Missouri Basketball was picked by Big 12 Conference coaches to finish fifth for the upcoming season which is actually an improvement over the past two years when the Tigers were picked seventh.
In 2008-09 the Tigers finished third overall en route to an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearance, while last year’s squad, despite graduating three 1,000-point scorers, finished fifth in the standings and just one game out of second place. In fact over the last two years only Kansas has tallied more wins in the Big 12 than Mizzou. The Tigers have won 54 games overall (11th nationally) and 22 league contests since 2008-09.
Missouri returns a solid class this season, including four of its top five scorers from last year’s 23-11 campaign. Back is junior guard Kim English (Baltimore, Md.) who was just named to the Wooden Award’s preseason list after leading the club in scoring (14.0 ppg) as a sophomore. Marcus Denmon (10.4 ppg) also returns in the backcourt, while Laurence Bowers (10.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.4 bpg) ranked third in scoring, second in rebounding and tops in blocked shots last year as a second-year player.
Justin Safford is back from off-season ACL surgery. Safford has been back in workouts for the past month and logged 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in Big 12 play in 2010.
Kansas State was selected as the preseason favorite. The Wildcats were followed by Kansas, Texas and Baylor.
Pl. Team (First Place) Points
1. Kansas State (10) 119
2. Kansas (2) 109
3. Texas 99
4. Baylor 96
5. Missouri 82
6. Texas A&M 69
7. Texas Tech 52
8. Oklahoma State 51
9. Colorado 46
10. Nebraska 31
11. Oklahoma 27
12. Iowa State 11
