven't come close to meeting expectations. While the next weeks should bring some separation, it is clear that once again, Kansas and Texas are on a different level.