Wasn't just the blowout to Arkansas
Posted on: January 13, 2022 at 22:26:57 CT
FIJItiger
MU
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Coming off a 7th out of 8 team finish the year before and being picked to finish 3rd in the preseason, MU opened the season against DII instate CMSU at home and BARELY pulled out a 69-66 win after being down as many as 14 points. They next went to Arkansas where they had won the last five matchups and proceeded to suffer the worst loss in program history, getting absolutely destroyed 120-68. Wins followed but they were unimpressive wins over Jackson State, Arkansas State, SMU, and Coppin Stateā¦the last of which was a 1 point win on a buzzer beater by Lamont Frazier. Needless to say leading up to the Braggin Rights game MU had shown no indication of optimism or a promising season.
They would become 1 of only 3 teams ever to go undefeated in Big 8 play. Booker would be Conference Player of the Year and an All American. MU would earn the only #1 seed in program history, and reach the Elite Eight. After not climbing inside the top 20 in the AP polls until Feb 7th, MU would finish the year at #5 in the polls tied for their highest end of season ranking ever.
Edited by FIJItiger at 22:27:28 on 01/13/22