The difference in how The Ringer and The Athletic are covering us in the tourney is the perfect summation of how nobody has known what to do with us all year. You can look at the team through two different lenses and see an extremely underrated team and a particularly overrated team. I know it's unlikely either of these blurbs is new to anyone here at this point, but here they are one more time for fun:
From The Athletic:
Killer Rating: 52.8
Okay, 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 Princeton offense 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.
From The Ringer:
Kenpom has the Aggies as the 18th-best team in the country, by far the highest of any double-digit seed, while Missouri is 51st—not only below all the other 7-seeds, but lower than every 8-, 9-, and 10-seed, as well. These are two of the worst seedings in the entire field—and they’re in the same matchup, overselling one squad and underselling the other.
Personally I love it – if you're not going to be a blue blood, then break the mold and be different. I love that we are embodying that. There is no bad coverage if you win, in my opinion.
Really excited for this one!
From The Athletic:
Killer Rating: 52.8
Okay, 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 Princeton offense 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.
From The Ringer:
Worst Seeding: Utah State–Mizzou
They should let Las Vegas seed the NCAA tournament. The athletic directors on the NCAA selection committee won’t lose their suits and ties if they screw things up, but sportsbooks have to be right. And Vegas seems to think that the selection committee not only mis-seeded one matchup, but also outright flipped the odds: 10-seed Utah State is a 2.5-point favorite over 7-seed Missouri.Kenpom has the Aggies as the 18th-best team in the country, by far the highest of any double-digit seed, while Missouri is 51st—not only below all the other 7-seeds, but lower than every 8-, 9-, and 10-seed, as well. These are two of the worst seedings in the entire field—and they’re in the same matchup, overselling one squad and underselling the other.
Personally I love it – if you're not going to be a blue blood, then break the mold and be different. I love that we are embodying that. There is no bad coverage if you win, in my opinion.
Really excited for this one!
