The boys from back than are back!

Missouri, Kansas State, Baylor are three teams you need to know. The tree teams have gained so much love and respect in the latest College Basketball Associate pre-season polls.

In the ESPN.Com latest Pre-Season top 25. The Baylor Bears are ranked number four followed by Kansas State at five, and The Missouri Tigers coming in at number 14! And to think where these three teams were before? Your about to learn.

The Baylor Bears, Congrats! The Bears are running wild in Waco. In the early 2000 season, the Baylor Bear mens basketball teams were very close to not having a mens basketball team. The men's basketball program was troubled by scandal in 2003. Patrick Dennehy a player for the team, was murdered by a former player teammate when then coach Dave Bliss was forced to resign amidst allegations that he had made improper financial payments to players and planned to cover his actions by characterizing Dennehy as a drug dealer. The school placed itself on probation, limited itself to 7 scholarships for two years and imposed a post-season ban for one year. Additionally, the NCAA further punished the team by inforcing a non-conference ban for the 2005-2006 season and extending the probationary period during which the school would have limited recruiting privileges. After that had all occured, fans thought baylor was doomed. But not untill Coach Scott Drew took over. Drew took over a program left in a shambles as a result of the scandal. Besides losing most of its top players, the program was put on probation until 2010, and had paid scholarships and paid recruiting visits reduced until 2007. Post season play was also cancelled for the 2003-2004 season, and only conference games were permitted for the 2005-2006 season. With these handicaps, Drew led the Bears to an 8-21 record in the 2003-2004 season, 9-19 in the 2004-2005 season, and 4-13 in the conference-only 2005-2006 season. After thier third straight 20 win season Drew in currently a hero in Waco. Now going into his 8th season as the Bears coach, he is looking up and should be named one of the best coaches in this decade for what he's done. Now the bears are locked into a top 4 ranking and ready to roll.

The Missouri tigers, like the bears have also came a long way. After Back to Back to Back NCAA tournament appearances in the early 2000's. Missouri recruited a kid by the name of Ricky Clemons. After one year in a Missouri uniform, Clemons was put into jail for assulting his girlfriend and recieving money while attending the Unniversity of Missouri and later put on probation until June 12, 2005, after pleading guilty to charges of false imprisonment and third-degree domestic assault in a January 2003 incident involving former girlfriend, Jessica Bunge. She accused Clemons of choking her and holding her against her will at his apartment in Columbia. In 2005 Snyder resigned as the Missouris mens basketball coach. His resignation led to a prolonged controversy over the actions of Athletic Director Mike Alden's handling of the dismissal due to giving money to other players. Than Missouri fans didnt know if they would be a program again. Untill Mike Anderson was hired at Missouri. After two years of a rough Missouri coaching career, Anderson showed Missouri fans exactly what he promised. Taking Missouri to a 31-7 years, winning the Big 12 tournament title and reaching the NCAA Elite Eight. Now with the tigers impressive 2010 recruiting the tigers have reached their way up to #14 in the ESPN pre-season polls. The best in 10 years.

Kansas State has also came a ways. After the program damage the former coach Jim woolridge left, Kansas State fans were left in fright. Wondering who would come a long and turn this prgram around? Than came Bob Huggins, who left after one year of taking the Kansas State mens basketball team to their first NCAA tournament in 5 years. Than came the wild man of Frnak Martin and it did not take him long to establish the Kansas State program. After one year of leading the wildcat team to the NIT, Martin took the cats back to the tournament, except this time it would not be a let down. The NCAA Tourmament where the cats were knocked out in the Elite Eight. After pulling in one of the top classes, Kansas State is back into the Top 5 in a long time.

Big 12 fans should be glad to see Baylor basketball turned back around from what it use to be. The bears are running wild in Waco. To see Missouri as well, when they use to be in so much pain. Seeing these two teams improve from where they were is good to see. Along with what Martin is doing at Kansas State. Its neat to see Kansas State, Baylor, Missouri all back in the top 25. Instead of the same ole Kansas, Texas,Oklahoma State, Texas A&M. Seeing new teams in their is a great eye and hope that they excite some Big 12 Basketball this year, which I belive they will!

Oregon came calling. Anderson stayed home.

Hey man, have you heard about Mike Anderson and Oregon? Oh no, whats happening? I guess Oregon is attacking him and Anderson is listening. No way!

It's true. Thursday night the University of Missouri gave Oregon permission to have contact with Missouri coach Mike Anderson in El Paso, Texas at a Nolan Richardson Golf invitational.

The Oregon Ducks offered Mike Anderson a $3 Million a year contract to become the next Oregon University Ducks coach. Thats more than what Missouri is paying him. Anderson like before turned down the job to stay in Columbia to coach with the tigers.

For the second year in a row since Missouri won their first Big 12 Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight Mike Anderson had declined big time money from big time programs. Starting from Memphis, Georgia, Alabama, and now Oregon. This, my friend means Anderson wants to be a tiger. He doesnt care about the money right at the moment. There is only one thing Mike Anderson is shooting for at Missouri and thats exactly what he said when he got hired at the press conferance. "I will bring home a National Title, before i'm said and done with Mizzou"

Just a while back their were talks about Mike Anderson leaving Missouri for Arkansas but later on were discoverd there werent any contact between the two schools.

Some Missouri fans have even been caught being mad at Mike Anderson for such a little phase in listening to Oregon. But seriously, what coach in College Baskateball from Roy Williams, Bill Self, and among other greats would not listen to a program who are offering big bucks? I know I would, if I were a coach.

I tell you what, if you would have told me in 2006 the day Missouri hired Mike Anderson that Missouri in two years would make the Elite Eight and win the Big 12 Championship and have the #10 recruiting class in the nation a year later, I would have told you that there is no way it would take Mike Anderson that quick to do that. In fact, after Anderson's first two seasons at Missouri he was put on ESPN'S pre-season hot seat list. But that all turned away after Anderson's Elite Eight run. But at the end Mike Anderson admitted all that did was get him closer to the University of Missouri. He know's where his heart is, and thats at the University of Missouri.

Things are getting wild in Columbia!

Wow! What a class that the Missouri Basketball team is getting for the 2011-2012 season? Or shall we say, What a job Mike Anderson is doing?

If you live in Columbia or near by Columbia, be ready to hear a loud roar. A roar that probably hasn't been heard of for a while. Missouri currently ranks #11 in the newest ESPN recruiting rankings. After signing #13 player at his position in the nation Tony Mitchell and a top 50 player in Phil Pressey. Missouri fans were happy and ready for next season already, but hold up!

On Sunday April 11Th, there were two highly recruited players who signed on to play for Missouri. That add consist of the #1 Junior College player in the nation Ricardo Ratliffe, who was also looking to jump to the pros this year, but rather stay in school for better chances. Also added was another sharp shooter in Matt Pressey.

Now Missouri fans have more on the list of an off-season that they just cannot wait to be over! I know as a die-hard Missouri fan I have NEVER seen a class as good as this one since the days of maybe Gilbert and Rush, and that's pushing it. As MU fans we should probably expect to win the Big 12 next year. I think there are two large areas of concern that may/may not derail those expectations.

This team didn't only get 100 percent more talented but also 100 percent more depth. this could be the deepest bench in the Big 12 next year perhaps one of the top in the nation. Our scoring woes from last year are covered. We had the Defense just not the scoring to support it at times. Pressey, Mitchell, Ratliffe could easily add 40 points a game between the three. It will be exciting next year prepare for some high flying dunks and fast break madness.

This is the kind of team that we need to build up for our first ever Final Four. This team can do it! By and large I think we'll be vastly improved offensively. Our three best offensive players all return and are at the career development point that you would expect a large jump in terms of consistency and effectiveness.

Having low post options will only improve them. This will almost surely be our deepest and most talented team under Anderson. The options we have and the waves of talent we'll be able to throw at people is almost frightening. Its a good position to be in. We've been characterized in that past as a sum greater than its parts that is largely successful by sharing the ball and playing harder than the opposition. It will be interesting to see if that dynamic shifts to a degree this season. But like I said I think the Big 12 is ours to lose next year at this point.

I cannot see any team top to bottom more established with experience,depth, and talent in the Big 12 next year. I'm just in shock right now how quickly the Rattliffe transaction took place. Two weeks ago we were asking why Coach Mike Anderson wasn't going after him. Anyone that hasn't seen Ratliffe play are in for a treat. He is like Ramsey but a ton more talent and a natural scorer. Blocks well plays smart and Rebounding machine. Giving up Stone for him is a no brainer.

So Missouri fans should be very excited and impatient for this 2011-2012 season to approach. But first things are first we must all wait but trust me, it will be worth it.

Way to early Big 12 Predictions.
1. Kansas (Until the can be beat, they deserve a #1 spot)
2. Missouri
3. Kansas State
4. Baylor
5. Texas A&M
6. Texas
7. Oklahoma State
8. Colorado
9. Iowa State
10. Nebraska
11. Oklahoma
12. Texas Tech

Missouri continues to improve, Moves into 3rd. Shooting got to imporve.

Texas A&M, you are now on the clock. The Missouri tigers continue to improve but not impressing. Twenty one games in and the tigers are 16-5 (4-2) but dont let the records fool you to much. The tigers who were picked by many to finish 8th-9th in confrence know that the season is not over and to gain their momentume the HAVE to shoot the ball a lot better and play their defense the way its suppose to be played.

The tigers know they can play and win at home. That showed Saturday against Oklahoma State when they probably for the first time this season play a whole 40 minutes of basketball. But on the road they HAVE got to play the full 40 minutes and the players have got to show. Against hatred rivals Kansas, the tigers shot a desperate 19-60 and shot under 30 percent. Thats the worse the tigers have shot all season. Grant Lawrence is very tough to play and not many were predicting a win. Against a bad Oklahoma team in Norman the tigers only shot 23-64. There second worse this season and both were on the road. One main problem for the tigers is getting out rebounded. Their shouldnt be any excuse for that. Both Keith Ramsey and Laurence Bowers are 6'9 and range 3rd-4th biggest men in the confrance. But help is on the way, next season when the tiger fans see the arival on Tony Mitchell.

Looking at the Big 12 stats as they lay today, the tigers have improved bunch after their win Saturday. The tigers are third in scoring on offense and fourth on scoring defense. Thats real impressive so far. But their shooting is poor ranking eith in the league. The three ball is going so well this season as the tigers rank fifth and one of the tops from letting teams shoot the long ball at first in the league of 3pt defense. If they can continue this hot note and shoot the ball better, the tigers can be very dangerous coming up.

In order for the tigers to win on the road against ranked Baylor, all the things such as shooting, rebounding and the key players like Kimmie English, Laurence Bowers, Marcus Denmon, and J.T Tiller must show up and play good. The tigers must have their full court defense clicking which again hasnt done much on the road.

The toughest however remains to be at home. Texas and Kansas are very aware of the damage Missouri is doing at home and their big men will be ready. If Missouri can shoot the ball and play defense the way they do at home with a loud crowd, they can escape with a win with no problem, but doing it is the key.

The tigers have a bright future. They should no doubt be a top three prediction for the Big Tweleve next season and a top fifteen team. Mike Anderson is doing his job and the players have to continue paying his job off, but before looking ahead to a what should be exciting year next season, they must continue and go out with a bang this year and show the media what they did wrong picking the tigers 8th-9th in the Big Tweleve!

Missouri on the rise.

If you would have told me after Missouri lost at Vanderbilt and than one week later lost at Oral Roberts that the tigers would beat Texas Tech on the or, or even Kansas State at home I would have told you that your nuts. If you would have asked me what I though, I would have told you to hit the road. But you can blaim the winning tigers on a little note like "Mike Anderson does it again"

Rarely do you see the tigers ever get tossed out of a game by more than ten if even that many. Under Mike Anderson, you will never see the tigers not play hard and will refuse to get beat. With their impressive 2-0 start which marks their best confrence start since 2003, I have one serious question for the Big 12 coaches and the national media. Who in the world picked these Missouri tigers to finish 7th or 8th in the confrence? Thats just unbelievable!

Looking at Missouri's next four games, its a clear shot going into Lawrence to play the Jayhawks on Big Monday in two weeks. Next up is at Oklahoma to take on the 10-6 Sooners who havnt hit their hot streak yet. Than Missouri will head back home against Nebraska, who the tigers rarely never loses at home. Than here they go marching into Lawrence. There is no excuse that the tigers should be 17-3 (4-0) in confrence and in the top 20 going into this game. I wouldn't be suprised if the tigers were picked by some to win this game and really did walk out with the win. The jayhawks clearly do not look that strong and doesnt look like a top 15 team right at the moment.

Looking at the rest of the confrence, and call me a joker but this Missouri team if worked hard enough could win it's very first Big 12 regular season title. With both Kansas and Texas struggling and with both haveing to walk into Columbia along with Texas A&M and Oklahoma State, who else is their to worry about? The toughest comes to the Mizzou Arena this year. Yes, Kansas State will be tough to play in Manhatten but, Mike Anderson will have a lot of confrence game in to be able to have his team ready for the purple and white cats.

I got to catch up with a couple tiger fans after their win against Kansas State, and with top five star recruits Tony Mitchell and Phil Pressey a lot are very excited for whats coming and said that the motto Anderson gave right after he signed his first contract of "I will bring a national title to Missouri" could come a lot sooner than you think, and I believe it. There is another good thing about that motto he gave, he will be a tiger untill he does that. The tigers are good. This isnt the tiger team to say, well if you want an easy win just play the Missouri Tigers. Them days are over. Teams have to fight in order to beat Missouri. When ESPN play-by-play Jay Dvis done the game against Oregon, Jay Davis repeatedly called the Mizzou Arena the woodchipper and who ever walks in, usually walks out with a few bruises. One thing that the tigers have to remember as the season goes on that, they are no longer the team that enters the contest of a "this could be a win, we should beat the tigers. They might upset us, who knows? Well every team knows who the tigers are now, there is no sneaking up from behind on someone. Now the tigers have to play from the git-go and finish the game with a fire in the rear.

Missouri gets the monkey off its back and shocks the Illini by 13.

As the buzzer went off to end the first half the tigers headed to the locker room with a seven point 41-34 lead over the winners of nine straight in the series Illinois Illini. There was one question and hope that tiger fans had, could the tigers hold on and knock the illini off? Now is where it gets interesting.

Missouri (9-3) never looked back. The Tigers opened the second half not exactly the way they left off in the first half. Missouri let the Illini cut the lead back to four but than pulled away and finally pulled off the win by shocking the Illini with a thirteen 81-68 win.

Freshman Rookie of the Week Mike Dixon, wait what is a Freshman? Is Dixon really a freshman? Sophomore? Junior? He has got to be a senior, isnt he? He sure is a Freshman, but with a ill Zaire Taylor on the bench and J.T Tiller sluggish comng back from his one game suspension this freshman animal played like a senior and made a lot of Missouri fans proud with his career high sixteen points and anxious to see what he will be in a couple years. Sophomore Big twelve player of the week added in twenty six.

The Tigers surprised just about everybody with a 13-point win over Illinois last week. Was the win a turning point for this team or simply a blip on the radar? Not to take the win away from Missouri fans, but this is not the same Illini team that the tigers have seen over the last nine losses. In fact, this is so far the worst start for the illini in 20 years. But even a win over a winless Illinois team would make Missouri fans proud after the last showing against Illinois in the decade. So Missouri must win against remaining non-confrence division one foe Georgia and must win their confrence opener at home against number ten Kansas State in order to gain more respect. After the illini win and a struggling win against Austin Peay the tigers have no votes in the top twenty five. The minute Missouri lost to Richmond they dropped from getting votes and the loss to Vanderbilt and Oral Roberts sure didnt help. So again, dont expect Missouri to get many votes or smell the top twenty five unless Missouri can win out and beat Kansas State.

Missouri has a very tough, if not the toughest Big twelve start in confrence. Opens at home against number ten Kansas State, than will travle back to back games at number twenty two Texas Tech and pre-season ranked Oklahoma is has also been struggling. Bad thing is, unfortunatly the tigers will be underdogs in all three games. An 0-3 start would probably erase all attention and hopes of and NCAA bid. So it's real important that Missouri wins two of the three if not all three.

Missouri is in a rebulding year, but have got to understand that they cannot give up the season yet. With the Illinois win, go out and show the nation that the win was not a fluke and give the confrence a fit. With Mike Anderson's style, do not ever count out the Tigers for winning the Big 12 title again, or even making the Elite Eight again. You never know what your going to get with his style. If the tigers can play up to their style potential, there is no way that Missouri shouldnt make the dance or even win the confrence. It's playing up to their potential is what Missouri has to do.

So Missouri fans, Merry Christmas with the Illinois win. But remember it's not over yet. The confrence opens Next saturday and its a must that the tigers need to be ready for a hot and hungry Kansas State team. Missouri has won the last three home meetings against Kansas State, and one that most Missouri fans remember was in 2008 when the number seventeen team rolled into Columbia with one of the nations best Michael Beasley and sent the wildcats back to manhatten with a loss.

Can the tigers keep it's hopes up?

Happy holidays from Midwest Best!

As christmas just a couple days and week away, and the new year approaching. Midwest thought that it would be fun to view some of the exciting games over the years of 2000-2009. Also some of the memorable players over the years.

If you have some that have been missing, feel free to comment on the post!

Just some of the players over the past to remember that have played during the 2000's-2009's that we think to have respect over their career.
Nick Collison (Kansas)
Kirk Hinrich (Kansas)
Jay Williams (Duke)
J.J Redick (Duke)
Dee Brown (Illinois)
Hollis Price (Oklahoma)
Blake Griffin (Oklahoma)
Tyler Hansbrough (UNC)
Acie Law (Tex A&M)
Kevin Durrant (Texas)
A.J Abrams (Texas)
Joakihme Noah (Florida)

Just some of the most memorable games over the 2000-2009 years.

Mario Chalmers his a game tieing three in the 2007-08 National title game to send it to overtime and wins it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTq0GvY62Cc&feature=related

Syracuse vs Conneticut 7 overtimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kRIc4T78P0

Oklahoma States Mario Boggans's game winning shot against Texas in 3rd overtime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnswd1aUQZM&feature=related

Mike Conley Jr. hits game winning shot for #1 Ohio State against #2 Wisconsin in 2007.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dp29123jdw

Zair Taylor hits game winning shot for Missouri against Kansas in 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUFCInGZvNY&feature=related

Freshman John Wall hits game winning shot to prevail in a close game against Miami (Oh)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1MgY4Ye2jk

Illinois come back from 23 down and beats ranked Clemson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5pNubuPI6Y

Some exciting upcoming games-
December, 19th- #10 North Carolina at #2 Texas
# 15 Gonzaga vs #7 Duke- Madison Square Garden, New Yourk, New Yourk.
# 16 Texas Tech at Witchita State
December, 22nd- #12 Michigan State at #2 Texas
# 23 Texas A&M at #24 Washington

December, 23rd- #20 Mississippi at #6 West Viginia
Missouri vs Illinois- Busch Braggin Rights, Saint Louis, Missouri

December, 26th- # 6 West Virginis at Seton Hall

December, 29th- #16 Texas Tech at #19 New Mexico

December, 30th- #14 Connetticut at #25 Cincinnatti

Decmber, 31st- #9 Tennesse at Memphis