The Missouri Tigers' Gritty Bunch Keeps on Dancing

The month of March has never been too kind to Columbia, Mo.

In 2009 however, coach Mike Anderson and his gritty pack of Tigers are looking to change that and erase Mizzou fans' bitter memories of eliminations at the hands of Tyus Edney and Dwyane Wade.

The Tigers like to refer to their high pressure brand of basketball as "40 minutes of Hell", and so far this March, Marquette, Cornell, and the rest of the Big 12 have not been able to take the heat.

As a result, Anderson has the Tigers in their first Sweet 16 in seven years.

Under Anderson's leadership, this year's Tigers are the poster children for team-first basketball. There are no real superstars on this team, no McDonald's All-Americans, and no "diaper dandies."

Instead, there are transfers, former junior college ballers, and under-the-radar recruits.

Senior forwards DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons have been a truly dynamic duo all year long, with both offering great versatility on both ends of the floor.

In the backcourt, junior J.T. Tiller has a been a defensive stud who excels against the opponent's best perimeter shooters and penetrators.

Role players like Keith Ramsey, sharp shooter Matt Lawrence, and freshman guards Kim English and Marcus Denmon have also played pivotal supporting roles for the Tigers, too.

Though this squad doesn't have nearly the national acclaim of Tyler Hansbrough's North Carolina Tar Heels or Blake Griffin's Oklahoma Sooners, that has not stopped them from knocking off big-time foes on the national stage.

In the regular season, the Tigers notched signature wins against the likes of Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. Mizzou then made its way though an admittedly watered down Big 12 field to claim its first-ever conference tournament championship, earning a No. 3 seed in the big dance.

As fate would have it, the selection committee sent Missouri to play in Boise, Idaho—the site of Edney's coast-to-coast buzzer beater in 1995.

The demons were somewhat exorcised in the Tigers' first game when they soundly defeated Ivy League representative Cornell 78-59.

What came next, however, was almost an Edney-esque heartbreaker.

The Tigers' second-round game against Marquette broke drastically from their prototypical winning formula.

Usually, teams hang tough for a while, but are worn down in the second half beacuse of Missouri's signature pressure defense.

The Golden Eagles instead fell behind big in the first half, only to emerge from the locker room energized and able to eliminate a double-digit deficit in the final half.

Marquette even pulled ahead in the final minutes, only to be sunk by English's clutch free throws, and a colossal inbound blunder by Lazar Hayward.

Mizzou will need to improve dramatically on its second half effort against Marquette if it is to have any chance of ousting Memphis in the Sweet 16.

Once again, the national opinion is decidedly against Missouri,  but a number of X-factors could have the pundits eating their words again.

Tyreke Evans vs. the Mizzou press

Memphis coach John Calipari attributes his decision to shift acclaimed freshman Evans to point guard early in the season as one of the biggest reasons for his team's spectacular performance.

However, Evans' assist-to-turnover ratio hardly evokes memories of Derrick Rose.

If Mizzou can capitalize on Evans' ball-handling and decision-making deficiencies, it will be poised to pull off the upset.

Mizzou's deep bench

Memphis boasts one of the longest and most athletic starting fives in the nation. Mizzou will have to combat this size and athleticism with fresh legs.

Anderson uses a larger rotation than most to keep the full-court pressure engine running strong.

For Mizzou to take out Memphis, its multiple bench options will need to play as well or even better than they have all season.

The Battle of the no-names

So far in the NCAA tourney, both Missouri and Memphis have been bailed out by unexpected contributors.

For Memphis, it was Robert Sallie (whose prior career game-high was 13 points) pouring in 10 three-pointers en route to a 35-point effort against Cal State Northridge.

For Mizzou, it was English's first-half offensive explosion and last-second free throws against Marquette.

The team that wins this matchup will likely be pointing to an unexpected performance from a role player as one of the deciding factors. After all, strong performances from virtual unknowns is what March is all about in college basketball.

For the sake of Mizzou basketball's reputation, morale in Columbia, Mo., and most importantly, this prognosticator's bracket remaining in good shape, here's hoping things go Missouri's way against Memphis.