No disrespect to the players

[RubyWiscy]

who battled hard down low over the last 4 years, but the biggest dissapointment for me has been the lack of a top flight center or power forward to compliment the three guards. Just imagine Mac or Robert Jackson or someone of that caliber with these guards.  I know it has been discussed a lot already, but it is hard to judge the close calls in the tournament too harshly considering the lack of a solid, gifted post.  I'd have settled for even one year with a top talent center.  No telling how high that could have gone.

That said, MU has been a very fun team to follow the last 4 years. Thanks a ton to the 4 seniors. 

[HoopsMalone]

Agreed.  Basically, James played his natural position at the 1, Jerel played where he belongs in college at the 2, but then every one else was somewhat out of position.  Wes is more of a 2, but had to play the 3, Lazar is a 3 playing the 4, and Dwight was a 4 playing the 5.  And Jimmy was a 2 or 3 playing the 4 and 5 spot.  Too bad they could not have gotten more help. 

Lots of numbers in my post...

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

I still remember from that 2005 class there were 2 bigs that we were in very hard on.

One went to ND, Luke Zeller.

The other:  Leo Lyons (then Criswell) of Mizzou.

[CTWarrior]

Agreed.  Basically, James played his natural position at the 1, Jerel played where he belongs in college at the 2, but then every one else was somewhat out of position.  Wes is more of a 2, but had to play the 3, Lazar is a 3 playing the 4, and Dwight was a 4 playing the 5.  And Jimmy was a 2 or 3 playing the 4 and 5 spot.  Too bad they could not have gotten more help. 

Lots of numbers in my post...

I may be in the minority here, but I think Hayward played exactly the position he ought to.  I think we'll see next year that he's a better undersized 4 than he is a "natural" 3.  He's short, but he's strong.  He's not athletic enough to guard top-notch 3s, buthe can battle with bigger 4s. 

What really stinks about this team is that all we really needed was a 6-9 guy who could catch the ball off of pentration and dunk.  We did not need a star, just a serviceable big man to complete the team.

[Nukem2]

Yes, the lack of players of reasonable quality with height, size and/or length simply has been truly lamentable.  As I've posted on these various boards for 4 or 5 years now, TC was probably guilty of focusing too hard on his #1 target when it came to recruting 4's and 5's and losing out on secondardary/tertiary alternatives.  Even more so, he was pig-headed in his pursuit of Butch and Nankivil when everyone knew he had no chance.   Too many guys got away while he focused.