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Big Saturday For Tiger Basketball Team
Commentary Exclusive for Mizzou OSR
by Chad Moller
Columbia, MO. - The Missouri Tiger basketball team plays host to Texas A&M this afternoon in a Big 12 Conference game at Mizzou Arena.

The game is a near sellout, with very few seats remaining, so it should be a great atmosphere.  I hope our kids can come out with the same tenacity and effort they showed in recent games against Nebraska and Kansas State.  They'll need it, as Texas A&M comes into the game playing very well of late.

Even though A&M might be the better team on paper, I still like our Tigers' chances, and here's why:  this is a very important game for Mizzou.  I don't want to overstate things, or be overdramatic, but in my mind, Saturday represents a challenging, but winnable game at home against a very good quality opponent.  If J.T. Tiller, Keon Lawrence, DeMarre Carroll and company can pull this one off, then we will improve to 14-10 overall and 4-5 in Big 12 play, with a road game looming Wednesday at Nebraska -- another very winnable game.

Now bear with me, I'm starting to play the old "what-if" game here, but, if the Tigers can protect their home court today, and then go on the road and defeat Nebraska, they would stand 5-5 in league play with six games left.  Remaining are winnable home games against Colorado, Oklahoma State and Iowa State.  Win those, and all of a sudden our Tigers are no worse than .500 in league play, and I'm certain an 8-8 Missouri team would get an NIT bid.

Yes, I've been around here long enough to understand that Missouri Basketball should aspire to higher things than the NIT, but keep in mind that in just his second year here, Coach Mike Anderson is still in the middle of a building project.  And for his team to reach the NIT this year, especially given everything that they have dealt with off the court and all the potential distractions, I think that an NIT bid would be a great thing.  A post-season bid in basketball isn't nearly as beneficial as in football, where you get an extra month of practice to help further develop your young players, but I do believe that this program needs to practice and play as many games as possible right now, and an NIT bid would help with that.

If you want to dream a dream with me, let's extrapolate the "what-if" game a little further.  If the above scenario was to happen, and if the Tigers could pull a road win at either Kansas State or Oklahoma (very tough assignments, certainly, but anything is possible), then all of a sudden, we are 9-7 in Big 12 play, and 18-13 overall.  We wouldn't be that far out of a possible NCAA bid, and remember that the Big 12 tournament this year moves back to good old Kansas City.  If the Tigers could rekindle some Kemper Magic (okay, Sprint Magic, but that doesn't sound as good, or as nostalgic), then if you won a couple of games in KC, you've got 20 wins and you're a legitimate NCAA bubble team.

Okay, let's come back down to earth a little bit here.  All of the above is best-case scenario, and it will be very tough to pull off.  But I keep hearing Coach Anderson tell us that he sees this team taking steps and making improvements that make him believe it is turning the corner.  I've been around coaches enough to know that they don't praise their teams, generally, unless they deserve it, so that makes me feel good that we're getting close.

Back to today's game, I don't expect to see a hangover from the loss against the school to the west that I won't name this past Monday.  Our kids were clearly worn out, playing our third game in six days, with a very short bench, to boot, during that stretch.  They had no legs to match the bad guys trip for trip down the court, and our tiredness definitely showed, as there was just nothing in the tank in the second half to stage a comeback.

Missouri hasn't played since that Monday game, so the guys have had five days to recover, and I know that Coach Anderson has scaled back the length of practices to help keep them fresh.  I think you'll see a crisp, spirited effort today that will keep our near-capacity crowd into the game.  I hope the crowd also returns the favor by getting into the game early, good or bad, and helps make a difference like they have so often in the past.  I have no reason to think otherwise.

I also know that we play very well at home in the friendly confines of Mizzou Arena, so I expect that we'll play a good ballgame today and keep the hope alive for the rest of the year.

To those of you going to the game, cheer loud and have fun.  To those watching at home or listening on the radio, pull up a seat and enjoy.