Missouri Basketball: Tigers, not snubbed, fail to crack top 25
From a recruiting perspective, the Missouri Tigers find themselves in the upper echelon of teams in the top-25. Based on performance, Mizzou isn’t there, yet.
There’s a level of disappointment that goes along with not seeing our favorite team land a favorable ranking. Whether it’s a preseason poll, power ranking or playoff predictor, we always feel a certain amount of dejection when our team doesn’t meet others’ expectations.
There are a number of factors taken into consideration when ranking teams, and if one of the biggest is a team’s recent record, Missouri failed that for three seasons running, under former head coach Kim Anderson.
Is Missouri a top-25 team? Similar to Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post, I would have given the Tigers a vote. If for no other reason, than to recognize the Tigers’ strong recruiting class and a new head coach who has had success with past programs.
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Even though the Tigers will start the season unranked, they still received 19 AP votes, and would have been ranked No. 31, which isn’t far from where they want to be, and where we want to see them.
Rounding out the top 10, in descending order is: Duke, Michigan State, Arizona, kansas, Kentucky, Villanova, Wichita State, Florida, North Carolina and Southern California.
Texas A&M sneaked into the poll at No. 25, while other SEC teams also receiving votes included Alabama (86) and South Carolina (1).
Next: Tigers head into 'softer' schedule
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Being a preseason poll, Missouri has all season to prove itself and become what we all believe the Tigers should be. There’s no reason why such a talented team won’t find its way into the rankings at some point, and probably sooner than later.