It’s Monday morning, so it’s time for me to let you all know what’s been on my mind the past week.
Today will be a split between basketball and softball.
BASKETBALL THOUGHTS
1. While watching the Alabama game on Wednesday, I had a thought that the first half was about as good of a half of basketball as I’ve seen Mizzou play.
And then I realized I’ve had that thought a few times this season.
I do think Alabama was the best half we’ve seen, but maybe that’s just recency bias, so I went back and looked at a few of the other ones that come to mind and I figured I might as well rank them.
First up is Bama. The Tigers shot 22-of-36 (61 percent) from the field, 6-of-14 (43 percent) from 3 and 9-of-14 (64 percent) from the free-throw line.
Mizzou forced 10 turnovers, scoring 15 points off of them, added a 28-18 advantage in points in the paint and scored 1.439 points per possession (1.000 is right about average across college basketball).
It was a truly ridiculous half to watch as the Tigers were keeping the ball moving (11 assists on 22 made field goals) including a behind-the-back pass from Caleb Grill that I can’t get out of my head for one of his two assists to go with two steals, three rebounds and 10 points at the break.
Maybe it's the recency bias, or the 59 points (which was the Tigers' most in a conference game in more than 20 years) but I think that’s the top half of basketball this season.
Next up, the first half against Florida.
The Tigers didn’t quite get off the same number of shots, but it was close. Missouri was 17-of-31 (55 percent) overall, 7-of-14 (50 percent) from 3 and 9-of-11 (82 percent) at the free-throw line, led against by Grill who was 4-of-5 with12 points, two rebounds, three steals and an assist.
Add in that Josh Gray had four points, four rebounds and an assist in just six minutes played and Tamar Bates was 4-of-6 from the field for 10 points with two steals and it was also an incredibly impressive offensive performance, not to mention holding Florida to just 34 points at home before the break, almost entirely coming from Walter Clayton.
The Tigers scored even better per possession at 1.471, while using eight Gator turnovers to add 10 points on those opportunities.
The fact that the Tigers remain the only team to beat Florida at home this season and it was certainly on the strength of this first half, leaves this one definitely in contention for the top spot in the best halves ranking.
That’s why I’m worried I’m falling into recency bias. ...
