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It Will Be A "Hoosiers" Moment For The Tigers

Commentary Exclusive for Mizzou OSR
by Todd Donoho

Columbia, Mo. - It's a great day for Tiger basketball.  I'm serious.

We have a coach who laid down the law.  The players violated the team rules.  The players are paying the price for violating those rules.

Stefhon Hannah is out for 4 to 6 weeks (his Mizzou career may be over) with a broken jaw as a result of an incident at a Columbia bar/club/restaurant early Sunday morning.  Now we learn that Leo Lyons, Darryl Butterfield, Jason Horton and Marshall Brown were there when the Hannah incident took place.

Head Coach Mike Anderson has team rules regarding players and where and when they can be after midnight on weekends.  Those rules were violated.  And so, the above players are suspended for tonight's game against Nebraska.  Further penalties may be handed out as the situation is further evaluated.

That means tonight's starting lineup will probably be Keon Lawrence, J.T. Tiller, Matt Lawrence, Vaidotas Volkus and DeMarre Carroll.  Justin Safford, Mike Anderson Jr. and Nick Berardini will come off the bench.  That's it.  Coach Anderson usually plays 10 or 11 players a game as his style is physically taxing.  Depth is important.

Tonight, the thinned-out Tigers will have to suck it up.

As a Mizzou fan, I will cheer my head off tonight for the remaining players on Mizzou's team who obey the rules.  It's like coach Norman Dale (played by Gene Hackman) in the movie "Hoosiers" when he decides to play with only four players because those are the players who played by his rules.  His famous line to the referee who said you need five players to play, "My team is on the court."  His 4-man team played their guts out.  They lost the game.

I don't know if the Tigers will win or lose tonight against Nebraska at Mizzou Arena.  I do know one thing.  Our team is on the court.

I wish this whole thing that cost Hannah a broken jaw and four Tiger basketball players to be suspended had never happened.  I wish they had obeyed the team rules set forth by coach Anderson.

I'm glad we have a coach who lays down the law when rules are violated.

I'm looking forward to tonight's game.  All of us Mizzou fans should be looking forward to tonight's game.

Because our team is on the court.