Team Effort Put Tigers In Big 12 Race

If you were asked to list the top basketball players in the Big 12, it might take a little while before you mentioned a Missouri Tiger.

In conference play, Missouri has zero players in the top 10 in points, rebounds, assists and steals. So how is it that the Tigers find themselves tied with Texas for second in a loaded Big 12?

The answer is what Mike Anderson basketball is all about. In a word, depth. It's the reason Zaire Taylor leads the team with a meager 29.8 minutes per game in conference play, and it's the reason the Tigers could surprise some people down the stretch and in the postseason.

Saturday's thrashing of a tired Oklahoma State team that arrived in Columbia late Friday night was the perfect example. The Tigers didn't have a single answer for James Anderson's 31 points. They had 10 of them. While the Cowboys star played 39 minutes, no Tiger played more than 28, and seven amassed at least 20.

Oklahoma State came into the game averaging 13.3 turnovers per contest. On Saturday (admittedly without their starting point guard), they committed 24. That included 11 steals by seven different Tigers.

Last season, Mike Anderson spoke frequently about how opponents couldn't key in on just one or two players, because several different guys could score a lot on any given night. Despite that rhetoric, it was fairly clear that if a good team could stop Leo Lyons and DeMarre Carroll (not an easy task), they would beat the Tigers.

This year, Anderson's statement would be hard to debate. In six Big 12 games, Missouri has had six different leading scorers. The Tigers' most talented player might be Laurence Bowers, who doesn't even start and is averaging  11 points and 6.5 rebounds per game while playing just over 22 minutes in Big 12 play.

Nearly every player on this team contributes something unique, with the exception of the two disappointing freshman big men. J.T Tiller is the defensive leader. English can score a lot in a hurry. Bowers provides the highlights. Steve Moore gives the other big guys some rest and the other team some free throws. Walk-on Jarrett Sutton gives the sellout crowds a reason to stay to the end of blowouts.

The other great thing about depth, which Mizzou demonstrated perfectly last year, is that it can take you a long way in the postseason. This team might not have Elite Eight talent, but there surely aren't many teams who would want to face the deep, energetic Tigers in the second game of a grueling weekend in March.

Still, in today's star-studded college basketball environment, how far can depth really carry a team without an obvious go-to player? Sure, Taylor has shown an incredible aptitude for hitting big shots when the Tigers need them, but logic would seem to dictate that his luck will eventually run out.

Indeed, you could make the argument that the Tigers' weakness is winning close games, where the importance of depth is diminished by adrenaline. Missouri is just 3-4 this season in games decided by seven points or less.

Another concern is that the schedule is only going to get tougher from here on out, and the Tigers are going to have to avoid more slip-ups (see: Oklahoma, Oral Roberts) on the road against mediocre Iowa St., Nebraska and Colorado. At home, the second longest winning streak in the country will be tested with Texas and #1 Kansas both slated to visit Mizzou Arena in the next 33 days. Mix in a road game at the Octagon of Doom in Manhattan, and staying off the bubble won't be easy.

For whatever reason, depth without star power is almost always overrated in college basketball. The coaches picked Missouri to finish 7th in the league this season, and to be fair, they're only one game ahead of 7th place Baylor.

At this moment, though, the Tigers seem poised to surpass expectations once again. They may not get any individual recognition (although the battle for sixth man of the year between Bowers and K-State's Jamar Samuels is shaping up to be a good one), but this team is very much in the hunt for a coveted top four seed and bye in the opening round of the conference tournament.