Lots of questions left in Big 12

A bye could help Missouri

By Sam Wilson
Feb. 22, 2008

Sophomore guard J.T. Tiller moves up court against Kansas Feb. 4 in Lawrence, Kan. If the Tigers end up in the No. 12 seed in the Big 12 Championship tournament, they will play against the No. 5 seed on March 13.

(Click graphic to enlarge)

The MU men’s basketball team could be the No. 12 seed in the Big 12 Championship tournament in Kansas City, but with five games remaining, there is still plenty to be decided in the conference.

A No. 12 seed would mean a March 13 matchup with the No. 5 seed. It is also possible the Tigers will have a bye as the fourth seed on Mar. 13 and play the winner of the 5-12 match-up on March 14.

Kansas and Texas are tied for first in the league with 9-2 records. With byes awarded to the top four seeds in the Big 12 tournament, the Jayhawks and Longhorns are in good position to at least get byes. At 8-3, Kansas State is also in a good position.

But the rest of the Big 12 is wide open. Texas A&M and Oklahoma are tied for No. 4 at 6-5. Baylor and Texas Tech are tied for No. 6 with 5-6 marks. Nebraska, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and MU are tied for No. 8 at 4-7. The 2-9 Colorado Buffaloes are No. 12.

Missouri still has a chance to pick up a game on Baylor, Colorado, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Iowa State in head-to-head match-ups.

With five games remaining, MU coach Mike Anderson said he would love to see his team creep up the standings and earn a bye.

“I think it means we won some games,” Anderson said. “Maybe we’re getting some consistency.”

But Anderson said earning a bye is not a topic of conversation for the team.

“We don’t talk about it,” he said. “With our team, we’ve just got to focus on each game at a time. Right now, our focus in the next practice and then, of course, it’s Colorado.”

Senior forward Marshall Brown said a bye would be helpful if the team could pull it off.

“I think that extra day of rest is huge,” Brown said. “Especially when you catch a team coming off of playing a game the night before. It can’t help but to be to our advantage. So we’d definitely like to get that spot.”

An advantage MU has down the stretch is that it is the only Big 12 team that does not have to play Texas, Kansas or Kansas State the rest of the season. But sophomore guard J.T. Tiller said it isn’t too big of an advantage.

“Every team in the Big 12 is tough,” Tiller said.

Brown said the team isn’t focused on other teams’ results, just its upcoming game at home Saturday against Colorado.

“It’s important that we not have any slip-ups and take it one game at a time,” Brown said. “We know we have a chance to do some pretty special things down the stretch and the only way we’re going to do it is to take it one game at a time.”

Tip-off against the Buffaloes is at 7 p.m. Saturday. Anderson said not having a weekday game this week gave his team a chance to recuperate.

“I think it’s been good for us,” he said. “Our practice is no more than 45 minutes to an hour. But I think when we’re here we really get after it.”

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Lots of questions left in Big 12

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