Opportunity Pounding on Mizzou's Door

Marcus Denmon and Missouri Coach Mike Anderson would have to believe they either didn’t know, or did not pay attention to, that boom-boom-boom applied to their locker room door at Nebraska late Saturday afternoon.

Hello Missouri! This is Opportunity, Golden Opportunity, knock-knock-knocking, for heaven’s sake!

Oklahoma State had just knocked off Baylor down in Stillwater. Over at Iowa State, the Cyclones were giving Texas A&M fits.

If the Aggies lost that game, then all Missouri would need to grab sole possession of third place in the Big 12 standings would be to knock off Nebraska. And even if A&M held on - which it did - victory in Husker Land would still mean the Tigers had laid claim to the No. 4 spot in the league standings and the final bye for the first round of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.

And you’re telling me that every Tiger coach, player, trainer and equipment man didn’t feel Opportunity’
s pounding?

“You win games, all that other stuff will take care of itself,” Anderson told me. “I don’t spend a whole lot of time worrying, trying to figure it out. I let you guys do that.”

Denmon, who scored a career-high 24 points, said “We try not to worry about that stuff. You know how we are. We just try to win one game at a time.”

Then Denmon did a little shuffle step, a verbal wink of the eye.

“I don’t know if I knew,” Denmon said. “I don’t think I knew that Baylor lost.”

Okay, so Mike Anderson and Marcus Denmon would make lousy sportswriters. But up in the media section of the Devaney Center, and wherever Missouri fans gathered on Saturday, it was well known.

The opportunity was there. The door swinging open.

And after falling behind 11-1, and only leading by two at the half, the Tigers charged on through that door, Saturday’s 74-59 victory at Nebraska doing wonders for Mizzou on all sorts of post-season levels.

1. If the season ended today, Missouri would have that fourth bye spot in the Big 12 Tourney.
2. With a third road victory on the way to an 8-4 league record, Missouri’s NCAA Tournament resume continues to build. One more Big 12 victory and Mizzou is assured of no worse than a 9-7 finish and a probable NCAA bid. Two more and the Tigers are at least 10-6 and the closest thing to a sure thing there is without actually being a sure thing.

Yes, Missouri has a game next Saturday at No. 7 Kansas State and a game March 6 at Mizzou Arena against No. 1 Kansas.

But those games will be for mere Big 12 Tournament positioning and NCAA Tournament seeding if - as I’m willing to bet - the Tigers beat Colorado in Columbia on Wednesday night and Iowa State in Ames on March 2.

Ah, the possibilities. And at least one Missouri player that I spoke to allowed he was considering them.

“I see the standings,” said Zaire Taylor, who scored a season high 18 points and pulled down a season-high eight rebounds against Nebraska. “Every time you watch a Big 12 game they show it.

“I know we’re in the hunt. And we’re competitive. There are about five teams, six teams, maybe, that are playing for that second-place spot.”

Was that an admission that Kansas has the Big 12 title wrapped up? Was one needed.

Look. Kansas isn’t going to lose its final four. The Jayhawks are likely to come to Mizzou Arena on March 6 trying to complete a 16-0 run to the Big 12 title.

“Nothing’s guaranteed,” Taylor said. “But for the most part, everybody’s playing for that second-place spot.”

And that - for a Missouri team pegged to finish seventh in the Big 12 - is the biggest positive surprise of the league’s season.