The other months of the basketball season talk about March behind its back.
“March is sooooo judgmental,” the forgiving February whispered, peeking around the calendar page to make sure March couldn’t hear. “If March doesn’t think you belong, it’ll let you know real quick.”
“No room for error with March,” the gentle January replied. “I don’t like the way it treats teams so harshly.”
“But that’s what makes March March,” the decent December said. “We might have lower temperatures, but March can be the coldest month.”
March is just a few days away. And with its late-season games, conference tournament games and NCAA Tournament games, a curious March is waiting to meet Mizzou and St. Louis U.
A couple months ago — or, really, a couple weeks ago — the Tigers and Billikens looked ready for March. Heck, as Mizzou stuck its toe in the Top-10, a few optimists wondered if this would be the year that Mizzou, finally, could make it to April. Now? The two teams are playing uncharacteristic basketball at the worst time — with March looming.
What in the world was that in Columbia on Tuesday? Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis outcoached Cuonzo Martin, who has had many achievements himself this season but none against Davis’ team. Ole Miss came into Mizzou Arena and brashly declared how the game would be played — at its pace and tempo. And the Tigers shrugged their shoulders. Ole Miss’ zone defense swarmed the Tigers and swallowed them up. Credit to Ole Miss for playing well, but a lot of this also happened because Mizzou didn’t have the energy or will to adjust and attack.
Xavier Pinson is confounding. He made a name for himself for his fearlessness, knifing his way into defenses, creating double-teams, drawing contact, the whole thing. But in a winnable game at home, Pinson just kind of hovered against Ole Miss. Two points in the loss. In conference play, Pinson averages 14.0 points per game in wins and 10.4 in losses.
But what was also frustrating was the lack of execution by Dru Smith, the senior leader. Mizzou and Ole Miss were tied at 50 with two minutes left. Smith proceeded to miss three shots and commit one turnover. Mizzou lost (again, at home to Ole Miss) 60-53.
Since the Tigers’ triumphant win over then-No. 10 Alabama, Mizzou has gone 1-4. And while a win over Texas A&M wouldn’t have helped Mizzou in the NET rankings, it would’ve helped with confidence. But Saturday’s game has been postponed. The Tigers will now likely play two more games in conference play, both in March. What a roller-coaster ride for the Tigers. They started the season picked 10th in the Southeastern Conference, at one point made it to 10th in the nation and now could end up on the NCAA bubble and maybe, if they lose a couple more games, a No. 10 seed or something of the like — if they get in the NCAA Tournament at all.
Over in Midtown, the Billikens navigated tough times with grit and grace, just like Mizzou had. Those early months of the seasons were unpredictable with scheduling and travel. Games were postponed and canceled and wedged onto the schedule. SLU kept on winning. So did Mizzou. Both teams missed some time due to COVID in their own programs — SLU for almost a month, and still the Bills then went 4-2 … until that second Dayton game.
Oh, that second Dayton game was a nightmare — SLU lost, 76-53, on Feb. 19 … and went on to lose its next game, too. This quote from coach Travis Ford lingers: “The effort was better, we’re just not playing very well. We can’t guard a soul,” he said after the loss at Virginia Commonwealth. “We had three guys who played well but didn’t get much from anybody else. We just don’t have that consistent gear to win in the league. For whatever reason, we’re struggling to guard anybody. We tried every defense we can think of.”
The SEC will have more teams in the NCAA Tournament than the Atlantic 10. At this point, SLU (11-5, 4-4 in conference) might have to win the conference tourney to make it to the big one. And Mizzou (14-7, 7-7) is now seventh in the SEC and the seventh-best SEC team per kenpom.com. In the most-recent NCAA Tournament, the SEC sent seven teams.
One thing Mizzou and SLU have in common is upperclassmen with experience. So much has been made about this. And when they win, the storyline sure fits. There are Smith and Pinson and Jeremiah Tilmon, leading the way for the Tigers. Or, there are Jordan Goodwin and Hasahn French, two pillars of SLU, carrying the Billikens to victory. But when those teams lose winnable games — like Mizzou to Ole Miss twice or SLU at LaSalle — it’s also fair to point out the inconsistency of the upperclassmen’s leadership. No, you can’t win ‘em all, but both teams have dropped some winnable games — outcomes that lead to a cold March freezing them out.
