Which team had the best chance to win it all?

[Benny B]

man - reading this takes me back, and makes me sad

Honestly, it makes me sad for the Amigos most of all (personally, I have solace in the fact the Utah State game was the first MU game I watched with my son and the Mizzou game was the first one I watched holding him; although truth be told, he did sleep through both games... in his defense, it was a pretty eventful weekend for him having been cut out of my wife's abdomen and all just a few hours before Utah State tipped off).  Here was a chance for three guys, perhaps one of the most talented backcourt trios ever seen in college hoops, who had spent every moment of the previous four years together through a wider array of tribulation than any student-athlete should have to endure* just waiting for the greatness we saw only in glimpses to finally break out from behind the curtain and end their collegiate career with an emphatic bang.  Instead, we saw their career end with a subdued snap of DJ's ankle.

Whether anyone here wants to admit it or not, the strides MU basketball has made since 2005 is owed in tremendous part to Dominic, Jerel and Wes... had these guys not accomplished what they did, there wouldn't have been a Novak 40-point game or ND buzzer beater, a Buzz, a JFB, a competition between teammates for conference MVP, a Henry, a #1 Nova victory, a #thing... hell, instead of having fun with Tower's non-sequitur thread pushing 77 pages and lamenting an MUBB game not being on national TV, the only threads we might have today would either be about how fun '77 was -or- off of which TV tower MUBB should be pushed.

They say you get out of life what you put into it, but the Amigos are the antithesis of that adage... they deserved way more than they got.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

man - reading this takes me back, and makes me sad

Yes - I miss all of this...

Other than Providence and Villanova, its hard to argue that the other programs are in a better position today than when that screen shot was taken.

[Galway Eagle]

You know I get James was important, but here’s what we still had:

16.3ppg and 8.7rpg

19.8ppg, 4.5rpg, 3.9apg

18.3ppg, and 5.7rpg

Any other year we’d never excuse a coach having that much offense and rebounding not making it out of the first weekend.

[BM1090]

You know I get James was important, but here’s what we still had:

16.3ppg and 8.7rpg

19.8ppg, 4.5rpg, 3.9apg

18.3ppg, and 5.7rpg

Any other year we’d never excuse a coach having that much offense and rebounding not making it out of the first weekend.

Agree that we wouldn't excuse it, but sometimes there is more to basketball than stats. DJ was the engine, he created so many opportunities for others. He was also our best on ball defender and took other teams out of their rhythm.

[Benny B]

You know I get James was important, but here’s what we still had:

16.3ppg and 8.7rpg

19.8ppg, 4.5rpg, 3.9apg

18.3ppg, and 5.7rpg

Any other year we’d never excuse a coach having that much offense and rebounding not making it out of the first weekend.

I'll forgive you because I know you were still punching with inflatable gloves at the time, but once upon a time, some smart-ass UL schmuck held up a sign at a game that said:

"NO DIENER, NO CHANCE"

Granted the circumstances were different, but I'm pretty sure aforementioned schmuck graduated summa cum laude for coming up with such simple words of wisdom to capture the transcendent sentiment of how stats don't even begin to tell (or forgive) the importance of the PG position.

[Herman Cain]

I will amend my previous answer if the definition of the last 40 years includes the 77-78 team. If so , then they were our best chance. The loss to Miami was a classic NCAA upset and the Kentucky team that year was beatable.  We would have matched up well against Kentucky.

[brewcity77]

Even without James, MU lost its next game at Freedom Hall to #6 Louisville by only four points, and after getting waxed at #3 Pitt, took #25 Syracuse to overtime on Senior Day.

That Pittsburgh game may have been vastly different too. We had a 9-point lead in the second half before Levance Fields and DeJuan Blair took over with the high low game. Put DJ in there guarding Fields (who had 17P/10A) and it might be a different game.

[brewcity77]

You know I get James was important, but here’s what we still had:

16.3ppg and 8.7rpg

19.8ppg, 4.5rpg, 3.9apg

18.3ppg, and 5.7rpg

Any other year we’d never excuse a coach having that much offense and rebounding not making it out of the first weekend.

What we really lost with James was the ability to contain opposing guards. In those four losses, it was in large part AJ Price for UConn, Levance Fields for Pitt, and Jonny Flynn for Syracuse. We lost far more on the back end and teams exploited that because Acker was at best a subpar defender.