Big 12 Tournament 2012: Missouri Passes Eye Test as Clear No. 1 Seed

The Missouri Tigers may not have garnered the respect of Joe Lunardi for a No. 1 seed, and they may not have the perfect resume, but if you watched them in the Big 12 Tournament, you know.

You know the Tigers pass the eye test.

You know they look like one of the best teams in the country.

You know when they're on—and they usually are—they are deserving of a No. 1 seed, regardless of RPI or BPI or ABC or whatever.

The Tigers were absolutely dominant in Kansas City this past week.

Despite a slew of injuries that were supposed to slow down their top guards, they ran over and around every team trying to stand in their way. 

The most impressive win of the tournament, though, was clearly the championship game against Baylor, a team that possesses the size and length that is supposed to disrupt Mizzou's talented guards.

But that was far from the case.

Missouri was able to do whatever they wanted against Baylor, as they drained nine three-pointers, shot 54 percent from the field and got to the line 31 times. Mizzou dropped 90 points on a team that allows just 64.9 per game and won by 15.

Three players scored 15 points, one scored 17 and one scored 19.

I'm not usually a huge believer in teams that shoot the three-ball so much or teams that don't have much size, but this Tigers team is different.

When Kim English or Marcus Denmon rise to shoot, you expect the ball to go in. I'm not sure what it is, but you just don't expect this team to have a cold-shooting night. 

Is that a rational thought? Probably not, but when you watch this team you understand.

And that's just it; it's something that you have to watch to see. Not even their amazing 50.4 FG percentage or 39.5 three-point percentage can tell you what Missouri shows on the court.

They pass the eye test with flying colors.

When they are moving the ball with quickness and precision, it just makes you say "wow." The Tigers are the type of team that makes you love college basketball.

That's why, despite their No. 10 RPI (worse than Kansas, Michigan State and Ohio State) and despite their bad loss against Oklahoma State, the Tigers deserve a one seed.

But it doesn't really matter.

Because the Tigers don't care about seeds. They don't care about numbers. They don't care about stats.

They just care about winning, and when you watch them, it's clear they are going to do a lot of that in the coming weeks.