Bleacher Report - Articles by David Cotter

Five Teams Missouri Doesn't Want to Face in the NCAA Tournament

David Cotter — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:50:17 -0400

When the 2009 season tipped for the Missouri Tigers, there was a lot of uncertainty and little expectation.

Boy, did that change fast.

Missouri has had an incredible turnaround season—from mediocrity and a .500 season to Big 12 and NCAA tournament contenders.

Missouri's seed is uncertain as far the NCAA tournament is concerned, but regardless of what seed they end up with, they are going to be tested from the opening tip. Missouri has the depth and athleticism to make it deep in the NCAA tournament, but there are five teams this year that Missouri should not want to face in their region of the bracket.

1. The Powerhouse

If Missouri is matched up with UConn in this year's NCAA tournament, expect a big loss, and here's why. If there is one weakness on this Missouri team, it's size—size at the power forward and center position. Some might say they make up for this in athletic big men, but this isn't the case.

Missouri faced some superior talent this year in the Big 12 when it comes to big men. Missouri's matchup with Texas was a close game throughout. Part of the reason Texas stayed in the game was because of their center Dexter Pittman. This 6'10", 298-pound center bruised and battled his way to 25 points and 12 rebounds, his best game of the year. Missouri wasn't able to contain him.

Another team Missouri struggled to contain is Blake Griffin. Yes, Griffin is probably the player of the year this year in college basketball. But there is no reason why one player should be able to grab 21 rebounds in one game. Missouri managed to snag as a team just 40 boards for the entire game; Griffin grabbed half of their total by himself.

UConn's big men, Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien, are two of the best big men in the country. Together the two average 30 points a game, 20 rebounds, and six blocks. Missouri, although athletic, doesn't have the size to match up with this 7'3" and 6'7" duo. UConn would dominate in the paint, and Missouri would struggle mightily.

2. The Sleeper

If Missouri is matched up against the Butler Bulldogs this year, expect trouble. Some are going to argue that Butler hasn't had a tough enough schedule this year. That is not true. They beat a solid Xavier team this year, who is ranked No. 18 in the country, and steamrolled their conference with 15 wins.

Missouri struggles against solid teams. By solid teams, I mean teams who don't have that standout player for their squad, or teams that feel comfortable with anyone shooting it in any given situation.

When Missouri loses games, they're usually ugly losses: 16-point loss to Illinois, 16 to K-State, 25 to Kansas, and 10 to Texas A&M. These are teams that don't have NBA-ready players who are going to enter the draft this year.

The Butler Bulldogs are the perfect definition of a complete team. When your leading scorer for your team averages 14 points, you know your team is distributing the ball and the points well. They take care of the ball, averaging only 13 turnovers a game.

Butler also has one of the youngest and most enthusiastic coaches in all of college basketball. Brad Stevens is just 32 years old and is in his second year with the Bulldog program. In his first two seasons with the team, he's compiled 55 wins and just eight losses. More than half the squad that reached the second round last year is back and ready to be this year's sleeper team.

3. The Usual

Missouri beat expectations this year, and the Big 12 wasn't expecting it. If Missouri is forced to face Big 12 rival Kansas, it could spell for disaster, as much as I hate to say that as a Missouri fan.

After Missouri lost at Kansas by 25 points and barely beating them in Columbia, Kansas has the momentum in this rivalry. Kansas is on a hot streak right now and like Missouri, has overachieved and repeated as Big 12 regular season champions.

Kansas is playing extremely good basketball, beating all of the Big 12's top 5 teams. They have had a fantastic non-conference schedule, playing teams such as Michigan State, Syracuse, Tennessee, and Washington. Although they didn't win all these games, it certainly tested them early and has helped them become tournament ready.

4. The Bruiser Team

One of the toughest and most talented teams Missouri doesn't want to face is the Pittsburgh Panthers. Missouri hasn't played a team this physical all season. Pitt would create several problems for Missouri, one being that they are not intimidated by Missouri's press and are able to control the tempo of the game.

Pittsburgh finished second in the Big East. Some don't consider the Big East a conference, and that's fine. But no one can deny, from top to bottom, that the Big East doesn't have the best teams.

Pittsburgh, in my opinion, is the top team in the Big East. They have 28 wins this season and are going to be a force to be reckoned with come Madness time. They have beaten eight top 25 teams, including UConn twice while they sat at the top spot in the country.

Teams with senior experience often do well in the NCAA tournament. Pitt features three senior starters who lead this team night in and night out. They play some of the most physical basketball in the country, which I believe Missouri would struggle against.

Pitt's physical strength at every position and senior leadership is going to be tough for Missouri to face if they meet up with Pittsburgh in a possible Elite Eight/Final Four matchup.

5. The Cinderella

The Virginia Commonwealth Rams (VCU) will be this year's Cinderella story.

VCU just finished winning their regular season conference and tournament titles. They return the key players from the team that upset Duke just two years ago. They have one of the most underrated senior leaders in the country, and he is primed to finish his career in fantastic fashion.

Eric Maynor is the leading scorer and key component to this team's success. Maynor averages 23 points a game for Rams and is an expected top 10 pick in this year's NBA draft. Being a senior, and having experienced NCAA tournament success before, he will be this year's Stephen Curry. He is the player, as a sophomore, who hit the game-winning shot against Duke two years ago.

Missouri would struggle to contain him if these two teams met up in the NCAA tournament.

Missouri is a fantastic basketball team who, when playing well, can beat anyone in the country. I just hope, as a Tigers fan, that Missouri stays far, far away from these five teams when the brackets are released this Sunday.

NBA's Forgotten Big Men.

David Cotter — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:22:11 -0500

NBA centers are some of the most underrated and under publicized athletes in the world. Their tall, lanky, and most of the time, ridiculous looking. But at the same time graceful and a force to be reckoned with. NBA centers are often left in the shadows of great guards like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Some of the all time great Centers, Bill Russel, This slideshow is for the proud view who made a small, but significant impact on the NBA today. These players weren't the best the leauge has ever seen. Most won't make it to the hall of fame. But they will certainly never be forgotten. A tribute to them.

Begin Slideshow

Missouri Tigers: Big 12 Tournament Champions

David Cotter — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:30:35 -0500

Consider these stats: Ranked No. 8 in the country, posting an impressive 24-5 record, second in the Big 12 in scoring, out scoring their opponents by over 16 points a game, leading the league in assist with 19 a game, and having the best turnover to assist ratio in the Big 12 at 1.51.

Not only does this sound like a team bound to make a Big 12 Championship run, but a Final Four run.

The Missouri Tiger's success was expected by few this year, yet they are shocking the nation and the Big 12 with stout team play, and a never give up attitude.

The Tigers were a pre-season pick to finish seventh in the league, and ranked out of the top 25. Now, just recently eliminated from a Big 12 regular season championship, Missouri is going to shock everyone again and win the Big 12 Tournament.

Sound ridiculous? Think again.

Missouri has beaten seven teams ranked teams this year. The Tigers have an adjusted scoring margin (ASM) of 18.2—the sixth-best mark in the country behind only, North Carolina, Duke, Pittsburgh, Memphis, and UConn.

All of these teams are considered Final Four candidates.

Missouri will beat Oklahoma on Wednesday. Oklahoma's three losses, (two of which are at default since they didn't have the player of the year in either game, sorry Kansas, your win against them didn't mean anything).

They will have the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament, which means they will have a first round bye.

Missouri will have some of the freshest legs going into the tournament, since they have more than a two man team (aka: Kansas), and have just finished playing their toughest stretch of basketball, playing three of the top-four Big 12 teams.

The real point I'm trying to prove here is that if Missouri struggles against a team, it will be due to poor shooting percentage, not lack of effort. And it will be against a real basketball team, like Xavier.

Here are several reasons why Kansas won't win the Big 12 tournament, and will have a zero percent chance of making a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

Kansas has played inconsistent basketball all season. Losing to low life teams like Umass, who is 10-17 at the Sprint Center—which is basically a home game for Kansas,—Syracuse, again at the Sprint Center, and a "good win" against a weak Tennessee team this year.

Outside of Allen Field House, this team is sub par, and unfortunately, zero NCAA tournament games are being played at Allen Fieldhouse this year.

Getting up on teams and letting them come back is a quick way to lose in the early rounds of the NCAA tournament.

Experienced players get you far in the NCAA tournament, not potential.