Mizzou basketball is moving on from the SEC Tournament quickly and shifting its focus toward March Madness. Read about the Tigers' mindsets here.
NASHVILLE — Missouri basketball’s season may be over, but the Tigers don’t think so.
Missouri fell in the first 78-72 to the No. 9 seed Kentucky Wildcats in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, lowering its chances of dancing in March. The Tigers were already labeled as a bubble team by many bracketologists, and a loss to a team they beat earlier in the season certainly won’t do them any favors.
When asked to give his 30-second elevator pitch on why Missouri should be in the NCAA Tournament, head coach Dennis Gates said a pitch shouldn’t be necessary — his Tigers are an obvious selection, regardless of what the numbers say.
“It's not an elevator pitch. It’s just facts,” Gates said. “The net doesn't look at where our team is. The net doesn't say Trent Pierce was out and Jayden stone was out. It doesn't say that. So we're a completely different team than what whatever the net is talking about. That's why the committee doesn't focus on the net… Our style of play is there, you know, I think we're a completely different team just because of the fact that we are a little bit more healthy when you add Trent Pierce. Our matrix is completely different than when you take them out, and the same with Jayden Stone.”
But even the bracketologists who factor in context more than numbers have no say in where — or if — Missouri lands in the tournament. The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee discusses behind closed doors.
“Everything that's been published right now in media is not accurate information based off of inside that room,” Gates said. “They're educated guesses based off the history.”
Regardless of what Gates, the players, the committee or the media thinks about Missouri’s NCAA Tournament hopes, the Tigers need to find a way to move forward. The decision is out of their hands.
So what’s the gameplan?
“Forget about this,” Missouri forward Trent Pierce said. “Just focusing on us, focusing on our team, our game, and taking that and taking our fight into the tournament.”
Missouri has played far from its best basketball in the last three games. In fact, the last three games are the first instance all season in which the Tigers have lost three consecutive matchups — there’s an argument to be made that they’re playing some of their worst ball.
In the eyes of Jayden Stone, there’s not much the Tigers can take from the poor stretch to apply to potential future matchups.
“We can't really use much with the losses,” Stone said. “You got to use more of the wins.”
The selection committee may allow the Tigers to continue their season with a bid to the NCAA Tournament bid. Should that be the case, graduate forward Jacob Crews thinks the team should reset its mindset, but keep its résumé.
“We're gonna have to erase this one,” Crews said. “Leave it up to the committee from here. I think our work speaks for ourselves. I think our wins speak for ourselves. I think the conference we're in speaks for itself.”
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, a premiere bracketologist, currently has Missouri as one of the last four teams in the tournament. As for SEC teams near the Tigers, Texas joins them as one of Lunardi’s last four in, while Auburn and Oklahoma are two of his last four out.
Chaos will ensue for the days between Thursday and Selection Sunday, as teams will shift in and out of bracketologists projections, Missouri possibly included.