1. It's a weird season. I've watched a fair amount of games already this year, and have watched a good number of games played at Koch out in Wichita over the years. I'm mostly used to the no crowd thing now, but today was a little more so. Wichita has a pretty fervent following that likes to get rowdy. Marshall is generally stomping around on the sideline feeding the energy. I generally notice the pro-Mizzou crowd less than opposing ones (not due to size/decibals, just a weird thing). Those things were gone. WSU was shorthanded (though their primary contributors were still available). Just was odd.
2. Let's talk a little bit about Wichita. Pomeroy had them 96th coming in. A program in transition for sure. Not a great team, I suspect they'll be third tier in the AAC and probably be an NIT squad (if that's a thing). Houston is far and away the class of the league, with Memphis SMU and Cincy making up the second tier and the "bubble." They remind me of a lower level P5 team, and their analytics bear that out. They've got a talented player or two, some guys and then some not so much guys. BUT. It's a road win. You never take those wins for granted against teams that fit that profile. It won't be a game that you look back and say, that made/broke our season. But it's a piece of the puzzle. A building block. Seasons aren't made in these games individually. They're built with multiple similar games. Good teams win most of those games. Segue alert.
3. I'm beginning to see the "markers" that make this a good team we're watching. Believe it was Seth Greenberg a few years ago who said contenders have five things (which is kinda funny, since two of them are a lot of things, but we'll look anyway; 300 teams by my count have played, so the ranks are out of 300):
A. A good offensive efficiency team (Mizzou ranks 37th)
B. A good defensive efficiency team (Mizzou ranks 45th; and you're seeing my point)
C. Experience (4th in age; 10th in minutes continuity)
D. Turnover prevention (61st)
E. A guy who can get buckets (this is still developing, but we've had at least 1 guy who has done it each game thus far)
Some of these numbers have outside (non-2021 game) performance baked in. So they'll be changing quite a bit in all likelihood. For instance, Pomeroy has us 42nd now (research, see who's 41), and there aren't 41 teams that have performed better than us. But there's still a little bit of history to shed out of the numbers.
4. What else is a good "marker" for team quality? Not playing particularly well, never trailing and winning by double digits on the road against competent opposition. Mizzou got a little sideways at points. Got loose with the ball. Only got 18 minutes from Tilmon. Weren't getting friendly whistles. Didn't shoot it well from outside. Now, read that and think back to past years. How did games where those things (especially all of them) happened go? Not well. Today was different. It was a low drama win.
5. Mark will get some more discussion below, for good reason. But especially, from possession #60-63 Mizzou led by 10 with ~3 minutes left) here's what he did:
60. Drew charge
61. Transition layup
62. 2-2 FT after dribble drive
63. Hit contested 3.
Ball game.
6. With that said, Mark gets the MVP. Dru was hot on his tail, but #5 above sealed the deal.
19 Points (4-6 2 pt; 2-5 3 pt; 5-5 ft)
6 boards
1 steal
1 assist
1 TO
As mentioned, Dru was close
14 points
3 boards
4 assists
2 steals
1 TO
And Kobe, fought through a tough start to the season and had a nice game
14 points (4-7 2 pt; 6-6 FT)
7 boards
1 TO
5 fouls (refs needed a scalp in garbage time, he was the casualty)
7. Team Stats
2 PT
Mizzou: 19-32 (59.4%)
WSU: 15-41 (36.6%)
3 PT
Mizzou: 6-20 (30%)
WSU: 7-25 (28%)
FT
Mizzou: 16-22 (72%)
WSU: 11-18 (61%)
O-Reb%
Mizzou: (27.6%)
WSU: (32.6%) (this is not a good number for Mizzou, and is becoming a small concerning trend)
Assists
Mizzou: 15
WSU: 8
Turnovers
Mizzou: 11
WSU: 10
8. This weekend kinda set up like a nice meal for most Tiger fans. Admittedly, I've always been more of a basketball guy but still enjoy the pigskin. But generally speaking, a nice 2022 commit as an appetizer, the amazing comeback win yesterday for the main course, and today's game represented a nice dessert. I could get used to that after years of fasting.
9. The pace was barely worth noticing. I had it at 67, pomeroy at 68. That's squarely within the norm from years past. However, Mizzou did push in transition to get some easy looks. Turnovers didn't lead to a lot of extra possessions and a lot of O-Reb extended those individual trips out.
10. Up next is Liberty. This is a solid squad we'll be facing. Think NKU or Wofford last year. They've already played 6 games (4-2). They earned double digit wins over South Carolina and Mississippi State. They fell to Purdue and TCU. It's not a team that will be phased by going on the road. Mizzou's gonna have to bring it. If you're looking for "trap games," Liberty in between a big win road trip and Braggin Rights qualifies. They don't like to run...at all. But if they can control pace, despite the quality teams they've faced, they're shooting it at 58.9% eFG, which is 16th best nationally.
2. Let's talk a little bit about Wichita. Pomeroy had them 96th coming in. A program in transition for sure. Not a great team, I suspect they'll be third tier in the AAC and probably be an NIT squad (if that's a thing). Houston is far and away the class of the league, with Memphis SMU and Cincy making up the second tier and the "bubble." They remind me of a lower level P5 team, and their analytics bear that out. They've got a talented player or two, some guys and then some not so much guys. BUT. It's a road win. You never take those wins for granted against teams that fit that profile. It won't be a game that you look back and say, that made/broke our season. But it's a piece of the puzzle. A building block. Seasons aren't made in these games individually. They're built with multiple similar games. Good teams win most of those games. Segue alert.
3. I'm beginning to see the "markers" that make this a good team we're watching. Believe it was Seth Greenberg a few years ago who said contenders have five things (which is kinda funny, since two of them are a lot of things, but we'll look anyway; 300 teams by my count have played, so the ranks are out of 300):
A. A good offensive efficiency team (Mizzou ranks 37th)
B. A good defensive efficiency team (Mizzou ranks 45th; and you're seeing my point)
C. Experience (4th in age; 10th in minutes continuity)
D. Turnover prevention (61st)
E. A guy who can get buckets (this is still developing, but we've had at least 1 guy who has done it each game thus far)
Some of these numbers have outside (non-2021 game) performance baked in. So they'll be changing quite a bit in all likelihood. For instance, Pomeroy has us 42nd now (research, see who's 41), and there aren't 41 teams that have performed better than us. But there's still a little bit of history to shed out of the numbers.
4. What else is a good "marker" for team quality? Not playing particularly well, never trailing and winning by double digits on the road against competent opposition. Mizzou got a little sideways at points. Got loose with the ball. Only got 18 minutes from Tilmon. Weren't getting friendly whistles. Didn't shoot it well from outside. Now, read that and think back to past years. How did games where those things (especially all of them) happened go? Not well. Today was different. It was a low drama win.
5. Mark will get some more discussion below, for good reason. But especially, from possession #60-63 Mizzou led by 10 with ~3 minutes left) here's what he did:
60. Drew charge
61. Transition layup
62. 2-2 FT after dribble drive
63. Hit contested 3.
Ball game.
6. With that said, Mark gets the MVP. Dru was hot on his tail, but #5 above sealed the deal.
19 Points (4-6 2 pt; 2-5 3 pt; 5-5 ft)
6 boards
1 steal
1 assist
1 TO
As mentioned, Dru was close
14 points
3 boards
4 assists
2 steals
1 TO
And Kobe, fought through a tough start to the season and had a nice game
14 points (4-7 2 pt; 6-6 FT)
7 boards
1 TO
5 fouls (refs needed a scalp in garbage time, he was the casualty)
7. Team Stats
2 PT
Mizzou: 19-32 (59.4%)
WSU: 15-41 (36.6%)
3 PT
Mizzou: 6-20 (30%)
WSU: 7-25 (28%)
FT
Mizzou: 16-22 (72%)
WSU: 11-18 (61%)
O-Reb%
Mizzou: (27.6%)
WSU: (32.6%) (this is not a good number for Mizzou, and is becoming a small concerning trend)
Assists
Mizzou: 15
WSU: 8
Turnovers
Mizzou: 11
WSU: 10
8. This weekend kinda set up like a nice meal for most Tiger fans. Admittedly, I've always been more of a basketball guy but still enjoy the pigskin. But generally speaking, a nice 2022 commit as an appetizer, the amazing comeback win yesterday for the main course, and today's game represented a nice dessert. I could get used to that after years of fasting.
9. The pace was barely worth noticing. I had it at 67, pomeroy at 68. That's squarely within the norm from years past. However, Mizzou did push in transition to get some easy looks. Turnovers didn't lead to a lot of extra possessions and a lot of O-Reb extended those individual trips out.
10. Up next is Liberty. This is a solid squad we'll be facing. Think NKU or Wofford last year. They've already played 6 games (4-2). They earned double digit wins over South Carolina and Mississippi State. They fell to Purdue and TCU. It's not a team that will be phased by going on the road. Mizzou's gonna have to bring it. If you're looking for "trap games," Liberty in between a big win road trip and Braggin Rights qualifies. They don't like to run...at all. But if they can control pace, despite the quality teams they've faced, they're shooting it at 58.9% eFG, which is 16th best nationally.
