Mizzou Basketball: Catching up

Written by Matt

Tuesday, 14 July 2009 15:03

So as promised, here are my thoughts on Mizzou's Saturday night victory over Murray State.

About midway through the second half it was announced over the PA system that fans in attendance could move up if they found an open seat closer to the floor. One of my roommates and I decided to give it a shot and scored seats directly behind Mizzou's bench. I've never sat that close at a basketball game before and I gotta say: Really sweet. Completely different experience than watching the game from halfway up the student section.

One of the first things you notice when you're sitting that close at a Mizzou basketball game is that probably 90 percent of Mike Anderson's yelling is directed at Leo Lyons. I couldn't really decipher everything that was said but judging by the scowl on Mike's face, I'm guessing he wasn't asking Leo about his Christmas break plans. There were multiple timeouts where Anderson appeared to scold Leo and on his way back to the bench talked to assistant coach Melvin Watkins who was shaking his head with a look of befuddlement on his face.

DeMarre Carroll could be on his way to replacing Chase Daniel as my favorite current Mizzou athlete (although I guess Chase will no longer be a "current athlete" at the end of the month). I remember watching the JYDeMarre very early last season and thinking what a treat it was going to be to watch him play. Then halfway through the conference season he was averaging below five rebounds and I wanted to call him a bust. Of course, that was before we learned how serious that ankle injury he suffered against Cal actually was. That was also around the time we started learning how much heart this guy has after watching him fight through that injury. Coming into the season we all knew that DeMarre was a warrior. What I think a lot of us forgot was how good of a basketball player he is. And yes, I'm aware that he had a bit of an off night Saturday. But you can tell by watching him that this is his team. After Zaire Taylor hit that free throw to complete a three-point play to end Murray State's run, DeMarre emphatically clapped his hands together and yelled "Come on!" while looking right at Leo Lyons. You gotta love having a guy like that around to help Leo keep his head in the game.

As stated on this blog, I was a little skeptical about Zaire Taylor's game earlier this year. I won't say those fears were completely unfounded but I think they were unfounded. Offensively Zaire was a non-factor until he made that three-point play late in the second half. But defensively this guy is amazing. Remember last year when we kept hearing that this guy was perfect for Mike Anderson's system? Well it's true. I guess I'm just naturally a little pessimistic when it comes to Mizzou point guards. Crazy what years of Wesley Stokes/Ricky Clemmons/Randy Pulley/Spencer Laurie/Jason Horton/Stefhon Hannah can do to you.

I thought it was very interesting that Kim English was given crunch time minutes at the end of the game over Matt Lawrence. Especially considering Matt was actually having a very solid game (he kinda carried us for awhile offensively). I think that was an obvious effort on Anderson's part to pick up the defensive pressure. I agree with coach Anderson when he says Matt isn't quite as bad a defender as a lot of Mizzou fans think he is, but at the same time I think even Mike would agree that Lawrence is a step slower than most D-1 basketball players. As the season progresses it will be interesting to see if Anderson continues to go with someone other than Matt late in games. If he does decide to do that, I wonder if he will continue to go with English or if there will be games that he goes with either Miguel Paul or Marcus Denmon. My guess is English gets most of the minutes as long as Zaire and Tiller are the other guards on the floor. At 6-6, English has a distinct advantage over his rookie counterparts as long as there isn't more of a need for ballhandlers on the floor (Paul and Denmon seem to be the better handlers when compared to Kim).

How about the attendance? Around 8-thou, which I don't think is that bad. Sure I'm disappointed that Mizzou can't draw as well as similar programs that have been fairly unremarkable as of late (Arkansas' attendance numbers remained high through the end of the Nolan Richardson era). But at the same time, there aren't a lot of programs that would draw well after going through what this program has gone through the past 5-6 years. The fans that are showing up are doing a good job of bringing energy to the arena. There have been quite a few instances where the fans have risen to their feet to applaud good defense or a smart, pass, etc., which is a sign of smart basketball fans. There's already a buzz about this team that is slowly spreading throughout Columbia and the entire state. Win a couple more games and we'll start seeing 12,000+ at Mizzou Arena.

This one ended up a little closer than we all would've liked it but at the same time I never really felt like there was a good chance that Missouri wasn't going to win. Murray State's probably a Tournament team, which is something we may or may not be. When you're able to beat a team like that by 10+ points and lead by 10-15 points for 90 percent of the game, you take it. Next up is Stetson who actually played Miami a little closer than expected on the road (79-65). Win that and it's on to Braggin' Rights, which is quickly becoming an even more highly anticipated game than usual.

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