| 14 July 2009
Sunday's game is going to be the biggest game the Tigers have played since they bowed out to Marquette in the 2003 NCAA Tournament. No doubt about it. Win at Allen Fieldhouse and the Tigers have a very good shot at winning a Big 12 title. This game isn't going to reach Armageddon proportions, but it's getting pretty close.
For so many years now, winning at Allen Fieldhouse has been nothing more than a crazy pipe dream. I don't remember the last time I watched the Tigers go to Allen and thought they had a serious chance of winning.
And that's one of the things that makes this so big. Both Mizzou and kansas are young teams. The freshmen on these teams will form the foundation of these teams for the next several years. The Tigers' youngsters (Denmon, English, Bowers, Paul, Safford) need to see that winning in the Phog is possible. With the previous group, (Horton, Brown, Grimes, etc.) I think losing in Lawrence became a given early in their careers when it became apparent they were outmanned and outcoached.
But this year these teams are neck-and-neck in the talent department. kU might have the edge in overall talent with a roster full of former High School All-Americans. But the Tigers have the advantage in the experience department. The X-factor is who is going to show more toughness. Both teams are probably going to make runs, but which group can better withstand the other's punch? That's what'll win this one.
In no way will this game make or break either team's season. Regardless of what happens, both teams are going to the Dance and are in great position to secure a very good seed. But this could definitely be a game that launches this program to bigger and better things.
And with that, I give you my favorite excerpt from Michael Atchison's excellent book "True Sons: A Century of Missouri Tigers Basketball":
Kansas came to town ranked fifteenth in the nation, rather than the top three rating the Jayhawks had carried to Columbia in each of the previous five seasons. Though the Tigers had prevailed over four of those highly ranked KU teams, they could not handle a squad led by Ryan Robertson, a senior from St. Charles, Missouri who had spurned his home-state school. Booed mercilessly by Missouri fans for four years, Robertson got his revenge in his last visit to the Hearnes Center, scoring seventeen points to pace the Jayhawks to victory. As they left the floor, Robertson and teammate Eric Chenowith taunted Missouri's fans, a fact noted by Mizzou's players.After suffering a lopsided loss at Colorado, the Tigers had eight days off before a rematch with Kansas, and Norm Stewart got his team's full attention. One characteristic shared by all of Stewart's teams, no matter how good, was that they expected to win. The coach reinforced that expectation as his team ventured into Allen Field House, where no conference opponent had beaten Kansas since 1994. "We're gonna win the ballgame," Stewart told the Tigers, and he directed them to "walk off the court like you've been there before." He even had them practice leaving the floor in the days leading up to the game.Norm Stewart may have been the only coach in the Big 12 who could tell his players that they would win at Kansas and make them believe it. Since Missouri's 1994 championship, Kansas had owned the league, winning four straight titles. In the previous three years, the Jayhawks had lost only four games to league foes. Three of those losses had come to Missouri.
Ever wonder why Mizzou fans love Norm Stewart so much despite the fact that his teams generally came up short in the Big Dance? Shit like that.
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