NCAA Bracket 2012 Predictions: 5 Reasons Missouri Tigers Will Win a Championship

Missouri overcame a late-season loss in Lawrence to the Kansas Jayhawks and won the Big 12 championship with a 90-75 win over Baylor last weekend.

New coach Frank Heath has molded the 30-4 Tigers into a formidable unit that averages an even 80 points per game (five Tigers are in double digits).

Here are five reasons why the Missouri Tigers can win the NCAA national championship.

Shoot a Very High Percentage from the Field

If you like teams that actually make a high percentage of the shots they take, Missouri is the team for you. It doesn't get much better than a team shooting 49 percent from the field. In fact, only two teams in the entire country shoot a higher percentage than the Tigers.

The Tigers have four players that average double-digit points and all of them shoot at least 46 percent from the field. That doesn't include the fact that they also shoot over 38 percent from beyond the arc as a team and average nearly eight three-pointers per contest.

This is a team that will shoot the lights out of the gym and average 80 points per game. There's not too many teams that can match the high percentage from the field and keep up with the high scoring the Tigers are guaranteed to pour on.

The object of the game is to have more points than the opponent, good luck scoring more than this team.

Make Their Free Throws

You don't advance far in the tournament if you don't shoot a high percentage from the free-throw line and it's really that simple. In the tournament where so many games come down to the final minutes, missed opportunities at the line is often the difference in the ball game.

You have nothing to fear with Missouri as they shoot 76 percent from the line which is good for 10th in the entire country. A total of seven players on this roster shoot 65 percent or better from the line, which is outstanding in my book.

So just how important are made free throws?

There have been a total of six regular season games for the Tigers that have been decided by five points or less. Missouri has won five of them. You can pick the teams that shoot horrible from the line and sweat it out in the end, or you can go with the team that takes advantage of the free points and have nothing to worry about.

Very Quick and Explosive

Along with the fantastic shooting percentage from the field and the line, Missouri can also kill you with their quickness. The Tigers are fantastic in transition and will punish sluggish teams.

This also makes things that much more difficult for the opposing defense. You want to play zone, they can just kill you from beyond the arc. If the defense is in man, they can use their speed and quickness to take the defender off the dribble and either lay it up or earn a trip to the foul line.

Missouri has scored 80 or more points a total of 17 times in the regular season, and having a balanced offense has been key to their success. If you're going to beat this team, you have to make it a half-court game or you will get slaughtered. Very few defenses in the tournament will have an answer for the amount of athletes that are on this Tigers team and even then it's an extremely difficult task.

Battle Tested

Playing in the regular season and then playing in the NCAA tournament are two completely different things. That's why picking a team that is battle tested is very important, because they've not only played top competition, but they've also made comebacks and overcame adversity at some point in the season.

Missouri has won games against Cal, Illinois, Texas, Kansas and beat Baylor twice. 

Anytime a team has shown they can compete with the top talent in the sport and win in hostile environments, it's a team worth investing in. There shouldn't be any team in the tournament that you don't think your champion could beat, and with Missouri, they've already shown they can play with anybody you put in front of them.

Experienced

Another key in the tournament is experience and that's another thing that Missouri has in their favor. It's a very grueling tournament and you need leaders on the roster to help guide the younger players through the rough times.

The Tigers roster includes only 10 players and only one of them is a sophomore. The rest of the team includes two juniors and seven seniors, which makes them one of the most experienced teams in the entire country. Three of the four players on the roster that average double-digit points are seniors as well.

This team has seen it all and been through everything together. I would take this experienced group of players over a younger team full of freshman any day of the week.

For your printable bracket for the 2012 NCAA tournament, click here.