College Basketball - MU

Will he stay or will he go?

[EDIT: UPDATES W/ LATEST MEMPHIS RUMOR]

The population of unsourced rumors about the future of Mizzou's Mike Anderson is breeding like mice. The latest is that Georgia has offered Anderson the job as its next basketball coach. Well, bully for them. The SEC is way down in basketball right now, but you know that Kentucky will eventually rebound and Florida is only a couple of years removed from back-to-back national titles. Still, you have to wonder what Georgia has to offer Anderson that he doesn't already have in abundance at Mizzou.

Kim English may be the offensive key to the Tigers next season.No sense in looking back again. We all know this was a special year in Mizzou basketball. What's great about a resurgence like the Tigers enjoyed this season is that it brings back vivid memories of the good teams of the past. Sure, those memories were there anyway, but when you conjure them in the context of comparing this year's team to those past, they seem more immediate. That is, instead of recounting the best Tiger hoops teams as a way to eulogize a dead program, there is more a sense that Mizzou basketball history is alive and well, and this year's team was just the latest chapter in someone's nifty coffeetable book. But that chapter is written. Before we dive full-bore into the baseball blogosphere, let's take a peek at what next year's Tigers are going to look like.

Leo LyonsIf there is anything Mizzou fans know well, it's the feeling of falling just short. The Tigers had UConn on the ropes midway through the second half on Saturday. I already had my celebratory blog post titled (Four-gasm!), which I borrowed from somebody at the office. Instead, it just didn't happen. It was all set up. It would have all been so perfect. But it didn't happen.

Here we are. Missouri could be about two hours away from going where no MU Tiger has gone before. One thing I don't expect to see: Mizzou to play tight. This team has been a joy to watch in the tournament because they've been loose and, above all, they really seem like they're having fun. They work hard, play hard, smile, root for each other and play unselfish basketball. As Joe Posnanski wrote this morning, this is such an easy team to root for.

Just as in the Memphis game and probably more so, the team that controls the tempo is going to have the upperhand. Even the talking heads seem to grasp that fact today, whereas on Thursday Memphis was consistently mis-characterized as an up and down team.

The good times are rolling now!I'm still basking in the afterglow of the Tigers' win. I've watched Denmon's heave at the end of the first half about 25 times -- and I can't stop smiling. I'm just now starting to think ahead to the UConn game, but for now I want to do one more post on the Memphis win. Joe Posnanski suggested that it may have been the biggest win in school history. I don't know if that's true, but off the top of my head, I can't think of a bigger win. Part of that is because Mizzou has never taken the next step -- the one that faces them now. If Poz is right about that being MU's best-ever win, then that designation may only last for another 25 hours or so. Because if the Tigers beat UConn, that will trump everything Mizzou has accomplished in basketball to this time. Of course, if they then beat KU in the Final Four ... ahem, egad ... excuse me ... can't ... type ....... Sorry about that. Here are some more idle thoughts:

From time to time, I get in good-natured debates with sports fans that aren't as into the statistical side of athletics as I am. Since I'm not so much a math guy, but more of a word man and unadulterated sports fan in a beer-commerical sense, they wonder why I put so much stock into numbers. I have several stock replies to these exchanges. One of them is, "Because that's how I know when to be happy." Statistically, Missouri entered tonight's game with about a 40% chance to beat Memphis. All that means is that if the teams played about a million times, Memphis could be expected to win 600,000 times. That leaves 400,000 wins for Mizzou. With that in mind and having watched both of these teams extensively this year, it was with a heavy heart that I picked Memphis to win tonight 70-58. You know what? It has never felt so freaking good to be wrong.

As I type this, I've got my DVR paused with Mizzou up 57-38 with over 18 minutes to play. Uh, I think there is a good chance that they are going to exceed the 58 points I thought they'd get. Missouri has played its best game of the season so far. I hope I'm not getting ahead of myself because there is still 18 minutes to go and Memphis is awfully dangerous. But if things keep going as they are, I pledge to never doubt this Mizzou squad again. And as for Marcus Denmon's six-point spree at the end of the first half that was about the most unlikely burst in the history of basketball (a banked three-pointer and a 65-footer), don't expect any apologies from Mizzou fans. We are one nation of boosters that feels entitled to any breaks that come our way.

Bye Travis.Survive and advance. It's a March mantra that echoes across the land this time of the year. For Mike Anderson's Missouri Tigers, those are just empty words because his tournament-untested team has never tasted the fruit of March Madness. So even though Friday's mostly putrid performance against Oklahoma State was hard to watch, Mizzou got the win. They, not the Cowboys (and their pesky coach, Travis Ford), will face Baylor for the Big 12 tournament title on Saturday. No matter how you get it, the win is all that matters. While the Tigers seek their first tournament title in this conference, they are also learning valuable lessons about what awaits them next week, when the spin of the Big Dance begins its dizzying swirl.

Do NOT get in Mizzou's way.It was such a crazy day at the Big 12 tournament that the Missouri-Texas Tech game felt a little anticlimatic. Both teams looked flat early, working to find a rhythm before a sparse gathering at the Ford Center. The Tigers eventually found some energy and took advantage of a worn-down Red Raider squad. In doing so, Mizzou avoided the nefarious fates of the other three teams that earned byes in the Big 12 Tournament.

The dominoes fell MU's way!Missouri has risen from #27 (in votes) to #10 in the latest USA Today poll. They are #11 in the AP. I have no problem with their ranking. I suspect MU deserves to be in there somewhere. Of course, voters have forgotten about the debacles in Lincoln and Manhattan. Just for the sake of argument, let’s see how Kansas and Missouri compare in the Big 12. But first…

Tiger fans can wear their stripes with pride this season.In two weeks, Missouri has gone from the in college basketball's most underrated team to the team that suddenly has everybody's attention. In the polls released Monday, the Tigers are ranked 10th and 11th, respectively. Two weeks ago, Mizzou was unranked. That's an ascension that Charles Foster Kane would be proud of. However, if you paid any attention to the numbers, you already knew this was going to happen.

With young players like Marcus Denmon (upper right) on board, there is no reason to fret about Mizzou's hoops fortunes.The future of Mizzou basketball was on display in Saturday's swatting of the gnat-like Nebraska Cornhuskers. The game, the season really, serves notice to those that think MU's surge in basketball is a one-act play destined to end its run after DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons depart. The Tigers are back. Short term and long term.

One possible outcome.Come on, you knew this was coming, didn't you? There is no way in the world I was going to let Martin get away with making such a declaration unchallenged. If I hadn't spent the last six hours constructing this week's Basketball Prospectus Hoops List and updating stats over there, I wouldn't have let his blue-tinted view sit alone this long. While I'm at it, I'm going to tack on my numbers and comments from the last two games, as I am in arrears on that front. Tonight's showdown in Columbia is a big game for both teams, KU having moved up five spots to No. 16 in the latest AP poll while MU exploded into the poll at No. 17. However, believe this to be true: MU will beat KU.