Starstruck

Texas Tech upsets No. 18 K-State

Only one thought:

Clemens testifies before Congress in baseball drug inquiry

If McNamee had even an iota of credibility Clemens' boat would be sank. As it is, they both look like liars. My point though? Everyone seems to think that Clemens being mad is some kind of proof that he's being wrongly accused. Sure, that would make a guy mad, but wouldn't getting ratted out by a lowlife like McNamee and then hearing that everyone believes him over you? In fact, I think the latter would make me madder.

Mizzou beats Maric, er Nebraska, in OT

It's always big news when the Tigers win a conference road game. This game adds to the logjam at the bottom of the conference and assures that Oklahoma and Texas Tech are the only hope the Big 12 has for getting 6 teams in the tournament...and they look like long shots. From the Tigers perspective, it's good to see this team is still giving good effort, I think it says a lot about the job Mike Anderson is doing.

Starstruck

Mizzou kicks Hannah off team

I think most Mizzou fans think this was a long time coming. Stefhon Hannah had to go, if not for the Athena incident then certainly after he stopped attending class. It's too bad when a kid like Hannah gets every opportunity in the world, multiple second chances in life, and does nothing. I'm sure there are a lot of 20 somethings out there that wish they'd been given one of Hannah's many opportunities.

I don't really see how this has much of an effect on the current Tigers, I don't think anyone really expected Hannah to play again this year anyways. But I wonder how it effects the future Tigers? How many moms of potential recruits are going to hear about all of these 'incidents'? I know this stuff happens in a lot of places but in Columbia, Missouri? Not the Columbia I remember. In other words, I don't know that this is so much damaging to the team or to the reputation of Coach Anderson, but maybe to the city of Columbia itself, which in turn could have a negative impact on recruiting. The last thing Anderson needs are more hinderances to recruiting.

As expected...for the most part

Most people expected the Jayhawks handle last night's Border War pretty easily. But I'm not sure anyone expected Jason Horton and Darryl Butterfield to play. Why did they play? It doesn't make sense at all, not for the integrity of the program, and and maybe not for the sake of winning. They played a combined 13 minutes, went 0-4 from the floor with one rebound and one assist. You'd be hard-pressed to find a less productive 13 minutes of basketball.

Maybe Anderson feels like they've served their time, maybe he was trying to pull off the upset and thought they'd provide energy off the bench, either way it seems to me he was wrong. Taking out all of the things that have happened with these two, I'm not sure that Missouri didn't look like a better team without them.

Border War, Part 2

As crazy as it seems I think Tiger fans may head into tonight's game higher than Jayhawk fans. Sure, Mizzou is 3-4 in the conference compared to Kansas 6-1 record. Yes, Mizzou's postseason prospects look bleak while the Jayhawks seem positioned for a #1 seed....And of course the Tigers still have three suspended players on their roster who may not be coming back anytime soon....

But they've got a team they can be proud of. The same team that played Nebraska very close with only six scholarship players then got two of those players back and upset a ranked K-State team. They've got the Big 12 Player of the Week in JT Tiller. They're led by Mike Anderson, a coach that it seems the Tiger fans can stand behind. So they've got less talent, lots of heart, a coach the fans and players respect and trust...sound familiar? Sounds like maybe the Tigers are on track to get back the pre Quin era. Sounds like a lot of the Tiger teams that have upset Kansas.

Meanwhile, I'd say the feeling amongst Jayhawk fans in more nervous than anything. The team looked soft against K-State and Self got outcoached by (arguably) the worst game coach in the conference. Then came Saturday in Boulder. Honestly, I'd like to know if the team drove to the game. If not the scenery in western Kansas, I'd like to know what it was that put the team to sleep because they were not ready. Like so many other years in Lawrence, this is supposed to be the year; understandably, Jayhawk fans now get nervous at any sign of a hiccup. Add to that angst the fact that a feisty Mizzou team is coming in for Big Monday? They'd better just hope the players aren't this nervous.

As for the game itself, on paper there's no reason to believe it will be close. This could be a 30 point route and no one would be surprised. That may be the only thing that would change the mood of fans on either side. Kansas should dominate down low...Tiller should have a hard time dealing with the Kansas guards... Missouri may turn it over a ton.... I'm going to have to stick with conventional wisdom and predict the blowout: Kansas 84, Mizzou 61

What's a guy to do?

Seriously, for those of you who think I've slighted the Tigers in the past, what in the world should I do now? How do you slant the Stefhon Hannah situation to not sound like you're bad mouthing the Tigers? I hear a lot of people praising Mike Anderson for suspending 5 players and I agree. You can't babysit 20 year olds, but you can set rules and punish them when they fail to follow them. This season is lost anyways, why not send a message to the team...to future players...that you must follow the rules to play basketball at Missouri?

I'm aware there are some people who think it's wrong of Anderson to ban his players from the clubs. What's sad is that he has to. You'd like to think someone that's mature and talented enough to play Division 1 college basketball could be trusted to make those kinds of choices. Unfortunately, the current players at Mizzou have proven time and time again that they are not. Kudos to Mike Anderson for recognizing this and putting the integrity of the program ahead of wins.

Big 12 Report- Week 1

If you drove to work in Kansas City this morning you probably know exactly how most Big 12 coaches feel this morning...flustrated...disoriented...maybe even a little angry. Funny what impact 2 inches of snow can have huh? Much like the impact of a road loss in the first week of the conference season. Think Rick Barnes felt a little better before the Catastrophe in Columbia? Yeah, but at least that made Mike Anderson feel good about his Tigers...until last night in Ames...What about Bobby Knight? A 19 point loss at OSU followed by a 15 point win over the A&M...Does any of this make sense? About as much sense as closing schools citywide for 2 inches of snow. With that, our first Big 12 Power Poll of the 2008 Season.

Kansas (2-0)
Nothing surprising here, except that the Jayhawks already have a one game cushion over both A&M and Texas in the standings. Rivalry game at Mizzou this week could be one of the few stumbling blocks for KU.

TexasA&M (1-1)
A lot of people might drop the Aggies after the beating they took at Tech last night, but I'm going to try not to be that fickle. Besides, I took a lot of flack for placing the Raiders 4th in my preseason rankings, so for now I'll pretend like that loss isn't that terrible.

KSU (1-0)
Michael Beasley carried the Cats to one of the few road victories in the conference in week one and that's why they made the leap to number 3. A win Saturday against Texas A&M and people may actually start to believe this team could challenge Kansas for first, but it won't happen.

Texas Tech (1-1)

What an enigma Bobby Knight's team was this week. It'll be amazing if Knight doesn't completely blow a gasket in the upcoming 3 game stretch: @ OU, Mizzou at home, @ Texas. The 4th best team in conference would win at least 2 of those...we'll see. Blow up or not, Knight will still have his 900 wins and I'll still enjoy watching him and his teams.

Texas (0-1)
I pity Colorado. Texas, maybe the 2nd most talented team in the league, has had a full week to think about a 13 point loss at Mizzou. If the Horns don't beat the Buffs by 20, there really may be something wrong in Austin.

Baylor (2-0)
If there were any Baylor Bear fans that read this, they'd surely complain over this ranking, after all they're tied with Kansas for the conference lead. Single digit wins over OSU and ISU don't impress me.

Missouri (1-1)

To quote Dennis Green "They are who we thought were!" Fantastic win for the Tigers followed by a disappointing loss. But that bad taste in Tiger fans mouths? It could be gone by about 9:30 Saturday night. Anderson will have the kids ready for the Border War.


Nebraska (0-2)
In all honesty, they should maybe be last. 19 point loss at home and then putting up 51 against Colorado? Gross.

Oklahoma State (1-1)
I predicted a terrible year for the Cowboys and they came out and dominated Bob Knight's Red Raiders to start the season before losing a close one to Baylor. Now I have no idea who they are. Games in Ames and at home against UT should tell us.

Iowa St (1-1)
I expect the Cyclones will sneak up and bite a couple more teams like they did the Tigers last night...but not more than 3 or 4 more the rest of the year.

Oklahoma (0-2)
The Sooners were upset after losing the home opener vs. KSU, and then embarrassed by Kansas 2 nights later. I really don't think they're this bad but you can't argue with the results so far.

Colorado (1-1)
I still think Colorado is terrible with a capital T.

Michael Beasley has to be the player of the week in the conference even if he only played one game. He's going to have to be player of the week this week as well if he wants to hang with the Aggies. I'd guess he'll hit his first speed bump as the Aggies slow him down. I refuse to speculate on the results of Missouri/Kansas Saturday night except that the crowd is jacked up and the Tigers play exceptionally hard.

After week one it's pretty ridiculous to try to rank these team, so I'm sure everyone has a bone to pick with these rankings... I tried to go off my Preseason Predictions and add in what the team's had done so far, but I'm sure that a lot of you disagree.. That's what the comments section is for. Let me have it...

Tigers fan couldn't be happier

The messages I received from Tiger fans yesterday ranged from "What do you think about those Tigers now?" to "NIT? Ha!" to "Want to revise those predictions now?"

I love it, Tiger fans had gotten to the point of apathy over the last few years, accepting their fate as a bottom rung team. I think it's fantastic that Mike Anderson had given them reason to hope again. I didn't watch the entire game yesterday ( I had a full slate, 3rd place in a volleyball tournament, kids birthday party at the bowling alley and my first perfect game on Wii bowling) but I do have some thoughts...

- I told you Texas would lose to a couple of teams they shouldn't in my Big 12 Basketball Preview. This game is as much and indictment of Rick Barnes as anything.

- I compares Mike Anderson to Mark Mangino earlier in the year...maybe I was being unfair to Anderson. Mangino spent his first couple of years almost winning games like this.

- As I watched the end of the game in the bowling alley I kept expecting Texas to come back and the Tigers kept holding them off. I'm not sure there's a team in the league with more heart...can you believe we're saying that about a Missouri team?

- Missouri's bench outscored UT 38-10, that's impressive

- Only one week to MU vs. KU #1 and now the Tigers have proven they can play with top tier teams...it may be a shoot out. Publish Post