Tuesday, March 3, 2009
A pair of top 15 teams shouldn’t play the sort of game Kansas and Missouri did Sunday. A squad ranked among the nation’s best shouldn’t be down for the count after 10 minutes, with or without a rowdy Allen Fieldhouse crowd.
What gives? Is Missouri really as poor a team as it showed Sunday?
The Tigers’ season-long track record says no. Missouri waltzed through its nonconference slate at 13-2, suffering losses only to Top 25 teams Xavier and Illinois. Missouri clobbered NCAA tournament hopefuls California and soundly defeated Southern California. In Big 12 Conference play, the Tigers slipped up twice on the road but handled the rest of their schedule easily.
During one three-day stretch, Missouri defeated Iowa State and Colorado by 76 points combined. Coach Mike Anderson had his team rolling before Sunday, winning seven straight and sitting in third place in the Big 12.
There’s certainly a case for Missouri’s sorry Sunday standing as an aberration. But there are also reasons to believe Kansas really is that much better than its neighbor.
The Tigers are more seasoned than the Jayhawks, but they aren’t grizzled veterans. Senior forwards DeMarre Carroll, Leo Lyons and Matt Lawrence play large roles for Missouri, but the team’s backcourt and bench are littered with freshmen and transfers. The Tigers rank 184th out of 344 teams in the nation in experience, a figure that helps explain their panic in a packed Allen Fieldhouse.
Missouri’s style of play makes the team both dangerous and vulnerable. The Tigers push the pace on offense and pressure excessively on defense. It usually works (see Kansas’ 27-turnover showing at Missouri Feb. 9), but when teams slow down and keep possession, Missouri tends to struggle. Kansas committed just 16 turnovers Sunday and used its extra possessions efficiently, making 56 percent of its shots. Missouri’s intense defense backfired, as it sent Kansas to the line for 22 free throw attempts.
Kansas fans chanted “overrated” at Missouri late in Sunday’s second half, which certainly seemed true judging by the scoreboard.
Or maybe Kansas is just really good. Maybe Kansas is 90-65 against the No. 8 team in the nation good. Considering the Jayhawks have a pair of potential All-Americans in junior guard Sherron Collins and sophomore center Cole Aldrich to go along with a group of all-of-a-sudden-exceptional freshmen, that’s probably the case.
Catic gets offensive
Kansas women’s basketball senior guard Ivana Catic looked more like a gunner than a game manager Saturday in the Jayhawks’ 70-57 victory against Nebraska. Catic, usually shy with her shot selection, exploded for 10 points on 5-for-10 shooting while registering just one turnover in 34 minutes.
Her assertiveness was more than a little unusual for the Zrenjanin, Serbia, native. In 13 conference contests entering Saturday, Catic had attempted 12 shots, or one per 25 minutes of playing time.
Given the guard’s statistics, Nebraska wasn’t really planning on expending much energy defending her. So Catic reviewed tape and fired away. Turns out she made the most of her second-to-last game at Allen Fieldhouse.
— — Edited by Grant Treaster
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