After being upset by 15 seed Norfolk State in last year’s tournament, the Missouri Tigers are back, though seeded seven spots lower, at #9. They had a moderately successful first season in the SEC after winning the Big 12 tournament championship a year ago. They’ll be taking on Colorado State in the first round.
- Frank Haith won the AP’s Coach of the Year award last year in his first season at Mizzou, a sharp turnaround from his tenure at Miami, where his Hurricanes never finished better than .500 in the ACC and only made one NCAA tournament in his seven years at the helm.
- This year’s Missouri team returned just one player who contributed heavily to last year’s team: junior guard Phil Pressey. Laurence Bowers also returned after redshirting the 2011-12 season with a torn ACL, but with the departure of Mike Dixon, those were the only two players who had played for the Tigers before 2012-13.
To make up the experience void, Haith and his staff absolutely loaded this year’s team with transfers, led by big man Alex Oriakhi, who was immediately eligible after transferring from Connecticut, who was banned from postseason play due to Academic Progress Rate violations. Haith also added Earnest Ross from Auburn and Keion Bell from Pepperdine, both of whom were also immediately eligible, and mid-year transfer Jabari Brown from Oregon.- They’re very balanced scoring the ball, with six players (Bowers, Brown, Pressey, Oriakhi, Bell, and Ross) averaging over 10 ppg. Pressey is the guy who makes everything go, with his 7.1 apg.
- In contrast to last year’s small, speedy team, this year’s Mizzou squad is one of the nation’s best rebounding teams. They rank second in the nation with 41 boards per game, led by Oriakhi and Brown with 8.6 and 6.2 rpg, respectively.
