TicketsSelection Sunday was pretty low key for the Bearcats. They packed the banquet room at Montgomery Inn and watched the seeding unfold. For me, a catered dinner at Montgomery Inn might have rivaled my excitement over seeing the Selection Show.
At the end of the day, UC ended up about where it expected. They're playing the first round on the East Coast as a No.6 seed. Perhaps surprised to see a talented team like Missouri lining up across from them, but there were far bigger surprises on Sunday other than the Tigers drop (they were ranked No. 22 in the AP poll on Feb. 28).
Bottom line: The path is set. It's not brutal, in fact, its pretty familiar with UConn in the same pod.
Let's eat...
--- It will be the late game, around 9:45 p.m., on Thursday night on TNT with Tim Brando/Mike Gminski on the call.
If you are looking for a list of all the game times and announcer assignments, here you go. To answer your question: Gus Johnson will be in Cleveland.
--- If you want to see more Bearcats reaction from the draw and destination here are interviews with Yancy Gates, Rashad Bishop and Mick Cronin.
Thanks to Tommy G for putting all those together.
--- As for Missouri, it's a pretty unfamiliar opponent for the Bearcats -- in that the two programs have never played before.
The closest connection would be the Tigers coach Mike Anderson, who Bill Koch mentioned in his blog that Cats fans will remember from his UAB days. He was a Nolan Richardson "40 minutes of hell" disciple.
Mizzou spent the majority of the year ranked in the Top 20 and didn't fall out of the poll until the first poll of March, interestingly enough, when the Cats jumped back in. They have lost four of their last five games. Three of those four came against teams that finished the year ranked in the Top 25 (Kansas State, Kansas and Texas A&M) also with a nine-point loss at Nebraska. They were 8-8 in the Big 12.
The Tigers have five players who average double-digit points: Marcus Denmon 17.1, Laurence Bowers 11.6, Ricardo Ratliffe 10.5, Kim English 10.2, Michael Dixon 10.2.
Very similiar to UC, Mizzou averages nine players with double digit minutes a game.
--- English, the Tigers point guard, made a comment that he thought his team quit after their conference tournament loss to Texas A&M, but this story in the Kansas City Star says the Tigers are still together. But clearly their string of losses started to take a taxing toll.
--- In a fact that Mick Cronin will assuredly be telling his team, the folks in Vegas have 11th seed Mizzou as a 1-point favorite over the Cats.
--- The wizard Ken Pomeroy has the percentages play out with a UC win with 57 percent probability.
--- As for the statistic to watch, Missouri is the third-lowest ranked team in the tournament in offensive rebounds allowed by a percentage. The only teams lower are last team in VCU and 16-seed UNC-Asheville.
The Tigers allow 36.1 percent of defensive rebound opportunities to go to the opponent. They were dead last in the Big 12 in that category during conference play.
By comparison, UC is 10th in the country in offensive rebound percentage. That creates a pretty major mismatch of strength vs weakness.
--- As far as who Mizzou compares to in the Big East, Cronin couldn't come up with anybody. Their fast-paced, up-and-down style might draw some comparisons to Louisville, but that's probably as close as it gets.
"I don't think there is anybody in the Big East that simulates their style," Cronin said. "I don't know if we have played anybody that likes to run up and down the way they do."
--- Last year Missouri made the tournament and beat Clemson in the first round before losing to West Virginia in the second.
They made it to the Elite 8 two years ago before losing by seven to UConn.
English and Denmon were the only two contributors on this year's team that played more than double digit minutes during the Tigers deep run in '09. Of course, all three of their leading scorers last year are still on the team.
Experience in the NCAA tournament will clearly be in Missouri's favor, but Cronin believes that living through the ringer of having to win games for their tournament life in the Big East will make a differnece to close the gap.
"We had to win games and made sure we stayed where we were at,' Cronin said. "We had a lot of pressure on us to perform in late February and first week of March. Hopefully this will really help."
Playing big games in the Big East and stepping on the grand stage of the NCAA tournament are two different animals, though.
Dealing with the tournament mentality was a point of emphasis last week at the Big East tournament.
"The enormity of the situation is definitely different if you win, you move on, lose going home. Something I was trying to work on with our guys was their mentality last week. Just be aggressive, stay aggressive. You can't stop...when you have a 10-point lead you can't stop playing -- especially against Missouri."
Perhaps the most encouraging bit of information on that front would be the way this team has played in what would be considered its biggest games to this point.
"Look at games where our back was against the wall, I would say we are 3-0. at home, at home and on the road," Cronin said. "If you thought our back was on the wall with the NCAA tournament, these guys have responded."
--- Missouri makes their money creating turnovers with the press and not committing turnovers. Hello, Cashmere Wright, step right up.
"That's how I want to play anyway, so I think that fits my style," Wright said.
--- Dan Hoard gives his view on the trip to DC and draw of Mizzou.
--- Chad Brendel with a nice story on Yancy Gates being motivated by a return to the NCAA tournament.
--- Mike DeCourcy gives some bracket advice and discusses a little bit about the importance of offensive efficiency. No game tests the theory of good offense vs good defense quite like UC-Mizzou.
--- Do you like stats that have zero real value to you? So do I. Here are the advancement probabilities for each team from the New York Times.
--- The Big East got its 11 teams in the tournament, but now the pressure is on the conference to perform there. Remember, the BE was the biggest disappointment last year with only two of eight teams advancing to the second weekend.
--- There will be a media availability this afternoon, so keep an eye out for plenty more as the Bearcats fly out to DC on Tuesday.