Written by Matt | 14 July 2009

Before explaining the headline above one last thought on yesterday's basketball in Boulder.

We re-watched the Mizzou-Colorado game this morning and still cannot find a plausible explanation for MU’s win. The only thing we came up with, and this is a credit to Mike A. and his staff, is that these guys never quit. For all their shortcomings in talent and size the Tigers give it everything they have. It paid off against CU.

Mizzou has a couple of homers this week: against Nebraska on Wednesday and Saturday against Big XII darling Kansas State.

K-State has a big task in front of it before visiting Columbia. The conference’s game of the week takes place on Wednesday in the Little Apple, where Kansas State hopes to beat Kansas at home for the first time in about a quarter century.

The last KSU win at home against KU was Jan. 29, 1983. The coach of the Wildcats was Jack Hartman and the coach of the Jayhawks was Ted Owens. That was a long, long time ago.

Ronald Reagan (above, with Nancy) was a first-term president and this song was No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.

From Wikipedia:

From 1994-2005, KU won 31 straight games against K-State, the longest streak for either school in the series. Also, since 1984 KU has won 24 straight games on the Wildcats' home floor. That streak began in Ahearn Field House, where KU won the final five meetings. It has carried over into Bramlage Coliseum, where KU has won all 19 contests, most recently a 71-62 win in 2007. Since the streak began, K-State has won seven games against KU, but all of them have been away from Manhattan: four games in Lawrence (1988, 1989, 1994, 2006) and three games in the Big Eight Tournament in Kansas City (1988, 1989, 1993).

Clearly K-State at home against Kansas is to victory what Amy Winehouse is to sobriety.

Now I suspect most of you despise both of these teams, one in particular. You may be wondering why in the hell you’re reading about the Sun-freaking-flower Showdown in this sliver of cyberspace. Bear with us, we’re about to make a point that pertains to Mizzou. We think.

KU and KSU enter the showdown tied for first place in the conference, each at 4-0. Both teams seem primed to make a postseason run. And (this is the part that relates to us) both have players on their roster who, had the winds of fate blown a little differently, might have wound up at Mizzou.

Imagine for a moment that Mizzou cut ties with Quin Snyder when it should have, prior to the 2005-06 season. And imagine further MU had hired who it could have at that time, the out-of-work-but-with-stud-recruits-in-his-back-pocket Bob Huggins. And let’s assume that the West Virginia job never opened up. Lot’s of assumptions, we know, but this is kind of fun to ponder. (It’s a hell of a lot better than wondering if Daryl Butterfield or Marshall Brown will ever get it? The answer is no, by the way).

Okay, back to our point.

KSU freshmen Michael Beasley (above) and Bill Walker, top ranked recruits in the past two high school classes, were going to play basketball wherever Huggins landed. They would have followed Coach Bob to the University of Kirkut. Huggins had targeted the pair when he was out of the game for a year following his firing at Cincinnati and had letters of intent for each just waiting for an address.

As a well-traveled high schooler Kansas junior guard Brandon Rush (above) made frequent visits to Mizzou during his brother Kareem’s tenure. Popular thinking is that with a competent coach B-Rush would have been a Tiger. Bob Huggins is a lot of things, and competent coach is near the top of the list.

Those are the Big XII players that might be at Mizzou. It’s not too hard to find two more to fill out a starting line-up for the ages.

Let’s start with UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough (above) at power forward. A Poplar Bluff native with all kinds of Mizzou ties (parents, brother, etc.). The Mizzou administration basically had to make every mistake imaginable, which they did, to steer him away from Columbia.

And to steer the ship how about O.J. Mayo (above left, with Bill Walker)? Huggins and Frank Martin were recruiting him heavily to come to Kansas State. Is it unreasonable to believe Huggy Bear could have landed him at Mizzou?

How’s this for a starting lineup?

O.J. Mayo
Brandon Rush
Michael Beasley
Bill Walker
Tyler Hansborough

Holy crap. That’s fun as hell to think about although we’re pretty sure it’s not healthy to torture yourself with what ifs and what might have beens. But my Lord, that would be a good squad.

When you’re watching Leo, Ebony and Ivory Lawrence and DeMarre on Wednesday night be sure to flip over to the KU-KSU game at breaks, sigh, and ponder what might have been.

Austin Toros update

Quin’s club went 2-2 this week and is now 16-8 on the season. Austin remains in first place over the Colorado 14ers in the NBDL’s Southwest Division.



NBA Tigers

Keyon and Linas were both on national television Sunday. Nice to see the fellas get some exposure.

Keyon Dooling: 8.2 Points; 1.3 Rebounds; 1.8 Assists. Magic record: 28-18.

Kareem Rush: 8.3 Points; 2.0 Rebounds; 1.0 Assists. Pacers record: 19-26.

Linas Kleiza: 12.0 Points; 4.5 Rebounds; 1.4 Assists. Nuggets record 26-17.

Former Tiger of the Week
Derrick Chievous, Mizzou's all-time leading scorer





Finally, folks, remember that while it’s often hard to be a Mizzou fan it could always be worse.

Get well soon, Stefhon.

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