Missouri looks like one of the best teams in the country right now.
At what point during the game did you begin to feel less nervous?
If you’re anything like me you get the nerves before a game, but at some point they go away. Most of the time they go away when I can get a sense of how the team is going to play. Basketball is prone to wild swings in-game, so it doesn’t always stay consistent. But for me when Jacob Crews canned his first three to put Mizzou up 15-13 I knew I was going to be fine with whatever resulted from this game.
Missouri came out poised, watched as Mississippi State put together an 8-0 run to take a one point lead, and answered. They were cool, calm, and collected. They looked like the team that took the floor against Illinois, Kansas, and Florida. They looked like a disciplined basketball team, and one that was poised to win a tough road game.
They reflected much of what we’ve seen over the last few months, and their head basketball coach.
If you’re getting the feeling that Missouri might be one of the best teams in college basketball, well you’re not alone.
“It definitely was a dominating performance by Missouri,” Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans said. “We knew they were a really good basketball team before the ball was tipped. I told everybody that would listen to me that they’re the best team in the country, not just the SEC, that nobody is talking about. I know they’re ranked 20th, but they’ve just looked really good to me all year long, especially on tape in their recent games.”
Jans echoed a lot of the same things Chris Beard said last week; Missouri is a really good basketball team. In a league where the schedule is eating nearly every other team alive, the Tigers are standing with the third best record. Behind only top ranked Auburn and top 5 ranked Alabama.
I’m really just waiting to say this: DENNIS GATES REVENGE TOUR™
It’s in full effect.
Cal Tobias/Rock M Nation
Jans walked into Mizzou Arena last year and beat Missouri by 24. Gates walked into The Hump this year and beat MSU by 27.
The difference being Gates fielded a team last year without John Tonje, Caleb Grill, and in that game even Sean East II was out. Jans’ team was healthy. But Gates takes no quarter.
The feelings of last year are forgotten for much of the fan base at this point, at least amongst the die hards. But for Gates the fury for having to endure the string of losses built up, and are being bleed out game after game. The idea of a revenge tour is a funny one, and I started it off in jest… mostly. But I also knew what it felt like for the staff last season. To think you had one team and end up with another. To sit through loss after loss. Nobody was feeling sorry for you or for your players.
With the culture Gates was trying to build at Missouri the wounds cut deep. And he went out to assemble the team he wanted to exact his revenge.
Gates believed in Caleb Grill. He believed in Tamar Bates. He believed in his, and his staff’s, ability to recruit and develop. He didn’t need an overhaul, he needed some tweaks to his approach. So he tweaked. And the tweaks have put Missouri in a serious position to make noise, not just in the SEC, but in the NCAA tournament.
The Tigers are third in the league right now. They’re also the 5th best team in the country since the turn of the calendar year, per BartTorvik.com. They’re also 5th best in the country when facing top 100 opponents.
If you think Missouri looks like one of the best teams in the country it’s because they’re playing like it. Gates has them believing. Up next is the Tennessee Volunteers, then next Saturday the Texas A&M Aggies for the annual Rally for Rhyan game. Two more ranked teams.
Buckle up.
Other SEC Scores:
- (1) Auburn 92, (23) Ole Miss 82
- (4) Alabama 90, Georgia 69
- (8) Tennessee 64, (5) Florida 44
- Arkansas 89, (12) Kentucky 79
- (13) Texas A&M 76, South Carolina 72
- (20) Missouri 88, (14) Mississippi State 61
- Oklahoma 97, (24) Vanderbilt 67
- Texas 89, LSU 58
SEC Standings:
- Auburn 8-0
- Alabama 8-1
- Missouri 6-2
- Texas A&M 6-3
- Florida 5-3
- Tennessee 5-4
- Ole Miss 5-4
- Vanderbilt 4-4
- Kentucky 4-4
- Texas 4-5
- Mississippi State 4-5
- Oklahoma 3-5
- Georgia 3-6
- Arkansas 2-6
- LSU 1-7
- South Carolina 0-9