The Best Tigers Ever?

With Mike Anderson’s contract finalized and all of the team awards handed out, it’s a good time to take one final look back at Missouri’s incredible and—no matter what Kim English says—improbable season that ended one game short of Detroit with a school-record 31 wins.

Near the end of the season, and especially after it ended, people were beginning to wonder if this was the best team in Mizzou history. After all, the Tigers have never made the Final Four, and they compiled two impressive wins over top five teams. At the team’s season wrap-up, one reporter even went around asking the players what it was like to be on the “winningest team in school history.”

Well, that depends on how you define “winningest.” Although the ‘75-’76 and ‘81-’82 teams could be in the discussion, the title of best modern-era Missouri basketball team has to go to either this year’s team, or the team that lost in the Elite Eight in 1994. That team was 28-4, giving it a better winning percentage (.875 to .816), even though it had three fewer wins.

Actually, both teams have quite a bit in common. They were both unranked until late December, both were led by seniors, both went undefeated at home, and both faltered in the Elite Eight. Also, both teams suffered somewhat surprising losses in their first game as a ranked team.

Before deciding which team was better, I’m going to compare them in the following four categories: Talent/Expectations, Nonconference schedule, conference schedule (including the tournament), and NCAA tournament.

 

Talent/Expectations

This one’s closer than you might think, since both teams were unranked to start the season and not expected to come close to what they actually accomplished. Additionally, it’s a little harder to judge the talent of this year’s team, since so many of the players still have some basketball to play in their careers.

Jevon Crudup of the ‘94 team was drafted in the second round and Melvin Booker—who was a consensus Second Team All-American and averaged 18.5 points and 4.5 assists per game—played 32 games in the NBA. The 1994 team was returning its top three scorers (all seniors) from a season in which it went 19-14 and lost in the NCAA's first round after winning the Big 12 tournament.

DeMarre Carroll was first-team All-Big 12 and Honorable Mention All-American, and Leo Lyons has a good chance to be a second-round draft pick. But besides those two, and perhaps Matt Lawrence, this year’s team was full of question marks after a tumultuous 16-16 season, in which arguably the team’s most talented player, Stefhon Hannah, was kicked off the team, and most of the key players were suspended for at least one game.

Although the starting lineup featured three seniors, a third-year junior, and a juco transfer, seven newcomers were brought in to play Mike Anderson’s fast-paced style of basketball, with none of them being can’t-miss recruits. They were picked to finish seventh in the conference, and most expected them to miss the tournament.

The fact that they were able to do what they did, and that Missouri was able to go 10 and sometimes 11 men deep, is an incredible testament to not only the coaching ability of Anderson, but also his eye for recruits that are able and willing to play his brand of basketball.

Advantage: 1993-’94 Tigers

 

Nonconference schedule:

The ‘94 Tigers started poorly, nearly losing to Central Missouri, before facing an Arkansas team which featured Mike Anderson as an assistant. The Razorbacks, who would eventually win the national title, destroyed Missouri, 120-68. But the Tigers rebounded nicely, winning nine straight, including a 108-107, three-overtime thriller against Illinois. They finally moved into the AP Top 25, before getting upset in South Bend by a mediocre Notre Dame team in their last nonconference game.

This season’s Tigers also had an embarrassing loss early, but for different reasons. Missouri missed eight of 10 free throws, and lost a seven-point lead in the final five minutes, and fell 75-71 to a good Xavier team. With the resiliency that would come to be a defining quality of this team, they bounced back and reeled off wins in 10 of their next 11 games against a weak schedule that was slightly tougher than that of the ‘94 team.

Unfortunately, on December 23 in St. Louis, the young Tigers looked lost under the bright lights in front of nearly 20,000. Thanks to one of the best first halves you’ll ever see from a Big Ten team, Illinois dominated Missouri 75-59. Still, the Tigers rolled through lesser opponents, winning by an average margin of more than 20 points.

(Slight) Advantage: 2008-’09 Tigers

 

Conference Schedule:

The 1994 Tigers played in the Big Eight, which was not having one of its best years. Still, Missouri entered the top 25 for the first time at the beginning of the conference season, and didn’t lose a game in the regular season, including home and road wins against a Kansas team that was in the top five for most of the season.

Even though the team didn’t face any other top 25 opponents (to be fair, five Big Eight teams were in the final AP poll) and had three two-point victories, they were still 14-0 in the regular season. The only blemish came in the Big 12 semifinals, when Nebraska shocked the Tigers, 98-91.

Incidentally, it was Nebraska who started this year’s team off on the wrong foot, with an ugly 56-51 loss in Lincoln. After almost blowing a big lead in Stillwater and getting crushed by Kansas State in Manhattan, there were questions about whether this team could handle life on the road.

The team’s only impressive road win was a 69-65 road win at Texas thanks to Zaire Taylor’s late-game heroics. Huge losses at Kansas (90-65) and at Texas A&M (96-86) showed the Tigers never really had the right mindset to win games away from Columbia. But at Mizzou Arena, they were invincible, including impressive wins against Kansas (62-60) and No. 4 Oklahoma (73-64).

Missouri rolled through the Big 12 tournament, winning all three games by at least eight points. But the Tigers had almost undoubtedly the easiest road to the title in Big 12 history, with the No. 1, 2, 4 and 5 seeds all losing to teams other than Missouri.

(Significant) Advantage: 1994 Tigers

 

NCAA Tournament

Even with the shocking loss to Nebraska, the demolition of the Big 12 during the regular season was enough to give the Tigers a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.  Missouri rolled through Navy and Wisconsin before barely knocking off No. 4 seed Syracuse, 98-88 in overtime. The Orangemen were ranked 15th in the final AP poll.

The Tigers’ tourney run came to an abrupt halt at the hands of No. 2 seed Arizona. Lute Olson’s Wildcats, led by Khalid Reeves and Damon Stoudamire, pounded Missouri, 92-72.

This year’s team didn’t quite have the same respect, and was given a No. 3 seed, probably due to its road struggles. After easily disposing of Cornell, Missouri barely held off a furious second-half rally from No. 6 seed Marquette, winning 83-79 to advance to the Sweet 16.

But in the third round, Missouri played its best game of the the year and stunned No. 2 seed Memphis—which was ranked No. 3 in the final AP poll—by a final score of 102-91. Carroll, Lyons, and co. showed their unselfishness to come through in a big way against a much more talented team. Although they lost to a superior Connecticut team in the Elite Eight, Missouri looked very capable of beating the No.1 seeded Huskies in its 82-75 loss.

(Slight) Advantage: 2008-’09 Tigers

In the end, there’s no doubt that this year’s team came further in terms of expectations to where it actually finished. The way it finished the season much stronger than the Tigers in 1994 also makes it very tempting to say they were, in fact, the best in school history. Yet this was a team that overachieved, and when the whole season is factored in, the 14-0 mark in Big Eight play and two big wins over Kansas are just a little bit too much to overlook.

The best Missouri basketball team in the modern era: 1993-’94 Tigers