Missouri might be the Big 12 favorite next season...

[MissouriFan]

Missouri is now 20-7, 8-4 with all those sophomores... Marcus Denmon (soph) had 24 points to lead the way in Lincoln today.

They are a good club, and getting better.

I love having a real coach again. It's so nice watching players improve, under snyder our players tended to get worse each season.

I don't know if we will be the favorites next year but unless there is some unforeseen disaster I'm guessing we will finish somewhere in the top three next season with at least a chance to win it all.

 

[MesoCat]

KU, UT, A&M, and K-State lose some key players and Mizzou is sitting here at 19-7 (7-4) with their top 3 scorers being sophomores and the 4th leading scoring is a junior. Add an outstanding recruiting class to English, Bowers, Safford, Denmon, and Dixon and you have a great team.

PG: Mike Dixon (averaging 8 per game in 17 minutes in a backup role)
SG: Marcus Denmon (Averaging 11 a game as a soph, 43% from 3pt line)
SF: Kim English (All Conference caliber player. Averaging 15 a game as soph)
PF: Laurence Bowers (averaging 11 and 6 as a soph)
PF: Justin Safford (averaging 9 and 4 as a junior)

Bench: Tony Mitchell, Miguel Paul, Phil Pressey, and a combo of 4-5 other guys that will be freshman or redshirt freshman.

They should have a big time team next year.

Actually, KSU loses only one key component from this year's squad....Clemente. Colon is lost but he's only a starter by name. Samuels comes off the bench to spell him and he's more than likely NBA bound. Why JamSam comes off the bench is a bit interesting but Colon has size and basically a free 5 fouls. Otherwise, KSU brings back everything and has yet another highly regarded recruiting class coming in. KSU's front court will be best in the north if Aldrich and Henry both bolt early for the NBA. KSU will be a top 2-3 pick to win the conference.

 

[gracefor24]

Actually, KSU loses only one key component from this year's squad....Clemente. Colon is lost but he's only a starter by name. Samuels comes off the bench to spell him and he's more than likely NBA bound. Why JamSam comes off the bench is a bit interesting but Colon has size and basically a free 5 fouls. Otherwise, KSU brings back everything and has yet another highly regarded recruiting class coming in. KSU's front court will be best in the north if Aldrich and Henry both bolt early for the NBA. KSU will be a top 2-3 pick to win the conference.

Who is KSU's frontcourt coming back next year? Kelly, Judge, Samuels? I think Morris, Morris, Robinson, and Withey compare pretty favorably.

I have to eat major crow because I dogged Martin and he has done a great job. KSU is playing really well and should be really good next year.

 

[DenverSooner]

I love having a real coach again. It's so nice watching players improve, under snyder our players tended to get worse each season.

I don't know if we will be the favorites next year but unless there is some unforeseen disaster I'm guessing we will finish somewhere in the top three next season with at least a chance to win it all.

It is not that your players get worse. It is the lack of leadership and system compounds each year.

 

[Cheno]

The season series was split between the North and the South, so, you're wrong. (again)

Great, but everyone knows the Big 12 had 3 very good teams and 2 resided in the North. IMO, and I've said this before, Mizzou had the best team in the league last year. KU had to play them twice. OU got beat by them once.

Like Grace says for you to just randomly say KU loses FOR SURE if Blake plays is silly. Blake played against Mizzou and OSU and both were losses. Because bottom line is OU's guards got destroyed. OU still could have won that game but the perimeter D was horrendous. In what on paper was touted as a pretty even backcourt matchup saw KU's 2 starting guards score twice as many points as OU's starting guards. AJ never showed up in 4 years against KU for whatever reason. If he shows up in the game we're talking about OU wins. You can't let a freshmen Tyshawn Taylor score 26 and a senior AJ responds with 2.

Again, if the other players do their jobs OU wins regardless and wins the championship. They didn't.

 

[Cheno]

Actually, KSU loses only one key component from this year's squad....Clemente. Colon is lost but he's only a starter by name. Samuels comes off the bench to spell him and he's more than likely NBA bound. Why JamSam comes off the bench is a bit interesting but Colon has size and basically a free 5 fouls. Otherwise, KSU brings back everything and has yet another highly regarded recruiting class coming in. KSU's front court will be best in the north if Aldrich and Henry both bolt early for the NBA. KSU will be a top 2-3 pick to win the conference.

Meso who is being projected as KSU's PG next year with Clemente being gone.
I agree KSU will be very good next year and definitely top 3.

 

[DenverSooner]

Meso who is being projected as KSU's PG next year with Clemente being gone.
I agree KSU will be very good next year and definitely top 3.

They probably will but saying KSU only loses Clemente is understating that loss. He looked great yesterday.

 

[Cheno]

They probably will but saying KSU only loses Clemente is understating that loss. He looked great yesterday.

Without a doubt. They need to find a really solid replacement.

 

[oSuJeff97]

I've always thought Mizzou had as good a basketball tradition & fan base as any in the Big XII excluding KU.

Fan base? Maybe. Tradition? Hardly.

OSU, OU, Texas and Kansas State all have better tradition than MU.

 

[soonerroby]

Do you even know what you're talking about? Tech had ZERO outright SWC Football titles. Their best stretch of football has been in the Big XII, not the SWC. But the SWC was a very tough conference for the majority of its life. It was in the late stages that it went to hell.

What I meant was the only reason they aren't UTEP is because they played in the SWC. I was agreeing that they aren't on the same level as Mizzou basketball.

Fan base? Maybe. Tradition? Hardly.

OSU, OU, Texas and Kansas State all have better tradition than MU.

I would say that over the last 50 years MU has been as good as any those you mentioned. And, the fanbase has been solid. Admittedly, I don't have any stats to back it up, just my perception of the programs. I always hated when OU had to play in the Hearnes Center.

 

[oSuJeff97]

I would say that over the last 50 years MU has been as good as any those you mentioned. And, the fanbase has been solid. Admittedly, I don't have any stats to back it up, just my perception of the programs. I always hated when OU had to play in the Hearnes Center.

Mizzou has never been to the Final Four. Not once.

OSU, OU, Texas and Kansas State have been multiple times.

 

[DenverSooner]

Mizzou has never been to the Final Four. Not once.

OSU, OU, Texas and Kansas State have been multiple times.

Mizzou basketball is the equivalent of A&M football, vastly overrated.

 

[stoops4pres]

It helps when you get to play the actual best team in the conference without their best player, especially when that best player wins the Wooden Award, and is drafted #1 overall.

This.

 

[stoops4pres]

KU started Brady Morningstar last year shouldn't of mattered.
The North was tougher than the South last year so OU had that advantage.
You can play that game every season. All that matters is the final scores.
Really OU should have beat KU last year in Norman without Blake.
The same things that have plagued this team lost that game...the inability to stop anyone defensively.

Say what you want, but the bottom line is that KU backed their way into the league crown last year. Don't really know how you can dispute that they didn't get lucky with the league's best player being out.

 

[stoops4pres]

Of course it helps, but what about the other 4 years? KU deserved to win the title last year despite getting OU w/o Blake. They overachieved and had a terrific season. OU still had a chance to tie KU for overall record.

Blake played in the game against Missouri and the game against OSU in the conference tourney. They lost both games, so let's not act as if KU couldn't have beaten OU with Blake.

The bottom line is even if you toss out last year's conference title as lucky you still have 4 others.

It's amazing that after this year Bill Self will have won (or tied) 10 out of the last 12 conference championships he's been involved in. That is unbelievable.

I'm not going to dispute the years KU has won prior to last season, they deserved those titles.

But they didn't deserve it last year. They backed their way in. And I'm not saying its impossible that KU could have beaten OU with Blake, but its very obvious OU was a better squad with Blake in the lineup... Heck, OU nearly beat them WITHOUT Blake in the game. And I don't really understand your examples with Mizzou and Ok State... The loss was AT Mizzou which went undefeated at home, and Ok State finally beat OU in its third try. Everyone knows its very difficult to beat a good team 3 times in a season. Both examples weren't exactly favorable odds for OU.

KU won because Griffin was out. OU was the best team.... I have a hard time believing otherwise when KU, the "deserving" champion last season, got humiliated against a horrible Tech squad. They won because the best player was out, plain and simple.

 

[MissouriFan]

Mizzou has never been to the Final Four. Not once.

OSU, OU, Texas and Kansas State have been multiple times.

Texas and OU I would agree with but KSU, OSU, and Mizzou have been to the tournament almost the same amount of times 23 each for OSU and KSU and 22 times for Missouri. OSU and KSU have just gone slightly further. Mizzou has been one game short of the final four reaching the elite eight 4 times.

Texas has been to the NCAA tournament 27 times and OU has been 26 times.

Here is how the whole conference looks:
Kansas - 38
Texas - 27
Oklahoma - 26
Kansas State - 23
Oklahoma State - 23
Missouri - 22
Iowa State - 13
Texas Tech - 13
Colorado - 10
Texas A&M - 10
Nebraska - 6
Baylor - 5

 

[playmakr]

Great, but everyone knows the Big 12 had 3 very good teams and 2 resided in the North. IMO, and I've said this before, Mizzou had the best team in the league last year. KU had to play them twice. OU got beat by them once.

Like Grace says for you to just randomly say KU loses FOR SURE if Blake plays is silly. Blake played against Mizzou and OSU and both were losses. Because bottom line is OU's guards got destroyed. OU still could have won that game but the perimeter D was horrendous. In what on paper was touted as a pretty even backcourt matchup saw KU's 2 starting guards score twice as many points as OU's starting guards. AJ never showed up in 4 years against KU for whatever reason. If he shows up in the game we're talking about OU wins. You can't let a freshmen Tyshawn Taylor score 26 and a senior AJ responds with 2.

Again, if the other players do their jobs OU wins regardless and wins the championship. They didn't.

Two of the Top 3 were in the North, yes. But clearly, when looking at NCAA Tournament teams, Baylors run late in the year, and given the season series being tied, the league was even. You have to go top to bottom since all those teams are in the picture.

Yes, KU had to play Mizzou twice, but one of them was at home. OU had to go to Columbia. I doubt anyone would predict OU would lose to them at home last year, with everyone healthy. This argument would be more valid if Mizzou did play at OU last year.

Nothing else in the post is anything I attempted to dispute, and mostly agree with. AJ didn't play well against KU because they don't just let him run around, free. They stand on his head and force him to run offense at half court.

Suggesting KU was fortunate Blake (the National POY, #1 draft pick, best player in decades) missed two games in the heat of the conference race, including a head to head meeting, isn't unreasonable. Furthermore, to suggest OU would have won the Conference (regular season) without missing two big games (hosting KU and at Texas) when all they had to do was win one of them, is also not unreasonable.

KU has had a great run, but I won't apologize for pointing out one of those wins, in a down year, came with some pretty good fortune. It doesn't take anything from the run, unless fans of that school feel the perpetual need to defend those titles. I doubt most do.

 

[gracefor24]

I'm not going to dispute the years KU has won prior to last season, they deserved those titles.

But they didn't deserve it last year. They backed their way in. And I'm not saying its impossible that KU could have beaten OU with Blake, but its very obvious OU was a better squad with Blake in the lineup... Heck, OU nearly beat them WITHOUT Blake in the game. And I don't really understand your examples with Mizzou and Ok State... The loss was AT Mizzou which went undefeated at home, and Ok State finally beat OU in its third try. Everyone knows its very difficult to beat a good team 3 times in a season. Both examples weren't exactly favorable odds for OU.

KU won because Griffin was out. OU was the best team.... I have a hard time believing otherwise when KU, the "deserving" champion last season, got humiliated against a horrible Tech squad. They won because the best player was out, plain and simple.

KU was a deserving champion because they won it. Again, OU had the chance to tie it up at Missouri WITH Blake and lost. You are simply making excuses now. The bottom line is that KU was lucky to not have to play against Blake (as was UT) but the bottom line is OU had the chance with Blake back in the lineup against Mizzou and lost.

Then they go into the Big 12 tourney and lose to OSU.

I'm not arguing that OU wasn't the best team with Blake Griffin and I said as much last year. That doesn't mean that KU "backed" into the conference championship unless you're saying they "backed" into 13 conference wins. That's just stupid.

Also, you're acting as if injuries aren't a part of the game and somehow the opposing team shouldn't get credit for achieving something simply because there were injuries to opposing teams.

It seems to me you're just being a sore loser.

 

[gracefor24]

Two of the Top 3 were in the North, yes. But clearly, when looking at NCAA Tournament teams, Baylors run late in the year, and given the season series being tied, the league was even. You have to go top to bottom since all those teams are in the picture.

Yes, KU had to play Mizzou twice, but one of them was at home. OU had to go to Columbia. I doubt anyone would predict OU would lose to them at home last year, with everyone healthy. This argument would be more valid if Mizzou did play at OU last year.

Nothing else in the post is anything I attempted to dispute, and mostly agree with. AJ didn't play well against KU because they don't just let him run around, free. They stand on his head and force him to run offense at half court.

Suggesting KU was fortunate Blake (the National POY, #1 draft pick, best player in decades) missed two games in the heat of the conference race, including a head to head meeting, isn't unreasonable. Furthermore, to suggest OU would have won the Conference (regular season) without missing two big games (hosting KU and at Texas) when all they had to do was win one of them, is also not unreasonable.

KU has had a great run, but I won't apologize for pointing out one of those wins, in a down year, came with some pretty good fortune. It doesn't take anything from the run, unless fans of that school feel the perpetual need to defend those titles. I doubt most do.

I don't disagree with anything in this post. You can give credit to KU for winning 13 games while also saying they were lucky Blake didn't play against them.

Despite those facts I think saying KU didn't deserve it or "backed" into a conference championship is ridiculous and major sour grapes. They came off a NC lost 7 of their top 9 players and put guys like Reed and Morningstar in the rotation and made it to the Sweet Sixteen. They earned every bit of that.

 

[Cheno]

KU was a deserving champion because they won it. Again, OU had the chance to tie it up at Missouri WITH Blake and lost. You are simply making excuses now. The bottom line is that KU was lucky to not have to play against Blake (as was UT) but the bottom line is OU had the chance with Blake back in the lineup against Mizzou and lost.
Then they go into the Big 12 tourney and lose to OSU.
I'm not arguing that OU wasn't the best team with Blake Griffin and I said as much last year. That doesn't mean that KU "backed" into the conference championship unless you're saying they "backed" into 13 conference wins. That's just stupid.
Also, you're acting as if injuries aren't a part of the game and somehow the opposing team shouldn't get credit for achieving something simply because there were injuries to opposing teams.
It seems to me you're just being a sore loser.

Exactly.