Lethal Power Conference Longshots
Missouri Tigers
Killer Rating: 52.8Okay, here it is, lock it in: Your first pick to break brackets in the second round is Missouri. The Tigers, after a decade of mediocrity or worse in the SEC, are likely to land a seed around the 8-line, and with one of the highest Killer Ratings we’ve ever seen, they’d make a lethal Round 2 underdog.
It took one year for coach Dennis Gates, whose nicknames from colleagues include “The Sheriff” and “relationship collector”, to turn things around at Cleveland State, and he’s rebuilt Missouri even more quickly. Under Gates, the Tigers often look like they’re running the old Princetonoffense on speed, with series of accurate passes leading either to quick long-distance shots or open space near the basket for big man Kobe Brown. Taking boatloads of threes (43.5% of FGA, ranking 41st in the NCAA) and making them at a 36.2% clip (ranking 67th), and shooting even more effectively inside (56.4%, ranking 11th), Missouri scores 120 adjusted points per 100 possessions, ninth-best in the country.
Defensively, Missouri forces steals on a whopping 14.8% of opponent possessions, with D’Moi Hodge, who has at least 5 steals in seven games this season, acting as a one-man wrecking crew. (Seriously, there are NCAA teams that don’t force turnovers on 14.8% of opponent possessions!) Overall, as the Tigers forego rebounding for pressure, they’re allowing opponents to shoot over 50% from inside and over 35% from beyond the arc. Not good, Missouri. But Slingshot says the disruption of the live-ball turnovers they compel will serve them well in the tournament — and steals have already been key to their wins over Arkansas, Iowa State and Tennessee this year.
