A rough trip home from Manhattan

Bramlage Coliseum hasn't been kind to the Tigers in recent years and Saturday was no exception as Missouri dropped another road game 80-70 to the Wildcats.  The loss dropped Mizzou to 22-7 on the season, but more importantly to 8-6 in the conference and tied with K State for 4th when the top 4 teams get byes for the upcoming conference tournament at beautiful Sprint Center in Kansas City.  Laurence Bowers played well with 16 points and 9 rebounds but didn't get much help inside as Ricardo Ratliffe, Justin Safford and Steve Moore combined for only 2 points, 1 rebound and 11 fouls in 21 minutes of play.  That simply isn't going to get it done.  Marcus Denmon dropped 22 points but 9 of those came in the last two minutes when the game was already over.  Marcus, play a little more selfishly and take more shots.  You're the big gun on this team so you might as well learn to embrace it.

Mr Sensitivity

Before the game, Wildcat players Jacob Pullen and Jamar Samuels created a little bulletin board material when they stated that while there was respect between K State and their cross-state rivals, kansas, they disliked Missouri and Samuels went so far as to say he considered the Tigers to be bigger rivals than ku.   While their head coach, Father Frank Martin didn't go so far, he did mention that the two teams usually are competing for the same spot in the conference and the series since his arrival has been remarkably close. (currently 4-3 Tigers)  I'm not sure that this really means anything other than K State feels in desperate need of a real rival and are pissed off that kansas seems to dislike us more than them.  I suppose there's some weird sort of logic there.

So now it comes down to the last week of the season.  The top 3 are set with Texas, kansas and A&M.  Missouri and K State are tied for 4th with Baylor, Nebraska and Colorado bringing up the top 8.  Missouri travels north to hick nation Tuesday night for the final regular season conference game between the two schools.  Then they finish up the season next Sunday against kansas, the other school that K State would like to be considered rivals with.  K State travels to Austin this week to take on the once beaten Longhorns before closing at home against Iowa State.  If the Tigers want to avoid the opening day of the tournament, they need to win out and hope the kitties drop one in Texas this week, 'cause they ain't losing at home to Iowa State.