Here’s what national writers are saying about Mizzou going into the NCAA Tournament
The Missouri men’s basketball team on Thursday will be looking to for its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2010.
The Tigers, who are the No. 7 seed, will face Utah State in a South Region game that tips off at 12:40 p.m.
Mizzou has mostly flown under the radar of national media writers, but some did share their thoughts on the Tigers. Here’s a look at what is being said.
The Athletic’s Joe Rexrode and Justin Wilson wrote: “That’s the cure for opponents against Missouri, length. Witness Mississippi State’s 63-52 stifling of the Tigers. Senior star Kobe Brown, Northern Iowa transfer Noah Carter and Milwaukee transfer DeAndre Gholston would make a good linebacking trio. But Alabama’s size bothered Brown, in particular, in the semis. Most nights, he has his way with assertive post play, tremendous passing skills and 44.7 percent accuracy from 3-point range (46 makes). The Tigers usually play small ball and push it, move it (16.2 assists per game) and shoot it. This team’s offensive efficiency is top 10 nationally. Its defensive efficiency is … not.”
The New York Post’s Zach Braziller picked Brown as the South Region’s unsung player. He wrote: “The senior wing is an absolute flame-thrower from distance, shooting 44.7 percent from 3-point range, but he’s more than just a shooter. Brown is also a capable rebounder and distributor, the driving force behind Missouri’s surprising 24-win season.”
Mizzou is ranked as the 39th-best team in the NCAA Tournament field, says CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. Here is a snippet from his story: “Dennis Gates wasted no time getting the Tigers back to respectability, doing it in his first season in Columbia. If you like teams who want to score 85 points, use tempo to their advantage and don’t play favorites for where they take their shots, Missouri is for you. It feels inevitable that its first round game is going to be a burner.”
DraftKings wrote: “Missouri finished the season with five wins in its last six games, notching an impressive 24-9 overall record while ranking fourth in the SEC.”
ESPN’s Myron Metcalf wrote this about the Tigers: “When Dennis Gates accepted the Missouri job last summer, he called Kobe Brown and made a pitch. He told the Tigers star that if he’s not invited to his wedding in the future, he would think he’d failed to build the relationship he coveted with his players. That appealed to Brown, who made the decision to stay at Missouri instead of transferring. It paid off for everyone involved. The all-SEC first-teamer (15.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 46% from 3) helped the Tigers go from last season’s 12-21 campaign to its second NCAA tournament appearance in three years.”
Sports Illustrated’s Joe Sullivan wrote this about Mizzou: “It’s not always pretty, the Tigers get crushed on the boards and don’t get to the foul line as much as their opponents. They compiled a bunch of early-season victories against soft competition but then continued to surprise, holding up against the SEC competition with their best asset being hustle and determination.”
