Officiating was AWFUL in this game. Both sides suffered from it, but Auburn shot 44 free throws. THAT is fucking ridiculous. How do you even play defense when they’re blowing whistles like that? Mizzou prides itself on being a tough gritty defensive team, but can’t do that when officials have an agenda. Which apparently was to call as many fouls as possible. Awful. Officials completely ruined this game. Embarrassing for the SEC.
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Yeah, the officiating was brutal. But, so was Tilmon, especially at the FT line. Our outside shooting was also mostly garbage. Such is college basketball.
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I was at work tonight and wasn’t able to watch the game but that is certainly disappointing to hear. Officiating can make college basketball such a tough product to watch. We’ve had several games this year where the refs have swallowed their whistles and as a result it makes for a MUCH better viewing experience.

If College Basketball wants to survive much longer then they have to tell their refs to stop calling so many damn fouls.
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Mizzou was called for 31 fouls. They had three starters (all guards) foul out.
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I didn't get to watch the game but looked at the stat line this morning and that pretty much told the story. Hard to watch a game like that.
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Cooper got the LeBron treatment, it was a joke.
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To make the officiating thing worse, it wasn’t just that Auburn drove it at the rim and they called a lot of contact on shots there.

No. They called a BUNCH of ticky tack contact on the perimeter. It’s why the Auburn PG shot 19 free throws.

Also we’re several egregious calls, all centered around Mark Smith. He got hammered driving the ball a bunch (no whistle) and also got called for some awful blocks when he was set/stationary.

It’s a tough one. Cooper is phenomenal.
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Oh yeah. Lot's of you might have breathed on him so it's a foul, type of calls.

And I saw MU get mugged plenty with no whistle.

That being said 14 blocked shots is not good. I think MU has been on the road since they left for the Ten game. They never came back home so probably a bit of fatigue.
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This is also a roster full of TOUGH players who aren’t all that athletic. Mark and Dru Smith’s lack of athleticism gets exposed a lot against power 5 competition.

Auburn is crazy athletic and it showed.


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The question going forward then is, can Martin get to where he can actually recruit athletic enough players to break through the current glass ceiling this team has? Can they ever hope to recruit someone like Cooper who won't take 2, 3, or even 4 years to finally develop? Obviously this season the team has finally broken through to a degree, and should make the tournament, but we all know that a sizable regression is likely coming for the next season or two. The most recent recruiting class appears to have promise, but none appear to be instant stars. Obviously you need some nice 3-4 year players at Missouri to build a consistent team, but eventually they are going to need to get that elite talent here or there to reach the next level.
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I'm not optimistic about that.

He has recruited like dogshit the past 2 years. This class is better, but I dont trust the evaluation of a staff that watched Jordan Wilmore in person and somehow thought "Hey, this guy can play in the SEC!"

They have a lot of misses like that. Axel Okongo. Christian Guess. etc.

They have some big names in the 2022 class that supposedly really like them, but will those guys stay interested and sign on when Martin wins 13 games next year?
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So um up 16 on Bama at the half
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Defense has been smothering so far this game.
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As enjoyable as this team has been to watch, college basketball has just been so hard to watch this year. Obviously I’ve enjoyed Mizzou’s success, but if I didn’t have a rooting interest I really don’t think I could stand watching college basketball this year. It’s become very apparent the level of enjoyment that the fans bring to the college basketball experience. Hopefully the March madness brackets and win or go home attitudes will make it a lot more exciting.
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