Missouri

**Kramer** · 01-01-2007, 10:45 PM

How are the Tigers this year? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

**edenclone** · 01-01-2007, 10:56 PM

They are good, we will lose.

Just being honest. We will turn it over a ton due to their constant hellish defense.

Would be a huge win though if we pulled it out.

**Wesley** · 01-02-2007, 01:10 AM

Let Cory Johnson bring the ball up court.

**pthebutcher** · 01-02-2007, 12:32 PM

Let Cory Johnson bring the ball up court.

sarcasm? If not, do elaborate.

**pthebutcher** · 01-02-2007, 12:38 PM

Anyone know what kind of game their bigs play? Looking at their roster their biggest guys are Kalen Grimes (6'9'' 250) and Leo Lyons (6'9'' 225). It seems feasible to me with our superior height to employ the same game plan as we did against NDSU. Feed it into Jiri and give him a chance to prove the game against NDSU wasn't a fluke.

**BryceC** · 01-02-2007, 12:45 PM

Frankly, drawing fouls, getting it inside, and shooting well against the press are going to be a must for us to have a chance in this game. We really need to set the tempo of this game and not turn it over. We've done a good job setting the tempo earlier this year, but have done a terrible job with turning it over. Our press break better be on.

For an example of how they play, they average 74.3 possessions per game, good for 26th fastest pace in the country. We average 65.3 possessions, good for 264th in the country. We can't get to running with these guys because we won't be able to keep up.

Basically, if we shoot well, get some extra possessions with some offensive rebounds, protect the ball, and control the pace, we'll be in the game at the end. If we don't do these things, we could get absolutely worked.

**ornryactor** · 01-02-2007, 12:58 PM

My question is why our opponents don't use the full-court press more often. It would only take a stupid 3rd-grader five minutes of looking at our game tapes to figure out that no matter how well we play in a game, when the opponent turns on the full-court press, we completely come apart at the seams. You would think that teams would figure this out and apply the press from the get-go, especially if they've practiced playing that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that's not what's happening, but I don't understand why it's not. Is there some weakness to the press that our guys could potentially take advantage of?

**TheHelgo** · 01-02-2007, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by edenclone

They are good, we will lose.

Just being honest. We will turn it over a ton due to their constant hellish defense.

Would be a huge win though if we pulled it out.

Wait a minute - they haven't really beaten anyone. Thus, I am not sure we can say they are 'good'. Wow, they beat Arkansas at home - big deal.

**edenclone** · 01-02-2007, 01:03 PM

Who have we beaten that makes you think we have a chance in Columbia? NO ONE!!!

Missouri is good, ISU isn't right now.

**BryceC** · 01-02-2007, 01:04 PM

Don't look now, but we haven't beaten anybody either, we aren't any better than Arkansas, and the game is in Mizzou. I think you just made our point for us naysayers.

**cloneaholic** · 01-02-2007, 01:04 PM

You can sum up the game pretty easily. Missouri will press us baseline to baseline for 40 minutes. They will play 10-12 guys and they will try very hard to turn the game into a track meet. On the other hand, we will try to do what we did at Ohio State, except for all 40 minutes this time- play a VERY controled tempo on offense, defend the half-court like our lives depend on it, and rebound like crazy (i.e., take the crowd out of the game).

Prediction: On paper, Missouri is a heavy favorite. I'm not sure we'll have enough horses to pull off the big upset, but I'll bet anything we're going to make things very frustrating for the Tigers and their fans. I will be surprised if Missouri covers the spread, whatever it ends up being.

**ajjohnson** · 01-02-2007, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by ornryactor

My question is why our opponents don't use the full-court press more often. It would only take a stupid 3rd-grader five minutes of looking at our game tapes to figure out that no matter how well we play in a game, when the opponent turns on the full-court press, we completely come apart at the seams. You would think that teams would figure this out and apply the press from the get-go, especially if they've practiced playing that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that's not what's happening, but I don't understand why it's not. Is there some weakness to the press that our guys could potentially take advantage of?

In my opinion because our half court offense is really bad. With the press you will get turnovers but will also give up dunks and wide open shots. We seem to turn it over plenty in our half court sets that it might not make sense to let Taylor, Rashon, and Wesley use their athleticism over the whole court when we will be bad enough without the other team getting out of their half court defensive positioning.

**TheHelgo** · 01-02-2007, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by edenclone

Who have we beaten that makes you think we have a chance in Columbia? NO ONE!!!

Missouri is good, ISU isn't right now.

I live in St. Louis so I end up watching a lot of Mizzou games with my friends around here that are primarily Mizzou alums. Honestly, I am not that impressed. Missouri may be further along than we are in the rebuilding process right now, but I don't think you can issue a blanket statement that they are world-beaters and will un-questionly destroy us.

I am not one to think that we will (and should) win every game, but this is a very winnable game against an average team. If Mizzou finishes in the top half of the conference, i will be very surprised.

**edenclone** · 01-02-2007, 02:53 PM

Well, I don't think YOU can throw a blanket statement telling me I said Missouri was world-beaters and will 'destroy' us. Don't put words in my mouth.

All I said was that Missouri was good, that ISU wasn't, and that I think Missouri will win. How the hell you turned that into 'destroy' and 'world beaters' is beyond me.

**clonefarmer** · 01-02-2007, 03:06 PM

Let's hope the officiating is decent. In my opinion, most pressing teams get away with a whole lot of hacking, especially at home. I haven't seen Missouri play so I don't know how good their press is. There's a big difference between say, a really good press and the "matador" press we used the previous 3 years.