I don't think there's a single person who is playing or coaching in this game today--other than Bill Self--who has any idea what they're going to walk into in about seven hours. I honestly think this is going to be the craziest atmosphere I've ever seen at a Mizzou game. Here are some others that compare and then I'll tell you why this one will be more:
*Mizzou/Iowa State 2017. This was the Porter debut. Intros were insane. First basket was wild. Rest of the night was "Where the hell did he go?" Rest of the season was decent crowds, not sellouts
*Mizzou/kansas 2012 and before: Self explanatory. Was always the biggest game of the year. The diehards went to every game. The casuals saved it for this one
*Mizzou/Iowa 1998: Iowa was 10th in the country, had Luke Recker and Reggie Evans. So many fire codes were broken. Hearnes was overlowing. People were standing in the aisles, sitting on concourses dangling their legs over walls. Was the best non-kansas atmosphere I've ever seen. Mizzou won 80-79 in OT
Here's the difference between this and those: The Iowa and Iowa State games featured anticipation, but not hate. This is hate. Maybe not to the current students. Maybe not to the players and coaches. But to every fan over 30. The other kansas games, that was there, but it was there every year. This is 11 years of built up anger and bickering and hate. Missouri and kansas played for 106 consecutive years. And now they haven't for 11 years. And a lot of people who are going to be there have been waiting for this for a long time.
*That atmosphere can go a few ways:
It could fire up Missouri. The crowd is going to be wild. From before tip until the game is decided. People are not going to sit and they are not going to stop yelling. The boos will be even louder than the cheers. That can energize the home team and rattle the visiting team and impact the officials.
It could fire up kansas. Some players--especially really good ones--actually thrive on the hate.
It could rattle both sides. Kim English talked about the 2009 game, which was when he, Bowers, Denmon, etc were freshmen. Missouri was a good team, only had a couple losses. That game was like 23-16 at halftime. Neither one of them was ready for the atmosphere. That was the Zaire Taylor game.
*I go into this game truly not knowing what Missouri is. We've talked about the schedule but I think we've actually underestimated how bad it has been. There are 363 teams in D1 basketball. KenPom has Mizzou's schedule at 362 (shame on you, UTSA). Missouri hasn't shot the ball that well from deep most of the year. It has allowed other teams to shoot the ball very well from deep most of the year. The simple fact is the MAIN reason Missouri is 9-0 is the schedule. I think Missouri is better than it was last year by quite a bit. I think it is a fun team to watch. I think the Tigers have played exactly one team that had enough talent to beat them (Wichita State) and that team came up a little short.
I think scheduling this way was the right move by Dennis Gates. I am not criticizing it. Coming into this game 9-0 has fans so much more fired up than 7-2 or 6-3 against a much better schedule would have. I totally understand why they built the schedule this way. But we have to acknowledge it.
*I do not think this is an elite kansas team. They're good. They have talent. But this isn't like some of the kansas teams that have come in here that can just overwhelm you with dudes.
*Nothing will surprise me. I can see Missouri winning this game. I can also see Missouri losing this game by 20 and afterward we are all talking about how maybe we should have paid more attention to just how bad the competition has been so far.
*To win this game, Missouri has to push the pace and make the game a little sloppy. It HAS to win the turnover battle and it HAS to win points in transition. I think kansas can win this game if it is a slower, half court game. I do not think Missouri can. I think the Tigers have one way to win it. I think the jayhawks have more than that.
*What I mostly want is a day that lives up to what we're building it up to be. This is a day of nostalgia. For many of us, it brings back so many memories. The 30-45 minutes leading up to tipoff are going to be incredible. I know the atmosphere will be elite. I have no doubts. I do not know if the game will be. I hope it is. Most of the time, when we build something up so much in our heads, it falls short. It's almost impossible for it not to. I hope today doesn't fall short. I hope we see something that we'll be talking about with the likes of Lee Coward and Thomas Gardner and Corey Tate and Marcus Denmon. I hope it's every bit as good as we want it to be. And I hope that whatever we write afterwards can do that justice.
TLDNR version: It's Game Day. The Border War is back in Columbia. Release the hate. Let's ****ing Go.
