Mizzou Tigers: Poised for an NCAA Tourney Run

When Mike Anderson arrived at the University of Missouri three years ago, I was ecstatic. Anderson, the long time assistant to Nolan Richardson at Tulsa and Arkansas, had displayed how well he was at coaching the "40 minutes of hell" style by averaging better than 22 wins per season as the head man at UAB for four years.

His teams there were always among the national leaders in steals, assists, turnover margin, and scoring.

After a couple of years of righting the ship of a program in disarray after the departure of Quinn Snyder, Coach Anderson has ol' Mizzou firing on all cylinders.

The Tigers, 24-4 overall and 11-2 in Big 12 conference play, are ranked No. 8 in the AP poll and number 11 in the USA Today/Coaches poll.

Coming into their Sunday border war rematch with No. 15 Kansas at Lawrence, the Tigers rank near the top nationally in several key statistics.

MU is No. 1 in the nation in assists, averaging 19 per game, No. 2 in steals at 10.9 per game, No. 2 in assist to turnover ratio, No. 2 with a scoring margin of 17.2, and No. 5 in scoring, averaging 82.6 points per contest. The "runnin'" Tigers are fifth nationally with 62.7 field goal attempts per game, making 198 more field goals than their opponents. They have a remarkable turnover margin of +6.8, ranking Mizzou second in the nation in that category.

In MU's best start since '93-'94, they have been simply dominant at home. They hold a 17-0 mark this season at Mizzou Arena with an incredible 26.1 margin of victory, which is the best mark of any team in the nation on their home court this year.

The Tigers are 3-0 against ranked opponents and 5-2 against the RPI top 50. They have big road wins against Texas, Oklahoma State, and Georgia.

One of the main reasons Missouri is primed for a nice tourney run is balance. They have been getting excellent bench play. The reserves are averaging 30.4 points per game, a school record. MU has had 11 different players lead the team in scoring on any given night, 10 different Tigers are playing 10 or more minutes per game, and 10 players have dished out 20 or more dimes on the year.

A team like this is so dangerous, especially come tournament time, because opponents cannot key on any one individual.

Mizzou's run-n-gun or "run and execute" (as Mike Anderson prefers to call it) style is evident in the 19.5 turnovers per game they are creating. The Tigers are scoring 22.9 of their points every game off those turnovers, which means 30 percent of their scoring comes off turnovers.

The Tigers got then-No. 16 Kansas to turn over the ball 27 times in their Feb. 9 "Big Monday" matchup with the Jayhawks in Columbia. The 27 turnovers KU gave up was a season high for them.

Another thing that will help Mizzou during the tourney is that they really turn it up in the second half, so if a team does find themselves ahead of the Tigers, no lead is safe.

There was no better indication of this than when Mizzou overcame a 14-point halftime deficit when Zaire Taylor hit a 10-foot jumper with 1.3 seconds left to lift the Tigers to a 62-60 victory over Kansas in the aforementioned Feb. 9 game.

Missouri's next game with Kansas (12-1 conference) Sunday could determine the Big 12  champion, which would be MU's first such title. Even if they don't accomplish this feat, they are guaranteed no less than a third-place conference finish. Not bad for a team that was picked to finish seventh in the conference in a preseason vote by the coaches.

Nonetheless, the Tigers, with their "fastest 40 minutes in college basketball" and "run and execute" styles, will make for a very dangerous team during March Madness.