By Seth Herrold
The Missouri Tigers basketball team has been nothing short of impressive this season. Despite the high ranking, many wins and even a victory over Kansas, it was the contest the Tigers played after the Kansas game that has been, in my mind, the Tigers’ most impressive moment.
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Don’t get me wrong; the win over Kansas was huge. Even more so than usual in this, the Tigers’ final year of Big 12 play. But it’s how the Tigers played a mere two days later that really impressed me. For starters, the Monday night game with Oklahoma was the definition of a trap game.
The Tigers were coming off one of the biggest wins in recent history and the biggest win of Frank Haith’s short tenure as the head coach at Mizzou. With the game being the final time, most likely, Missouri ever hosted Kansas, it was emotionally exhausting for the Tigers. With the game going down to the wire and Missouri needing an eight-point rally with a little over two minutes left in the game, it was physically exhausting as well. Then throw in the fact the OU game was on the road against a team gunning for Missouri. After the Tigers embarrassed Oklahoma at Mizzou Arena earlier in the season, you can bet the Sooners circled the date of the second meeting on the calander. Top it all off with the fact the game was played just two days after the Kansas game and the Tigers were put in a very compromising situation.
Throughout the game it was a fight. Missouri trailed a lot of the game and when they did lead, they were never really able to pull away or establish any control of the game. There were a lot of Mizzou fans complaining about the quick turn-around and some saying a loss would be understandable. The thing is, though, when you are a top five-ranked team, no loss is understandable. There has been a lot of talk that Missouri deserves to be a number one seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. My thought was well, if you want to be a number one seed, you have to be able to win the big games as well as the trap games. The good teams find ways to win when adversity is hitting them in the mouth. Missouri did just that.
The Tigers prevailed, barely, but then again a win is a win. Missouri did what they were supposed to do, beat an unranked opponent. Sure, the situation was not ideal, but Missouri proved they were an elite team. They rose to the challenge, turning around two days after maybe the biggest game of the season and beat a tough, upset-minded team.
The thing about being able to turn around and win a tough contest after winning a big game is that is exactly what Missouri, or any team for that matter, will have to do in the NCAA Tournament. Any tournament win is going to be a big, emotional win, but you can’t sit there and take it easy. You have to be able to turn right around, sometimes in just two days, and play your best game again.
After the win over Oklahoma, I am confident the Tigers will be able to succeed in the tournament. I’m not saying they are the national champions right now, but I am saying this team has the potential to make a lot of noise in the “Big Dance.”