Recently, one of the readers brought to my attention the fact that there are more college sports than just basketball and football. Who knew? This came up because of my recent fascination with marrying football to basketball (equal weighting) and trying to determine which schools and conferences have been superior over the last… X years. I’m still working on The Mother of All FB+BB Ranking Systems. I promise it will be done soon – just as soon as almost everything except college basketball is out of the way. But, does the emphasis on these two sports ignore the others?

Ok, maybe that’s a little extreme. What I’m going to tell you, however, is about a site that is absolutely fantastic. I would think anyone reading UFR would be thrilled to know it exists. I just found out about it yesterday and I immediately put a link to it on UFR. Now… this is not your everyday link – such as those to the left side. Those are recommended sites. Even something as amazing as baseballreference is listed in that group. No, this is in another category – at least for me.

The Cats are in the midst of a seven-game stretch in which they simply must go 7-0 to have a realistic chance at winning the conference championship. Few would give them any chance, but with Baylor losing twice and now Missouri losing in Stillwater (a place where KSU won last Saturday), it gives the team new life.

The difference, of course, being that a pothole is just that - a random negative. Now that you know it is there, you steer around it next time. A speed bump warns of an impending issue ahead. Slow down, take stock, more speed bumps ahead. I’m saying it was a pothole, but I might be wrong.

A couple weeks ago I asked whether NFL Defenses were going the way of the buggy whip. At the time the three most prolific offenses in the league were operating on all cylinders. Now, two weeks later, there are some forced modifications to my theory… or are there?

I finally bit the bullet and forked over my $19.95/yr to get all of Pomeroy’s research beyond his basic rankings of the teams. As I have said several times on UFR, even though I don’t agree with everything he does (how he calculates things and what emphasis he applies), it’s more than adequate. Most importantly, his data base is fantastic and it lets him keep track of things I could only dream about.

Let’s see if I have this straight. Kansas was favored by 17 points over #149 Texas A&M. The Aggies were playing without, arguably, their best player. The game was in Lawrence and KU led 11-0 five minutes into the contest… And… somehow trailed at halftime. I’m sorry, what?

Energy in ActionObviously, it’s a couple dozen years premature to evaluate him based on a career, but there is one thing we can do – evaluate him based upon his first season at a school. Haith has led Missouri to an 18-1 record to date. At the very minimum, the Tigers will play 14 more games – and that assumes losing in the first round of the B12 tournament as well as the (presumably) NCAA tournament. The question is how many wins he will have in his first year and where that ranks.

I’ve been saying all season (albeit with a little bit of concern after the K-State loss) that this Missouri team was unique and very special – that it could win a lot of games in the conference – even win the conference. Now, that Syracuse, Baylor and Duke lost, there is a pretty good chance MU will move to #2 in the polls behind Kentucky. How’s that for proving a case?

Tyshawn Taylor scored another 22 points yesterday in KU’s close victory over Texas. That follows up his two 28-point performances against Iowa State and Baylor (arguably two of the five best teams in the league). But, at least those two games were at home. UT was on the road and it was a low-scoring game. So, what the heck is going on?

I mentioned in my post after Kansas State beat Texas that the Cats had a relatively easy (meaning winnable) stretch of games. After beating Oklahoma State yesterday, that means KSU is 2/7 of the way through it and 2-0. The next five consist of TT, OU, ISU, A&M, TT. Some are at home, some on the road. But, if Kansas State is to get back into the race, the team simply must win them all.

I’m sure there won’t be a fraction of the interest in the NBA that there is MU going to the SEC, but I’ve said everything I can think of about that subject and I haven’t said much of anything yet about the NBA. It’s been very interesting season so far and the unique circumstances surrounding it almost guarantee it will strange all the way through.

http://mizzou2sec.com/One of the problems with drawing conclusions about college sports is that there is a segment of the population that thinks everyone is out to get them. That means referees, state legislators, TV announcers, media. You name it. It’s pathetic. Recently, I’ve posted a few stories on Mizzou leaving the best conference in the nation (B12) to go to the SEC. Naturally, I’m accused of everything under the sun – the #1 item being that it’s impossible for me to be opposed to it and to simultaneously be an MU fan. False.

I’ve been running these articles about what K-State, KU and now Missouri do that sets the teams apart. K-State is the best in the business the past number of years in drawing fouls. KU is right at the top in FG%, Rebounding Margin and FG% defense. So, what is Missouri’s claim to fame? There are three categories that make the club special.

The All-Big 12 team is suddenly getting complicated – especially among the guards. Outstanding perimeter play is popping up all over the league. Last night it was McGruder having a sensational game, J’Covan Brown (Texas) not so much. But despite R-Mac’s performance, the Cats nearly blew this game.

A few days ago, I examined KU’s defense based upon the entirety of Self’s tenure at Kansas. The sole stat that I utilized for this purpose was defensive FG% (DEFG%). On that score, KU was #2 out of 300+ teams in 8+ Self-led seasons. Prior to that, I did a story on free throw attempts per game in which K-State was #2 since 2000. Next will be a story on Mizzou regarding several categories in which the Tigers are among the best for the past several years. But, I just want to finish the KU categories. If I were looking at what they do as well or better than any other team(s) in the country over the past X years, I can’t just leave it at DEFG%. There are two others categories in which Kansas is either first or second.

It certainly didn’t take long to shake off the somewhat sluggish game against Iowa State just two days earlier. Kansas not only beat the #3 team in the nation, ended its undefeated streak, won by a mile… but had the best one-two punch in a long time.

In many basketball games, there is a single moment in time in which you can look back on and say “That was it.” Well, that moment was a series of moments when the score was Texas A&M 17 and Missouri 14. The Aggies had five consecutive possessions in which they could have added to their lead. Instead, Michael Dixon finally hit a trey… and the game was over.

As anyone who has read UFR recently knows, I was as anti-(MU2theSEC) as you can get. But, once that ridiculous decision was made, I had to come to terms with it and I’ve finally figured out how to not only reconcile it, but trick my brain into thinking it is an advantage for KU and K-State.

Despite the setback to Kansas State, the Mizzou express seems to be running on all cylinders. Yesterday, the Tigers dismantled the Horns from Texas. Yes, the game was in Columbia, but Texas was 12-4 and J’Covan Brown was unstoppable. Still, Missouri jumped out to a 30-16 lead and the win was never in doubt.