I have too much buzzing through my head right now, so I'm just going to give some random thoughts...

• What's the point of video replay if it's not going to be used?
  
• OSU clearly fumbled into the endzone. The official who called the play was behind the players.
  
• Mizzou recovered the onside kick to begin the second half. Again, the official who overrode the other officials and said the Missouri player touched the ball before it traveled 10 yards was behind the play. He had no way to see who touched the ball since the OSU player was on top of it. Once it is touched, anyone can recover regardless of how far it traveled.
  
• Mizzou gave up 14 points in about 6 minutes. I'm not privy to the stats yet, but they seemed to average about 15 yards per play. Defensive coordinator Eberflus continues to be a major disappointment.
  
• After OSU got within 7, why was Missouri passing the ball?
  
• When you're punting from your own 45 yard line, it is inexcusable to put the ball in play, especially in this situation. That ball should have been either kicked out of bounds inside the 20 or punted out of the endzone.
  
• Why wasn't the last touchdown reviewed? The ball came out right after the apparent catch. Shouldn't that be automatic?
  
• OSU came out to kick the extra point. Missouri called a timeout. Why? Then OSU came out for a two point conversion. Did Missouri call a timeout for this? No. According to the players, they were confused and just tried to do their best, but were caught off guard.
  
• The two officials who said OSU's two point conversion was good guessed. They didn't even attempt to uncover the pile. The simply walked up, looked at each other and hesitently made the call.
  
• I realize it's a long shot, but why did Mizzou's receiver turn inside on the second to last play of the game and then fight for about 10 seconds?
  
• I'm now convinced that the State of Oregon has a pact with Satan.
  
• The one bright spot was Missouri's offense. Every facet of it was in top gear. Too bad the defense blew the game for them.
  

Just a heads up for those wondering, tomorrow is Christmas Eve and Monday is Christmas Day. It's not Holiday Eve and it's not Holiday Day. As soon as they start scheduling classes on Christmas Day and putting a break before or after it, we can call it Winter Break. As soon as it becomes common place to work on Christmas Day, we can call it Holiday. As soon as we stop pausing as a nation to be with family on these two special days, we can just call the whole thing Holiday Break. Until then, it's Christmastime.

Merry Christmas.

There are a number of stats that can explain the difference in the Mizzou-Illinois game. Missouri shot just 55% from the line. Illinois racked up 17 offensive rebounds. Illinois got 22 second chance points. Mizzou was held scoreless on fast breaks.

However, Mizzou played a much bigger and deeper Illinois to the wire. Hannah, Keon Lawrence and Horton sliced and diced Illinois, outscoring the Illini in the paint due to excellent ball movement and penetration. Most surprising to me was the play of Butterfield. His tenacity kept loose balls alive and his ability to put the ball on the court and drive opened up lanes.

The difference in this game, though, was Marshall Brown's injury. Up until that point, Illinois had no answers for Mizzou's penetration. While Brown wound up with just one point, his athletisism was key in the first half. Matt Lawrence was a severe drop off in both offense and defense from what was working in the first half.

Don't take this as me criticizing Matt. He has specific abilities that are crucial to this team. But, his role is limited and trading Marshall for Lawrence meant a big drop off in defense and in attacking the basket. Part of what Lawrence brings is the ability to hit the open shot. He had just two opportunities to do so in the second half, yet played 18 minutes, almost all of which, I believe, in the second half. He simply wasn't able to guard the perimeter and wasn't quick enough against the Illini's guards to break open.

Overall, my impression of Anderson's Tigers is even more favorable than before. I was very impressed with the ball movement and tenacity. With the exception of about a three minute period around the 8 minute mark on down in the second half, the Tigers consistently played smart and hard. But being an overachieving team means there is little margin for error or injury. Marshall's injury along with just a few mental mistakes and Anderson's decision to play Matt Lawrence over Dandridge most of the second half were more than the Tigers could overcome. Even still, the Tigers were in a position to tie it in the end.

Final Four within three years, Tiger Nation. Bank on it.

It is with a heavy heart that I read today that University of Missouri President Elson Floyd is all but a lock for a job with Washington State University. He and his wife, Carmento Floyd, have been a tremendous asset to Mizzou.

But we here at missouritigers.com want to facilitate the process, not be a hinderance. If we must lose Mr. Floyd, then let's get it over with.

My understanding is Mr. Floyd is available immediately. Also, his wife will come at no additional charge. I have at least 10 guys who have said they'll help with packing. I have also found housing for the Floyds and after discussing it with several people, we've agreed to buy this house for them if they choose to relocate. We have also agreed to pay the first 5 years of Mr. Floyd's salary and we're throwing in a satellite phone with encryption technology for Mrs. Floyd.

We wish them the best.

As you know, the Missouri-Purdue basketball game is on ESPN360 tomorrow. ESPN360 is ESPN's online tv station. Within this glorious environment, you get to watch video on your computer. Sound futuristic? No, it sounds like another crappy idea from the 90s.

But wait, there's more...

This bad idea of a tv channel isn't even available to everyone. It's only available to specific Internet providers, like Charter Cable. Somewhere over at ESPN there was a team meeting in which someone suggested, "Hey, let's take this bad product and make it inaccessible to most people."

I have an idea, it's called TELEVISION. Remember when computers would make things like mail and physical stores obsolete? When I want to watch tv, my inclination is to turn on a television. My inclination is not to pull out my laptop and watch a three inch screen while pressing the spacebar every 5 minutes when it goes to sleep.

Bah. Let them know what you think.

40 Minutes of Hell was Arkansas and Nolan Richardson. We have Anderson's Controlled Chaos.

There's nothing gimmicky about the steals, forced turnovers and defense Mizzou is playing. But the chaos comes more from the offensive end. Gone is Quin Snyder's Stand & Dribble offense. Here is movement without the ball, penetration, slashing, driving, dishing, easy layups and open threes. Anderson's system works more like a timing pattern in football than traditional basketball. His players know when they dish that a teammate will pop out of nowhere and receive it.

It's been a long time since we've seen Mizzou playing on both ends of the court like this.

And yet KU fans remain delusional about KU's status in the basketball world. KU has been pulling of colossal choke jobs for many years. This five year old quote has held true for decades...

"It wasn't like we beat Duke or North Carolina. It was only Kansas."
--Terry Black after Baylor beat Kansas February 13, 2001