Column:

Football and basketball: possible inverse relationship

By Mark Levitt

Published Dec. 11, 2008

Missouri athletics participated in an up-and-down game of "Chutes and Ladders" this past weekend. The game pitted the MU football team against its basketball counterpart in a competition that featured twists and turns few imagined at the beginning of the semester.

Going into their respective seasons, expectations could not have been more different for the two teams. Gary Pinkel led his troops into "The Season" for MU football. They returned almost every key contributor from the most successful season in school history. Ranked in the top five of both major polls, the Tigers were supposed to compete for the National Championship.

Mike Anderson was entering his third season at the helm of the volatile basketball program, coming off a season with more arrests than major victories. The 2008-2009 campaign began with little publicity and modest expectations.

Yet Saturday it was the basketball team moving up the ladder and the football team finishing up a two-week slide down a disturbing chute.

The slide started and ended in Arrowhead Stadium. The bitterness of the weather was amplified after being upset by the Kansas Jayhawks and reached an unbearable level after the 62-21 drubbing the Oklahoma Sooners gave the Tigers.

By the middle of the third quarter on Saturday, I was more than happy to leave Kansas City without looking back. The losses left MU with a disappointing 9-4 record, the only consolation a trip to the Alamo Bowl to face Northwestern. Not exactly what the boys in black and gold had in mind back in August.

In contrast, the basketball team's early success has been a pleasant surprise at the very least. In its three marquee games thus far, Missouri has won two and lost one in a game in which the Tigers went toe-to-toe with a good Xavier team.

The latest victory came Saturday at Mizzou Arena against California. MU shellacked the Golden Bears with a whopping score of 93-66. They played a brand of basketball that had me beaming from buzzer to buzzer. Guys passing up good shots so teammates could have better ones; players diving on the floor for loose balls in the second half of a blowout; seniors stepping up; freshman stepping in. At 7-1, Anderson has his team moving in the right direction.

So what does this turn of events mean?

It is undeniable that 9-4 is considered a disappointment for this year's football team. It would be comparable to Michael Phelps going to Beijing hoping for eight gold medals and coming out with silver and bronze. Good? Yes. Disappointing? Absolutely.

However, if this year was a step back for the football program, they still stand miles ahead of where they were four years ago. This senior class led them to four straight bowl games, a feat unmatched in recent memory. We learned that to become an elite program, we must recruit bigger and more athletic offensive and defensive lines. Recruiting has improved and will hopefully allow them to take the next step up.

The jury is still out on the basketball program. The 7-1 record is a great start, but until Anderson proves he can win in the Big 12 later this winter, we won't know where this team will end up. I do believe he will turn what was once a dismal program back into a winning one. It takes time (see the football program) but with this class of freshman, there seem to be clear skies ahead.

There is a lot to look forward to in the coming years of Missouri athletics. Happy holidays, sports fans.