Chat Mizzou sports with Dave Matter at 11 a.m. Thursday
Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Mizzou beat writer Dave Matter in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
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I have Mizzou No. 22 on my AP ballot this week. But polls don't work in a vacuum. It will depend who else wins and loses this week. A 5-0 Mizzou team with wins over Oregon and Illinois, plus two quality mid-major programs, sounds like a top 15 team, but it will depend on what else happens this weekend around the country. -
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Nah. If Mizzou wins the 2007 and 2013 football conference championship games Gary Pinkel's Tigers are in line to play for the national championship. No matter what was happening in basketball, when national championships stakes are on the line, that's bigger in every way than a doubleheader against two top-10 programs. I'd say the 2007 Kansas football game was a bigger day in Mizzou history for all the obvious stakes at play in that game.Missouri has beaten Illinois in basketball and gone on to have a losing record - each of the last two years. Those were nice wins, great moments. But I don't these two games set the stage for bigger things anywhere near what those 2007 and 2013 football teams played for.
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My initial gut reaction after watching the wins over Oregon, Wichita state, then last nights impressive second half over liberty is similar to that after the first few games of the 2012 (I believe, Haith’s first year) season. That team of Denmon, Pressey etc. blew away people’s expectations and fit perfectly into Haith’s system. I feel this years team may follow the same path, albeit completely different styles of play, by greatly exceeding preseason expectations, and executing Martin’s style of play well. Thoughts on comparisons of success and what do you think is the ceiling this year for Mizzou b-ball now that we’ve seen how well this team can play? Also, do you think taller, stronger, and more experience can overcome “more talented” teams?
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I think there could be something to that, but it's still a little early to compare this bunch to one of the greatest regular-season Mizzou teams of all time. That MU team had an All-American and a few more legit all-conference players. You can't say that about this team right now.I do think it's promising that this team can beat quality opponents on nights when one of the team's three-four best players has an off night. Dru Smith wasn't great against Oregon. Pinson struggled at Wichita State and wasn't good early last night. This team plays well together. They have clearly defined roles. One guy who appears to be a big addition - but not in the way some of us expected - is Drew Buggs. He hasn't scored. He doesn't have many assists, but he's excellent X insurance - as in when Pinson is struggling with his shot or his decision making and needs to come out of the game, everything seems to stabilize when Buggs enters the game. Martin and teammates gush about his presence. Other players literally call him Coach Buggs. Having someone like that on the floor and on the bench might be a solution to some of those long scoring droughts we've seen in the past that take Mizzou out of games. And his addition allows Pinson to settle down and then recover for his next stint on the floor. They didn't have that luxury last year with a third reliable ball-handler.
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The 2 Illini having the big man combination of Kofi Cockburn and Giorgi B, how does Mizzou counter them? They don’t necessarily play at the same time, but Tilmon will have to play more than the 20 minutes he did last night. Mitchell Smith is 6’10”, but it seems to me the Illini will have the advantage down low saturday night.
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yeah, but Cockburn doesn't play a lot of minutes either. He's been under 23 minutes for half of Illinois' games. He played a lot of minutes last year against Missouri but didn't do anything on the boards. Giorgi was a non-factor. I think Martin will be smart and rotate his four fours and fives in there to keep them fresh (Tilmon, Brown, Smith and Braun).
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Dave as I watched the football game last week I couldn't help but notice a huge shadow on the South endzone side of the field creeping towards the 50. Mizzou tends to have quite a few 11AM kickoffs which results in this shadow. Does this affect the players ability to see the ball?
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I know he was brought in for his ball handling skills and for assists, but it seems like Drew Buggs will not shoot the ball. Other teams seem to leave him open even if he is in possession of the ball and double up on Tillman or have an extra defender protecting the paint. What impact do you expect him to have this year? We have so many other great ball handlers it seems like it might be better to have someone who has the ability to score as well to spread out the defense.
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Missouri has a chance to be that third team behind Florida and Georgia. I don't think it's realistic for MU to surpass those two long-term as long as the current staffs are in place at UF and UGA. Now, that doesn't mean Mizzou can't overtake those teams in any given year and win the division. The same goes for South Carolina and Tennessee and Kentucky, but long term, UF and UGA are equipped to be the front-runners for now. Tennessee has more upside than the rest but there's no indication Jeremy Pruitt is the guy to shatter the Gator-Bulldog ceiling. Kentucky proved a couple years ago it's capable of winning 10 games - but still didn't win the division. South Carolina is a huge unknown with its new leadership. If I'm buying stock in any of the five East programs outside of Gainesville and Athens, it's got to be Missouri.
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First half last night was not MU's best. Thought the defense intensity was lacking, which made Liberty's good shooting stand out. They were a pleasure to watch as they know what a team game is. Pinson is really fun to watch but his turnovers are hard to stand. I think he had at least 5 last night. How do you see Buggs working out. I really expected more because of the playmaker hype. Will his influence increase as he adapts to the players?
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Again, I thought Buggs was one of the keys to the game if you don't just look at the box score. Everything settled down on both ends of the floor when he replaced Pinson late in the first half. The passes were better all around. MU was getting better looks from 3 and at the rim. He was the second player Martin mentioned in his postgame press conference - unprompted.
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Mizzou is now a competitive football team albeit with no wins over plus 500 teams, I think they got some fortunate scheduling breaks byes with UK and Florida flip flop but hey dem the breaks
Do you think they can consistently be the third best team in East going forward? FLA and GA just have more horses and resources
USC new coach, UK has new offensive coordinator coming in and TN, talented but who knows, Pruitt getting some heat, Vandy is well Vandy
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We just touched on this. Yes, I think Mizzou can make a run at being that third-best team with a chance to challenge the top two teams from year to year.Also, don't put too much stock in "MU hasn't beaten a team with a winning record" talking point this year. If Kentucky, LSU and maybe Arkansas had played four nonconference games all three could have winning records or at least be closer to .500. Mizzou gets credit for managing the 10-game SEC schedule.
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I don’t agree with the headline in today’s PD - “Mizzou manages to avoid upset” coming into the game I was wary of taking Liberty too lightly. They did win 30 games last year. They had already beat 2 SEC teams this year, so this looked to be a game MU might overlook. Liberty took leads in the first half and except for Mark Smith’s 3 pointer at the end of the first half, Liberty would have led by 7 at the half. Liberty made several 3 pointers early that made me uncomfortable knowing how MU has struggled to comeback frim those situations in the past couple of years. I think Liberty gave MU a good test of where they are and MU passed that test with flying colors.
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Well, Mizzou was favored by 9.5 points, so the Tigers literally avoided an upset. Liberty led for more minutes and had a double-digit point lead for stretches. Yes, Liberty has a reputation for knocking off high-major teams, but this was a home game after two quality wins. Mizzou was the clear favorite. A Liberty win would have been the very definition of an upset. It's a quality win for the Tigers, but that game was in doubt up until the final few minutes.
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Were fans allowed into the stands last night? You could see people in the stands, but there weren’t very many. I thought there will be no fans allowed to Saturday’s night game. Today’s PD shows the TV time and station TBD. If the SEC network shows the MU-Liberty game on a Wednesday night, surely they would show the Illini game? Especially since no fans will be allowed.
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Yes, fans were allowed at last night's game. They didn't release an attendance figure from what I saw after the game. I don't think it hit the 3,000 capacity.No fans are allowed for the Illinois game because that was part of the agreement between MU and Illinois. The Illini can't have fans at their home games, so when they decided to determine the host school by a coin toss, Mizzou agreed to not have fans if it won the toss. Otherwise, the game doesn't happen.The SEC Network is showing the Auburn-Mississippi State football game Saturday night in prime time. Football always trumps basketball. The Braggin' Rights Game will be on SEC Network Alternate.
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I need a refresher on quadrant wins - specifically, if a team's RPI drops can a quadrant 1 win turn into a quadrant 2 or 3 win? For example: Oregon had a top 50 RPI when Mizzou played them at a neutral site. So it was a quadrant 1 win. They've since dropped to 91 in the RPI which means if Mizzou beat them at a neutral site now then it's a quadrant 2 win.
If the selection committee happened today would the December 2nd win against THEN top 50 RPI Oregon be considered quad 1 or 2? -
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You've already touched on SLU against Mizzou several times. I'd like to see more in-state games. They could play in KC against the Kangaroos at the Sprint Center. Visit Springfield against the Bears at JQHammons arena. Conzo has two commits coming from Springfield. Add SE Missouri and you've covered much of the state. The FB team has already played SE MO in the recent past.
I like the idea of playing these teams more than seeing a team from nowhereville. Travel would be much cheaper and easier. -
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Cuonzo has made it pretty clear he doesn't expect many, if any, seniors to return next year. Dru Smith, Mitchell Smith and Drew Buggs are both fifth-year seniors. I'd be surprised if many players would come back for a sixth year, also known as the Elvis Fisher plan. Tilmon has been wanting to test the pro waters for the last two years.
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