| 14 July 2009
Photo by Parker Eshelman, Columbia Tribune
- Once again, props to each one of the seniors. I joked before the game about Mike Anderson needing to take a timeout immediately following the opening tip to get Jr. out of the game. But the MAJic man was all over the place in the opening minutes. He didn't look like a guy who was on the roster because he's the coach's son. He looked like a Division I basketball player.
- When we look back on Leo Lyons' career at Mizzou we'll undoubtedly remember how frustrating it could be to watch him struggle to find a level of consistency and toughness. But let the record show that in what were probably the two biggest games of his career, Leo Lyons was the most composed Tiger on the floor and was able to frustrate the most physically imposing player in the NCAA to no end. There were plenty of opportunities over the past four years for Leo to go Keon Lawrence and get the hell outta CoMo and I think most of us would've said "don't let the door hit your ass on the way out." But Leo toughed it out and I think he's obviously turned a corner. My favorite Leo moment from last night came on a Kim English foul in the first half when Kim took a shot to the throat while trying to draw a charge. He started arguing with the ref and Leo calmly walked over to Kimmie, took him aside and explained to him why he was called for a foul. That's the kind of thing you expect out of your senior leaders. And that's what Leo's finally become.
- I was about ready to label Justin Safford's sophomore campaign a disappointment. Remember, he was expected to take on a much more important role this season and some thought he might be able to start. But last night Safford showed us why some people had those expectations in the first place. His two 3-pointers came right when it appeared the Sooners were gaining momentum. Seemed like for every OU run a different Tiger stepped up and got the Tigers going again.
- Remember when Marcus Denmon was an erratic player? The last several games he seems to have developed into the most solid of the freshmen guards. I was surprised to see that he actually missed six of his eight shots last night. I could've sworn he shot a higher percentage but I'm pretty sure it's been about a month since he took one of those patented errant 3-pointers.
- I'm amazed at how I can go 36 minutes without having any confidence at all in J.T. Tiller's jumpshot and then in the final four minutes just know that if he shoots then the ball's going in the hoop. One complaint, now that he seems to have his turnover issues under control he needs to work on staying out of foul trouble. We can't keep relying on Miguel Paul to play for extended periods of time (not intending to knock MP3 but kinda am).
- I don't want to say anything to take away from this win but since I lit into kU for doing this I have to point it out. The "overrated" chant that some fans in the student section decided to start for about 30 seconds was fucking retarded. I hope it wasn't audible on TV but I know OU heard it. That's not a good thing considering there's a very good chance we play them again in about a week. I just don't understand why you would want to chant that. Why not chant "undefeated" instead? Same number of syllables. At least wait until there's less time on the clock than 1:30. Did college basketball fans learn nothing from Duke-Maryland during the Jay Williams-Chris Duhon year? Also, not sure if you could tell this on TV or not but there was a considerable number of students that were trying to storm the court. Stupid. Storming against kU was one thing. Storming here would've been embarrassing. I was yelling at all the douches moving down to get back and some jerkoff with a Harry Potter haircut walked by me and then flipped me off when he was about 20 feet away. Real cool. Glad you couldn't do that when you were standing right next to me. Big props to Zou Crew (don't say that very often) for keeping them off the floor. If you're a legit top 15 team then you probably shouldn't storm the court more than once every season. Maybe if it clinched a Big 12 title or something, but at some point you want to act like you expect to win.
- I've heard some complaints from Sooner fans about the officiating in last night's game (even though Mizzou had more fouls called) and I'll just say this: Blake Griffin probably gets fouled on just about every play. But he also probably fouls on every play. He uses his forearm to push off whenever he has the ball which could always be called a charge and he goes over the back more than just about any player I've seen. So it's a give-and-take if your Oklahoma. If you want every foul called every time Blake gets touched then you've also got to accept him getting fouls called whenever he pummels guys going for offensive boards.
- Speaking of Blake, last night I gave Leo big props for his defense against him and I stand by that. Leo was HUGE. But just about every Tiger guard also deserves major credit for helping contain Griffin. OU kept running a cross screen where one of their perimeter players was screening for Blake who was cutting to the side of the floor the ball was on. Mizzou defended this by having their guards stay and show on Griffin long enough for Leo (or whoever was guarding Blake) to recover. This strategy usually ends up with a shooter wide open on the opposite side of the floor. A simple skip pass usually leads to a wide open 3-pointer or at least enough space to where the player can easily blow by his man. But the Tigers' guards were recovering quick enough that OU's players didn't have enough time to get a good look at the rim. Just fantastic team defense.
- JARRID FAMOUS COME TO MIZZOU!!!!!!!
- DEMARCUS COUSINS COME TO MIZZOU!!!!!!!
- I've been saying Mizzou would win this game ever since they beat kU at the Zou. I also have multiple witnesses that can verify that I predicted a 75-62 final score. Not too shabby. But I'm nervous about the Texas A&M game on Saturday (also not thrilled about the possibility of playing them two games in a row). This is a pretty big game for both teams. Definitely has NCAA Tourney ramifications. I'm worried but I don't think we need to be concerned about the Tigers coming out flat on the road again. I'll take Mizzou in a close one.
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