Living With Tigers

Of course, the Tigers made me eat my words this past week with a dominant performance at home over Missouri Western.  With all the early upsets in college basketball this season (Gardner-Webb over Kentucky, Grand Valley St. over Michigan St., Mercer over USC), it was easy to see Mizzou choking on a cupcake within the first few games, and they still may.

But last Thursday's thrashing of the Griffons was textbook Mike Anderson basketball.  The Griffons committed more turnovers and fouls combined than points they scored, and the full-court defense looked stifling for Mizzou.  The 40 mins. of Hell is a disruptive system, and once it gets under a team's skin, the game can get out of reach fast. 

The real question remains: What will this team do against serious competition?  The problem is, you never know around here.  They have definitely got the talent, with Stephon Hannah and Marshall Brown providing scoring threats, and DeMarre Carroll inside, hopefully providing SOME interior offense, but there are still weak spots on this team.  Jason Horton's ball-handling and Matt Lawrence's defense come to mind as shortcomings that could actually cost the team games. 

Obviously, the jury is still out on the Tigers, but if they keep pounding their exhibition playmates, my opinion could change.

Anybody catch Mizzou's first exhibition basketball game on Saturday? 

Believe it or not, I did.  The Tigers hosted UMSL at Mizzou Arena, and their first half play got me very nervous.  Even though the team wasn't playing its entire front line, the fact that they could EVER trail to UMSL is a frightening notion.

It leads me to wonder whether Mike Anderson got the job done this off--season.  It's clear that Vanderbilt transfer DeMarre Carroll will have a huge impact on the boards -- Mizzou's most glaring weak spot -- but the team still looks paper-thin in the paint and Jason Horton's ball-handling remains suspect.  I mean seriously, this guy dribbles more than a teething infant. 

Don't be suprised if this team drops an early cupcake game and ruins its NCAA chances early.  Anderson was a great hire, but the honeymoon phase is over and its time to see some real results this season.

Mizzou held off one-win Iowa State last Saturday at home to move to 7-1 on the season, and I'm wondering: What, exactly, is this team capable of?

Everyone knows about Chase Daniel and the offense.  There are at least five legitimate NFL players on the offensive squad, and Daniel benefits from the best recieving corps in the Big XII -- there are four or five TEs/WRs who make the catch EVERY TIME the ball hits their hands.  In college, that's saying a lot. 

This past weekend, the defense took a serious blow when it lost senior safety and defensive captain Cornelius "Pig" Brown to a ruptured Achilles tendon.  Brown had been named the defensive player of the week in the Big XII twice already this season, and there's no question that he is the team's emotional leader.  He singlehandedly saved the game against Illinois for the Tigers, and I'm very interested in seeing how the team reacts to losing such a vocal leader and hard-hitting defensive back Saturday at Colorado.

I'm turning to you all out in the so-called "blogosphere" to give me some direction here.  How far will Mizzou go this year?  How many wins will they tally?  Will they make a BCS bowl?  Lots of questions, I know, but I have a feeling you've got an opinion on this.  Let me know.