1) Let's start talking about a Missouri basketball team that has suddenly started playing pretty well. In the last three games, the Tigers have played a combined 125 minutes against Arkansas, LSU and Auburn. Missouri has led for 102 minutes, 13 seconds. They have trailed for just 15 minutes and 49 seconds. Those are all still top 45 KenPom teams. It's not just that Missouri won two of the three. It's that it led for more than 80% of the time and pretty much controlled all three games outside of five minutes against LSU and a handful of minutes against Arkansas. It's a team that's not only turned the results around, but it's legitimately playing well against good competition.
2) There are two ways to look at number 1:
A) It's an encouraging thing that this team is playing well and it gives you hope not only for the rest of this year but beyond
B) Where the hell has this been and why couldn't they do it earlier in the year?
Neither way is necessarily right or wrong. Both have some validity. Sometimes it takes longer than others. Maybe in some strange way being without Jeremiah Tilmon and Mark Smith has helped in that it has forced other guys to step up, it has allowed Xavier Pinson to play through some mistakes, it has given Dru Smith no choice but to be more aggressive and look for his shot more, it has given more minutes to Reed Nikko who can occupy his man on offense but isn't the focal point of the offense.
On the other side, if this team had played anywhere close to as well against A&M, South Carolina, Charleston Southern and Oklahoma as it has for the last three games, we're talking about a team that has a legitimate shot at the NCAA Tournament, not one that has an outside shot at the NIT. Again, I don't think either viewpoint is necessarily wrong. It just depends on how you choose to look at it.
3) I want to talk about how thin the line is between success and failure.
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