On Sunday, the Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team received an invitation to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003. Missouri received the bid after winning its first ever Big 12 Conference tournament championship by defeating Baylor 73-60 on Saturday night.
The Tigers (28-6) were given the No. 3 seed in the West region and will play No. 14 seed Cornell (21-9) in the first round Friday in Boise, Idaho. If Missouri gets past the first round, it will play the winner of the Marquette-Utah State game. Connecticut (27-4) and Memphis (31-3) are the top seeds in Missouri’s region.
Many are picking the Tigers to make a run deep into the tournament. On ESPN’s selection show, several analysts picked the Tigers to advance to the Elite Eight and Digger Phelps picked Missouri to make it all the way to the Final Four.
But the Tigers haven’t made it past the second round since ’02 and have never advanced to the Final Four in the program’s history. Tiger fans also might be skeptical about the region’s location. Boise was the location of UCLA’s Tyus Endey’s infamous coast-to-coast dash in which he buried the Tiger’s championship dreams in ’95, a year that many felt was Norm Stewart’s best chance to win a national championship.
What do you think Missouri’s chances are of making it past the Sweet 16? How far do you think the Tigers will go?