Note: I don’t know if anyone still reads this, but I figured I should mention it. This will be the last post I make on this blog, but you can continue to find my thoughts on my page at Bleacher Report. I suppose it’s possible that the next Missourian basketball writers will continue to post on this blog, but I really don’t know.

Like so many other kids, I spent countless hours of my childhood dribbling and shooting a basketball on my own or with a neighbor in my family’s driveway just beyond the backyard.

Every once in a while, I would decide I needed to work on my quickness with a few defensive shuffles and other exercises. But that never lasted very long, because I had a tendency to get self-conscious when cars drove by and saw me shuffling back and forth across the “lane” created by three cracks around the basket. Plus, it’s a lot more fun to see what I believed to be a three-pointer swish through the bottom of the net, even if it required poor form to get it there.

Sometimes, I wonder if I would have felt differently had I paid more attention to guys like J.T. Tiller growing up. The senior is one of 50 collegiate players, and just four from the Big 12, to be named to the Preseason Wooden Award Watch List.

It’s no secret that the co-Defensive Player of the Year in the Big 12 (In my humble opinion, Cole Aldrich had no business sharing this with Tiller, but that’s another story….) isn’t on that list because he averaged 8.4 points, 3.6 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game.

Tiller is there because he was the best defensive guard in America last season, and Missouri’s surprise ascendance into the national spotlight finally got everyone to notice.  Tiller’s senior season hasn’t even started yet, and ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla already recognized the Mizzou guard as the top “pest” (sorry, ESPN insiders only) in the country.

With his contagious high-energy defense, he’s the perfect guard for Mizzou’s nonstop full-court pressure, although it’s a shame that means he doesn’t normally reach 30 minutes of court time. Normally, I have trouble believing that D-1 athletes truly get that tired in a game with frequent stoppages and 2-minute timeouts every four minutes of game time, but Tiller’s energy level on defense can’t even be kept up for 35 seconds by a normal human being.

All season long, Mike Anderson preached about how Tiller and senior DeMarre Carroll were “the heart and soul of this basketball* team”. They’re the kind of players who are constantly on the floor and ready to dive into press row for the ball at any time, even in a 20-point game.

*The next time you hear Anderson speak to the media, count how many times he uses this word. I think you’ll be impressed, and it will certainly clear up any confusion as to which sport he is coaching.

Before the season even started, Zaire Taylor said prior to a practice that it was the first time in his life he wasn’t the best defensive player on his team. Those were big words from the Delaware transfer who wasn’t shy about extolling his abilities and talking openly about winning a national championship.

Taylor talked about how he and Tiller were competing to see who could get the most steals. But that contest was over almost before it started when Tiller took a 13-4 lead through four games. He ended up with 68 steals to Taylor’s 55.

But if Missouri is going to avoid a big drop in the Big 12 this season, Tiller is going to have to find some consistency on offense beyond taking care of the ball. His flat jump shot will never be on a fundamentals video, and he made just 10 of 52 three-pointers last season, excluding an inexplicable 3-3 performance against USC.

Still, he showed some potential, including a 23-point outburst against Memphis in the Sweet 16. Few guards go harder into the lane, and last year he seemed to have finally convinced the laws of physics to allow his layups to hit the backboard and still drop through the net. Plus, his wrist should finally be 100% after surgery in the offseason.

In the locker room after Missouri’s loss to UConn in the Elite Eight last season, the players left little doubt that the only fourth-year senior on the roster will be the team leader in the ’09-10 campaign. For a team that consistently applies full-court pressure and preaches its #1 focus is defense — despite scores that would indicate otherwise — it’s a role in which Tiller should thrive.

After Matt Lawrence hit his first six three-pointers in last season’s blowout victory, a visiting reporter from China was so impressed that he asked the senior from St. Louis about his NBA prospects.

“Me?,” said Lawrence, humbled and shocked as if he’d been asked when he was going to cure cancer. “Oh, man.”

Lawrence loves basketball, but he’s also aware that he just doesn’t have the rare athleticism and natural talent it takes to play in the top professional league in the world. But that doesn’t mean he can’t still go pro.

The Tigers’ third leading scorer from last season signed a contract Monday with the Tromso Storm, the regular season champions of the top league in Norway, according to a Missouri press release. The European style of play should be a good fit for Lawrence, who made up for a lack of athleticism with a great shot and a high basketball IQ.

Few people predicted that the former walk-on would have such a productive career at Missouri, where he barely played as a freshman. By the time he graduated, Lawrence had made 244 three-pointers, placing him second on the Tigers’ all-time list behind the untouchable 332 made by Clarence Gilbert.

The six-foot-seven forward improved every season, and Coach Mike Anderson repeatedly told reporters that Lawrence’s scoring was far from his only contribution to the team. Certainly, his rebounding and court awareness improved a lot during his senior season, but he never really shook the label of three-point specialist.

Lawrence looked awkward at times when he got the ball close to the basket, and his defense was at times cover-your-eyes awful. Still, his leadership ability and willingness to come off the bench behind freshman Kim English was an integral part of Missouri’s surprise run to the Elite Eight.

I don’t know much of anything about BLNO, the Norwegian league, but I’m guessing it’s not one of the top leagues in Europe. According to Wikipedia, teams are only allowed to have two American players on the court at a time and must always have at least two Norwegian players in the lineup.

Missouri’s sports information director, Dave Reiter, didn’t know the exact details of the contract, but he did say Lawrence turned down offers from teams in Portugal and Ireland. That makes it a safe bet that Lawrence is one of the few players in the league who will be paid to play full-time.

The former Tiger should do well at Tromso, who has a longtime American coach in Jeff Lange. Assuming the other contract offers were similar, I think Norway was the right choice with its picturesque landscapes and of course, the alluring Scandinavian women.

He’ll have to get used to a little different atmosphere at games, considering Tromso’s home stadium holds only 2,500 fans, or less than one-sixth of the capacity at Mizzou Arena.

Maybe that will finally give him the courage to go for a dunk on a fast break once in a while, rather than the fundamentally sound layups to which Tigers’ fans became accustomed.

Either way, it’s no surprise to anyone that knows him that Lawrence is following a career path that involves basketball. If he ever stops playing, look for him to join the coaching ranks, and maybe even work his way back to Mizzou.

After months of waiting, it’s finally become official.

In a press release that didn’t really surprise anyone who has been following the situation, it was determined that Keith Dewitt’s academic record wasn’t good enough for the NCAA.

The six-foot-ten forward, who could have made an immediate impact for the Tigers, was not cleared by the NCAA Eligibility Center and will likely be headed to junior college. It seems that Dewitt never got a qualifying test score and also had some questionable credit from Charis Prep in North Carolina, which was put on probationary status last year by the NCAA.

Dewitt’s situation reminds me of Keith Ramsey, who spent two years at a community college in Florida because he couldn’t get the required score on his ACT. Ramsey might not have been the brightest in the classroom or in media interviews, but Anderson was able to use him as an effective weapon in the post, especially on defense.

I don’t want to get on too much of a soapbox here, but I think this is great news for Missouri basketball. The program still hasn’t completely recovered from the mess that was the Quin Snyder era, and even though Anderson does a great job handling kids like Dewitt and Ramsey, his job will always be easier without them.

After all, if a guy can’t meet the incredibly low requirements to get into a public university, how is he actually going to function as a student at that school? Of course, everyone but Myles Brand knows that most big-time college basketball and football programs make a mockery of the term “student-athlete”, but at least they have been trying to raise the standards a little lately.

Hopefully, we’ll see Keith Dewitt put some effort into his studies at a juco somewhere and become a better basketball player along the way. Then, in a couple of years, if Missouri still has a desperate need for quality post players (and make no mistake, it does this season), Anderson and his staff can offer him a scholarship.

If Dewitt really does have the talent to be a Big 12 player, then he deserves the chance to earn a spot. But first, he needs to understand that means taking care of things off the court as well.

Again, this is what the Tigers were expecting, so it really doesn’t add any weight to the shoulders of Justin Safford, Laurence Bowers and Keith Ramsey, who all showed flashes of brilliance last season. But they’ve still got plenty of work to do to come close to replacing the production of the Tigers’ two draft picks, DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons.

The defending Big 12 tournament champions released their nonconference schedule today, and it bears a lot of similarities with the one that helped the Tigers start last season 13-2.

Once again, Missouri has five road/neutral games mixed in with ten mediocre to bad teams at home. That includes repeat trips from Chattanooga and Arkansas Pine-Bluff, whom the Tigers beat by 28 and 54, respectively, last season.

Unless the Tigers are worse than I think they are, the Big 12 conference opener against Kansas State in Columbia should be the first real challenge to the Tigers’ 19-game win streak at Mizzou Arena. Georgia and Oregon — two lower-tier BCS conference teams — are probably the best Missouri will see at home before January 9.

As usual, the biggest game on the schedule is the annual Braggin’ Rights Game in St. Louis, where the Tigers will try to finally end a nine-game losing streak against their intrastate rivals. Circle that one on your calendar, because the Scottrade Center is going to be rocking.

But ending the streak won’t be easy against an improved Illinois team, who returns three of the five starters from their dominating 75-59 victory last season. The Illini also boast a solid recruiting class and are ranked tenth in an early poll by Dickie V. Andy Katz put them just outside his Top 25.

The Tigers could face two challenges from the SEC, which should be much stronger than it was last season. The first test of the season for Mike Anderson’s team is a potential matchup with Mississippi State in the South Padre Island Championship.

The Bulldogs will be an excellent first test for Missouri, and they could be outstanding if heralded recruit Renaldo Sidney can resolve his amateur status. The 6-foot-10 center from California was cleared to play academically on Monday.

Four days after their final game in Padre Island, the Tigers will head to Nashville to take on a Vanderbilt team that underachieved last season. If Missouri wants to make a big statement on the road before Big 12 play begins, this is its only chance. It’s just too bad this game didn’t happen a year earlier, when Vanderbilt transfer DeMarre Carroll could have shown his old coach how much he had improved.

Missouri’s schedule certainly won’t be compared to the one played by Kansas anytime soon, but the Tigers undoubtedly play a tougher slate each year than other Big 12 teams like Kansas State, Texas A&M and Baylor. It’s a good mix for team with several new players and a lot of scoring to replace, especially with the frontloading of mid-majors at home.

Any nonconference loss at home should be considered an upset, and I’d have to believe the Tigers will be favored on a neutral court against Old Dominion in the first round at Padre Island. The game against Oral Roberts in Tulsa could be interesting, considering the Golden Eagles are consistently near the top of the Summit (formerly Mid-Con) League and only lost by nine in Columbia last season.

But the three games where we’ll find out what this team is really made of are the ones against the SEC schools and Illinois. If the Tigers can take one of those three and avoid getting upset at home, they should be satisfied. If they can win two or three and finish 13-2 again or better, they’ll be in great shape for a spot in the Top 25, not to mention another tournament bid.

The full nonconference schedule is below. For your convenience, the Big 12 schedule and my thoughts on it are here.

Date                    Opponent                                                   Time                       TV
Nov. 6                 #- vs. Truman State                                   TBA                       TBA
Nov. 13               #- vs.  Northwest Missouri State             TBA                       TBA
Nov. 17               vs. Tennessee-Martin                                 TBA                       TBA
Nov. 22               & – vs. Texas-Pan American                     TBA                       TBA
Nov. 24               & -  vs. Chattanooga                                  TBA                       TBA
Nov. 27              $ – vs. Old Dominion                                  TBA                       TBA
Nov. 28              $ – vs. Mississippi State / Richmond      TBA                       TBA
Dec. 2                 at Vanderbilt                                               TBA                       TBA
Dec. 5                 + – vs. Oregon                                             4 p.m.                     ESPNU
Dec. 9                 at Oral Roberts                                           7 p.m.                      TBA
Dec. 12              vs. Fairleigh Dickinson                               TBA                       TBA
Dec. 19               vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff                             TBA                       TBA
Dec. 23               % – vs. Illinois                                           8:30 p.m.                 ESPN2
Dec. 27              Austin Peay                                                  TBA                       TBA
Dec. 30              UMKC                                                          TBA                       TBA
Jan. 2                 Georgia                                                        TBA                       TBA
Jan. 6                 Savannah State                                          TBA                       TBA

# – Exhibition Games
& – Opening Rounds of the South Padre Island Invitational, Columbia, Mo. (Mizzou Arena)
$ – South Padre Island Invitational, South Padre Island, Texas (South Padre Island Convention Centre)
+ – Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series
% – Busch Braggin’ Rights Game, St. Louis, Mo. (Scottrade Center)

Before you make too many assumptions based off of the headline of this article, let me just point out that I will be following Missouri football and watching as many games as I can. I might even head to Columbia for a game or two. I’m just as big a fan of the football team as the next Mizzou alum, and if things fall right, I think they could certainly win another Big 12 title. I believe Blaine Gabbert will be at least a decent quarterback, and Derrick Washington may be the most underrated running back in the Big 12.**

**One of the previous statements is not true. Those who actually know me would immediately be able to spot it. Incidentally, I don’t think anyone of that ilk actually reads this. But I digress…

However, I’m much more excited about November, when the Tigers basketball team begins their follow-up to their second-best season in school history. It should be noted that as much as I like watching football, I have always liked playing/watching basketball a little bit more, especially Division I college basketball. Obviously, that and the fact that I covered the team that season makes me fairly biased. I won’t be mad if you disagree.

Without further rambling, here are my top ten reasons why Missouri’s men’s basketball team should be more exciting than the football team this school year:

10. The basketball players read poetry.

Both Kim English and Zaire Taylor have done poetry readings on campus, and Zaire actually told me last season that he plans to write a poetry book. I’m still upset I forgot to ask him to send me a copy when it comes out. Sure, some Mizzou football players have been rappers, but to me, poetry is a lot more impressive for a student-athlete. I’ll leave it to others to judge the quality of the work in both cases.

9. Celebrating is better

As a freshman at Missouri, I was one of thousands of students to rush the field after the Tigers’ huge win against Nebraska. Although nothing happened to me, I did see the police detaining some students, and it certainly seems a little dangerous to be climbing field goal posts. As schools get less and less willing to pay for new goalposts, they’re really cracking down on what you’re allowed to do after games.

Meanwhile, the one time I ran onto a basketball court after the game (It wasn’t at Missouri), there were none of those dangers. It’s simply joy in one of its purest forms, jumping up and down in a huge crowd of people celebrating the same thing as you. Plus, if you’re lucky enough to reach the players, Mizzou’s basketball team is full of guys more than happy to interact with fans (see: after the KU win last season), and they’re not shielded from you by massive pads with helmets.

8. You don’t have to go to Kansas City to see the Border Showdown

I’m sure the football team’s move to Arrowhead is making the game a lot more profitable to Missouri and Kansas, but it sure is a slap in the face to students who buy the season ticket package and then can’t even see one of the best “home” games every two years. It doesn’t help that one of my KU friends (I know, they can’t always be trusted) told me the game is included in their season ticket package when the Jayhawks are the designated home team.

But since the basketball team gets to play KU twice a year, there’s no danger of this game moving out of Mizzou Arena anytime soon. That’s great news for everyone, because the Tigers have somehow always been able to make this a close game, and even won twice in the last two years despite having severely inferior talent virtually every season. Unfortunately, this year’s not going to be any different on that front.

As an added bonus, Missouri gets a game in Allen Fieldhouse every year. Even if the Tigers get rocked (which happens too frequently), it’s an amazing way to experience the Midwest’s best college basketball rivalry.

7. The basketball team has a better team leader

I’m going by position here, and perhaps this is a little unfair, since Blaine Gabbert hasn’t had much of a chance to prove himself. But Zaire Taylor was the most efficient point guard in the conference last season, with 3.4 assists per game to 1.3 turnovers per game. With so much scoring to replace, look for him to step up that part of his game considerably, and I don’t think I need to remind Missouri fans just how good he was in the clutch his junior season.

Gabbert may be good, but it’s hard to imagine he’ll be great for at least another year. Also, he’s got the disadvantage of playing in the same conference as Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford, who may be the top two quarterbacks in the country. Finally, it just seems fairly obvious that a team with an inspiring, veteran point guard, is going to be more fun to watch than a team with an untested sophomore quarterback who has yet to show a lot of personality on the field.

6. National title hopes don’t end after week 8

Actually, that’s probably being too generous. As much as I’d like it to happen, I’m not sure that Missouri will be able to get past Illinois in St. Louis, a home game against Nebraska, and a huge road test at Oklahoma State. Even if they do, a home game against Texas would surely be the end to any undefeated hopes, and this isn’t a team with enough acclaim to make a national championship appearance with one loss unless some crazy things happen.

In fact, it’s not unrealistic to think that the Cotton Bowl would be the best-case scenario for the Tigers after week eight. The Missouri-Kansas game will still be fun, but it won’t be nearly as exciting as it was the last couple of years.

On the other hand, Missouri showed last year that good Mike Anderson teams are extremely good at evolving and improving as the season goes along. Fortunately, that tendency works perfectly in college basketball, where the Tigers simply have to get a bid in the NCAA tournament.

I realize a national title is probably beyond ridiculous to expect from this team. They don’t have the same quality of talent this season, but they’ll still make it fun to watch and maybe score an upset or two. The difference, to me, is there’s still that hope, as slim as it may be.

5. More games, less talk

This one’s pretty simple. Last season, the football team played the maximum 14 games. The basketball team played 38. The football season lasted 122 days from the opener against Illinois to the bowl win against Northwestern. 134 days passed between Missouri’s first victory against Prairie View A&M and their Elite Eight loss to UConn.

It doesn’t take a math whiz to figure out basketball games happened at a much higher frequency, meaning you get to see the actual product a lot more often. It also means less time for useless arguments by the media, you and your friends about who is the best team based on something other than what happens in games. That’s good for everyone in today’s oversaturated sports world.

4. Cheaper tickets

This isn’t even close, so I don’t even want to waste my time looking up numbers. You can if you want. For student tickets, we’re generally talking about $20-30 per game or $50 per season. I would imagine it’s worse for the general public.

3. Faster Game

Mike Anderson’s style has been dubbed the “Fastest 40 minutes of basketball”. The players are nearly always running all over the place, and you can expect them to go 9 or 10 deep so they can keep up the frantic pace.

Gary Pinkel’s pass-first, second and maybe third offense could be the “slowest 40 minutes of basketball outside of Lubbock”. It doesn’t help that Missouri’s pass defense actively encourages the other team to take the same approach. In the past, there was a channel in the dorms that would show the previous Saturday’s games in the middle of the week, and take out all of the huddles and downtime between plays.

Those broadcasts lasted maybe 30 minutes, or 45 with commercials. In reality, you’re lucky if a Big 12 game featuring Missouri gets in under the 3½ hour mark.

2. Big 12 tourney champs

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. In case you forgot, the basketball team rolled through the Big 12 tournament last season for the school’s first-ever Big 12 basketball tournament championship. It might not seem likely this season, but then again, no one predicted it would happen last year. Either way, it’s a great thing to have in your pocket when opposing fans aren’t being nice.

The football team has done well to take the North crown the last two years, but I’m not even going to repeat the scores of the two Big 12 championship games against Oklahoma. They’ve already caused enough pain and suffering to the team and its fanbase. Worse yet, the Tigers are only getting further away from the Sooners, not to mention the Longhorns.

1. Home game = win

I love streaks. Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak, John Wooden’s seven straight championship, Roger Federer’s 21 straight Grand Slam semifinals, Mark Buehrle’s streak of 45 straight perfect innings, and of course, Missouri’s 19 straight home victories. Okay, maybe that last one doesn’t quite belong.

But when a streak lasts more than one whole season, that’s pretty impressive by my estimation, especially for a team in the Big 12 conference. It’s going to be a great atmosphere at Mizzou Arena this season. I would expect a huge increase in attendance for nonconference games this season as compared to last year, when the arena often wasn’t even half-full.

Sure, Missouri football draws nice crowds, and it gets fairly loud at Faurot Field, but then they go and do things like play poorly and lose Oklahoma State. The last real upset the football team scored at home was probably its win over No. 10 Nebraska on October 11, 2003. In its most recent home game, the Tigers’ basketball team beat Blake Griffin and the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners by a comfortable nine points.

The Big 12 released its 2010 conference basketball schedule today, and Mike Anderson’s Tigers will be reaping the benefits of last year’s successful season.

The reigning Big 12 tournament champs will play in a school-record 9 nationally televised games, although as usual, the only Big Monday game is one against the mighty Kansas Jayhawks. Missouri may be in the national conversation a little more, but it’s hard to believe expectations for the Tigers will be great, considering they lost 40 points and 16 rebounds per night with seniors DeMarre Carroll, Leo Lyons and Matt Lawrence. That could be good for a team who seems to do better when it has something to prove.

Another obstacle the Tigers will confront in their quest for national prominence is star power, unless someone like Kim English or J.T. Tiller can take their game to another level. At this point, the team’s biggest star is probably Anderson, and it’s likely to remain that way.

That’s not because he’s a guy who craves the spotlight. In fact, the truth would be closer to the opposite. But Anderson’s system requires an above-average number of solid contributors, and it’s unlikely anyone will even reach 30 minutes per game.

As a result, star recruits with dreams of putting up huge numbers probably won’t come to Missouri. Even if an unselfish blue chip recruit winds up in Columbia, it will be tougher for him to get the stats to draw people’s attention.

DeMarre’s Carroll incredible assault on NBA draft boards from when he left Mizzou up to draft day is the perfect example of how Anderson’s system can hide top talent. Fortunately for the Tigers, Anderson’s system works, and the fans don’t seem concerned about not having a national star, as long as the team is winning. Now the media is starting to catch on as well.

Missouri’s conference schedule is below. Their nonconference schedule will be released at a later date.

Day                    Date                    Opponent               Location                   Time             TV
Saturday           January 9          Kansas State          Columbia, Mo.         1 p.m.           ESPN2
Wednesday      January 13        at Texas Tech         Lubbock, Texas       8 p.m.           ESPNU
Saturday           January 16        at Oklahoma          Norman, Okla.         12/1 p.m.     ESPN/2
Saturday           January 23        Nebraska                Columbia, Mo.         5 p.m.           Big 12
Monday            January 25        at Kansas                 Lawrence, Kan.       8 p.m.           ESPN
Saturday           January 30       Oklahoma State     Columbia, Mo.         1 p.m.           ESPN2
Wednesday      February 3        Texas A&M             Columbia, Mo.         8 p.m.          ESPNU
Saturday           February 6        at Colorado             Boulder, Colo.          3 p.m.          Big 12
Wednesday      February 10      Iowa State               Columbia, Mo.         TBA              TBA
Saturday           February 13      at Baylor                  Waco, Texas             12:30 p.m.   Big 12
Wednesday      February 17       Texas                       Columbia, Mo.         8 p.m.           ESPN2
Saturday           February 20     at Nebraska             Lincoln, Neb.           5 p.m.           Big 12
Wednesday      February 24     Colorado                  Columbia, Mo.         TBA               TBA
Saturday           February 27     at Kansas State       Manhattan, Kan.     7 p.m.           ESPNU
Tuesday            March 2            at Iowa State           Ames, Iowa               TBA              TBA
Saturday           March 6            Kansas                     Columbia, Mo.          1 p.m.           CBS

In conclusion, I’m not especially big on making predictions, especially this early, but here are five matchups from the Big 12 schedule you don’t want to miss:

1. Kansas @ Missouri; Saturday, March 6 at 1 p.m. on CBS

Since this is a Missouri blog, I’m obligated to put this game at #1. A win at the Phog would probably be asking too much, but the Tigers could really get a lot of important momentum with a triumph against their rivals in the last game of the regular season. If you’re feeling masochistic, right after this game you could switch over to the Big 12 Network for the worst game of the year: Texas Tech @ Colorado.

2. Kansas @ Texas; Monday, February 6 at 8 p.m. on ESPN

This game will feature the most talented teams in the conference, and probably the only two with national championship aspirations. The Jayhawks haven’t won in Austin since a 110-103 overtime victory in 2002.

3. Texas @ Kansas State; Monday, Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. on ESPN

This game could serve as the first indicator of whether McDonald’s All-American Wally Judge and the Wildcats are ready to compete in the Big 12 race, as they try to avenge the Big 12 quarterfinal loss that probably cost them an NCAA bid. Oddly, the home team hasn’t won in this series since 2005.

4. Kansas @ Kansas State; Saturday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. on ESPN

In case you hadn’t noticed, Kansas is going to the be THE team to watch this season in the Big 12, and maybe in the entire country. They’re that good. Kansas State still needs another win or two to make the Sunflower Showdown a respectable rivalry again.

5. Texas @ Oklahoma; Saturday, Feb. 6 on ESPN

It’s not the Red River Shootout, but the basketball version of this rivalry could be fun to watch if Willie Warren can emerge as a star and Oklahoma can find a half-decent replacement for the Griffin brothers down low. It’ll also be interesting to see if the notoriously fickle OU basketball fans continue to pack the Lloyd Noble Center now that the main attraction plays for the Clippers.

DeMarre Carroll showed the Memphis Grizzlies that his offensive skills could translate to the professional level, averaging 12.2 points in 5 games. It simply can’t be said enough how far Carroll has come since he transferred to Missouri.

A few weeks ago, I spoke briefly with Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings at the funeral of his Hall of Fame high school basketball coach. I almost wish I would have asked him he could have ever imagined that his former role player would blossom into such a lethal scorer, first in college, and now in the NBA’s summer league.

He probably wouldn’t ever admit it, but I’m not sure DeMarre himself wouldn’t have dismissed the thought as ridiculous three years ago.

Certainly, we shouldn’t get carried away and start believing he could challenge any of the top rookies (especially Blake Griffin, that man is a beast), but it appears he could be an effective contributor off the bench. Carroll never scored less than nine points, and in the two games where he scored 16, he shot a combined 13-18. That will get it done at any level.

In the first game, the Junkyard Dog even did something that would have been unthinkable a year ago, when he hit a jumper from beyond the NBA three-point line. He missed the only other long-range bomb he shot in Vegas, but give him a lot of credit for making that even a small part of his game.

Naturally, not all of Carroll’s numbers made him look like a quality NBA player. Playing 20-30 minutes as a small forward in a starting lineup with former Connecticut big men Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet, Carroll never pulled down more than 5 rebounds in a game and averaged less than one assist per game. I didn’t see any of the games, but I would imagine he becomes a liability on defense from time to time, although he might make up for it with the steals he gets by hustling more than everyone else (except Tyler Hansbrough, or so I’m told by every sports analyst ever).

While Carroll’s star was shining, Leo Lyons’ flickered a couple of times, but it’s unlikely he was impressive enough to make an NBA roster. Playing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he scored 14 against the Lakers and 13 against Milwaukee while shooting an impressive 64% from the field.

But his low outputs in the other three games dropped his average to 7.6, and the 6-foot-9 forward averaged only 3.4 rebounds per game. Even though he only played 14 minutes per game, that needs to be higher if he wants to play in a league that isn’t in Europe.

Former Missouri Tiger Thomas Gardner keeps showing sparks of talent, including a 15-point outburst for Portland in 74-73 loss to the D-League Select on Sunday. It’s hard to believe that with a bit of help from Christian Moody, he basically beat Kansas all by himself a little over three years ago, isn’t it? Those were happier times for Gardner, who averaged 1.5 points in just over 6 minutes per game in 16 appearances for Atlanta last season.

Just in case anyone reads this blog regularly and was disappointed, I apologize for not writing anything about this earlier. I’ve been busy with other things, and honestly, wasn’t sure I had any great insight.

I spoke with DeMarre Carroll briefly after he was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies with the 27th pick, and as usual, he didn’t say anything particularly interesting. It’s not that he’s an unintelligent or boring person — he nearly finished a Master’s degree — he just seems to be careful most of the time to not say anything that would draw attention to himself.

During Missouri’s season, more than anyone else on the team, he often just repeated what his coach said. Countless times, DeMarre’s sentences would begin, “Like Coach A says….”. Maybe that’s just because he’s Mike Anderson’s nephew, but I’ll be interested to see if he handles himself the same way under his new coach, Lionel Hollins.

The Grizzlies will certainly be getting a fierce competitor in Carroll, who has embraced the nickname “Junkyard Dog” so much that he even called himself that in our interview. His energetic style should be a boost off the bench, but it’s hard to see him being a consistent starter unless he makes some dramatic improvements.

Meanwhile, Leo Lyons wasn’t drafted, so he’ll be trying to earn a contract with the Indiana Pacers when the summer league starts on Monday. I still believe Lyons has the talent, but he’s going to have to do some serious work to prove he can provide enough on a consistent basis and handle the increased physicality that comes with playing forward in the NBA.

Some quick notes on the other seniors from Missouri’s Elite Eight team:

Matt Lawrence, the only Tiger to receive his undergraduate degree in May, said he’d like to try to continue playing basketball, probably overseas. He’s always been an intelligent player, and could succeed with the right team. Even if he can’t find a roster spot, it seems like there’s a decent chance he could land a job on a coaching staff or in an athletic department somewhere, which is what he says he’d like to do.

Meanwhile, there’s a good chance Mike Anderson, Jr. will still be around Missouri next season. He still has a graduate degree to finish, and it seems likely he’ll find some role as a graduate assistant with the team under his dad.

So what’s the best part of the incredibly long and dull Major League Baseball Draft? No, it’s not getting the chance to hear Bud Selig say Notre Dame University is in Notre Dame, Indiana, although that’s close. It’s not even the incredible Shelby Miller interview in which the 18-year-old 19th pick in the draft blew any chance at leverage in negotiations and ever being referred to as humble in one fell swoop. No, the best news is that it means the much more interesting (Take note of the impact of trades, Mr. Selig) and shorter NBA Draft is only two weeks away.

Everyone knows Blake Griffin is going #1, and everyone else is talking about who the other lottery picks are going to be. But that’s not what this blog is for. It’s time to take another look at two of the best Missouri prospects since Linas Kleiza (yeah, that’s a knock on you, Thomas Gardner), Leo Lyons and DeMarre Carroll.

The way I see it, choosing the better of the two depends on what you’re looking for. If you want a guy who’s going to work hard for you every night but might not have the athletic ability to ever make him anything more than an 8th or 9th guy off the bench, or a role player at best, you want DeMarre Carroll. If you  want to take a risk with a guy who’s a bit more of a headcase but probably has more natural talent, Leo Lyons is your man.

The other thing that should be mentioned with Carroll is this liver problem. Apparently he’s at risk for a liver transplant, but his agent assures us it’s nothing to worry about in the short-term. Hopefully that’s the case and the letter they’re sending out to NBA teams will clear everything up, but the vagueness of the situation is a little concerning. At least you know with Lyons you’ll be fine as long as he keeps his headlights on.

As of this writing, nbadraft.net has both Tigers going mid-2nd round, with Carroll at #42 and Lyons at #44. But it’s usually hard to predict the guys who are going past the first round. I could try to make a prediction myself, but I think enough people are doing that already (The last one has Carroll going last in the first round!). So on June 25, just sit back, relax, and see if David Stern can do better than Bud Selig and remember what century it is on each and every pick (the sad thing about these jokes is that only the 10 other people who watched the draft on the MLB network are going to get them).

The honors and recognition continue to roll in for Missouri’s Mike Anderson. This time, it’s USA basketball that has come calling, giving the coach a chance to be a court coach at trials for the 2009 USA U19 World Championship and 2009 USA World University Games teams. The trials will occur June 16-18 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Full rosters of the teams in the trials are listed below, and will include some familiar names.

With the U19 team, Anderson might finally get a chance to ask Kemba Walker just how he made that ridiculous bank shot from the free throw line  at the end of the shot clock that served as the dagger in Connecticut’s 82-75 victory over the Tigers in the Elite 8. Likewise, maybe he can find some weaknesses in Kansas’ Tyshawn Taylor, who helped the Jayhawks dominate inside during a 90-65 win against Missouri in Lawrence.

The University Games team’s roster is made up of 17-24 year-olds and features seven players Anderson has faced in the past. He should pay extra close attention to four that he’ll see next year,Illinois’ Mike Davis, Iowa State’s Craig Brackins, Kansas’ Sherron Collins and Oklahoma State’s James Anderson. Fortunately, he won’t have to worry about Marquette’s Lazar Hayward and Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson and Robbie Hummel unless the Tigers were to meet the Boilermakers or Golden Eagles somewhere in the postseason.

The five other court coaches will for the event will be John Beilein (Michigan), Johnny Estelle (Navarro College), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Alan Magnani (Iowa Wesleyan College) and longtime NC State coach Herb Sendek (Arizona State University).

The head coach for the U19 team is Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon and his assistants will be Chris Lowery (Southern Illinois) and Matt Painter (Purdue), who seemingly should be with his two players on the older team. That team will be coached by Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan with two assistants still to be announced.

It’s difficult to say what the selection criteria for the coaches at this event were, but it’s worth noting that Anderson is the only Big 12 coach. It should be a great opportunity for him to showcase his excellent leadership abilities with athletes who are all significantly more talented than anyone on Missouri’s roster for next season (sorry Kim and J.T.).

Two Missouri players who would have the talent to compete at the trials, DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons, are both currently projected to be late second-round draft picks by nbadraft.net. Lyons is down a bit from the last time we checked in, going to Minnesota at 47th. Carroll’s name has been put on the board in the last month, as he’s projected to go 57th to Phoenix. Of course, it’s important to remember that draft projecting is a very inexact science that becomes significantly less accurate after the first round.

U19 Roster: Kemba Walker (UConn), Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake), Dominic Cheek (‘Nova), Drew Gordon (UCLA), Kenny Boynton (Fla.), Darryl Bryant (WVU) DeAngelo Casto (Wash. St.), Seth ‘Stephon’s brother’ Curry,  (Duke), Gordon Hayward (Butler), Darius Miller (Kentucky), Arnett Moultrie (UTEP), Ralph Sampson III (Minn.), John Shurna (Northwestern), Tyshawn Taylor (KU), Howard Thompkins (Georgia), Klay Thompson (Wash. St.) and Terrico White (Ole Miss).

World University Games Roster: Dominique Jones (S. Fla.), James Anderson (Okla St.), Talor Battle (Penn St.), Trevor Booker (Clem.), Craig Brackins (Iowa St.), Da’Sean Butler (WVU), Sherron Collins (KU), Mike Davis (Illinois), Corey Fisher (‘Nova), Lazar Hayward(Marquette), Robbie Hummel (Purdue), JaJuan Johnson (Purdue), Quincy Pondexter (Wash.), Deon Thompson (UNC), Evan Turner (Ohio St.), and Jarvis Varnado (Miss. St.).