St. Johns win was huge

[MUSF]

I know St. Johns played an awful game and that they are not a great team but I gotta believe that the way we won helped us immensely.

That win proved that we could still beat the teams we should beat decisively without James.  We lost 4 of our last 5 to better teams.  The St. Johns, win mixed in with those other 4 games, gave the committee a guage of where MU stood without James.  If we lost or struggled to win that game, we would be looking at a double digit seed.  Think about it, without that win we would not have had the opportunity to come back against Nova and show that we could still compete consistently with the elite BE teams.

For the first time in a long time, I am satisfied with our seed.  Good luck boys.

[NavinRJohnson]

I would agree. looking at the seeds in general, it looks as if teh committee was definitely paying attention - and watching games. Area of emphasis this year...the eye test.

[MisterJaylenBrownMU]

Our record for the last few weeks looks remarkably forgiving based on the seeds that our losses got. We may have lost 5 out of our last 6, but they were to 3 #1 seeds (2 on the road), and 2 #3 seeds (one OT game, and the other on a buzzer beater).

I think people will be really down on this team if we advance to play Missouri, but I was very excited about they way we lost to Villanova and like our chances a lot given this draw. I don't buy that Missouri is significantly better than any of the teams that we lost to in this final stretch, and we've stayed in almost every one of those games for an entire half or more. If people expect us to roll over in the 2nd round, I think they aren't looking very deep into that 1-5 final stretch. Besides, I think this team only gets better as McNeal, Matthews, Lazar, and Burke get used to the styles of Acker and Butler given their increased minutes.

[NavinRJohnson]

I don't buy that Missouri is significantly better than any of the teams that we lost to in this final stretch

I don't buy that Mizzou is as good as any of the teams we lost to in this final stretch.

[BrewCity83]

Navin, you beat me to it.  They may be as good as Syracuse, but not as hot.  And not better.

[MisterJaylenBrownMU]

Just being politically correct. I tend to agree, but I didn't want to step on any toes seeing as how I haven't seen a full Missou game this year. I think 'Cuse and 'Nova were nationally undervalued going into the BET. The gutsy performance of 'Cuse opened some eyes, and I wouldn't want to be the team trying to beat 'Nova in Philly for the first two rounds.

It's been a pessimistic week or two around here, but looking backwards I really like what I've seen. We weren't able to close out some games against #1 seeds and we lost 2 heartbreakers to extremely good teams. Could have been a lot worse and I'm proud of the guys for responding to DJ's injury with such tough performances. A couple of late breaks and we could have won 4 of those 5 losses.

Speaking of things I'm thankful for, I was just confronted by the barista at my local coffee shop for wearing "too much Marquette gear" today. Turns out he's a Badger fan. Seeing them at a 12-seed and drawing FSU might be the highlight of my weekend, and an easy comeback for some Selection Sunday trashtalking.

[Lennys Tap]

Agree that winning "going away" vs St. John's was huge both for the team's psyche and for the committee. Hopefully it carries over for the tournament.