Oct. 30, 2003

Columbia, Mo. - The University of Missouri men's basketball team was ranked sixth in the nation according to the first "official" poll of the season, as the ESPN/USA Today Preseason Poll was released this evening. The No. 6-ranking is the highest the Tigers have been ranked in a preseason poll in school history. Mizzou has been ranked as high as eighth in the Associated Press Preseason poll, with the 2003-04 version of those rankings scheduled to come out in the coming days. Late last week, Mizzou was pegged to win the Big 12 Championship by the Big 12 coaches with the preseason media poll set for release today.

The poll has Mizzou, which went 22-11 last year and recorded the a first-round win in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year, as the country's sixth-best squad, with the University of Connecticut taking the top spot. The rankings also served as reaffirmation that Mizzou will be playing one of the toughest schedules in America this season. Seven Tiger opponents (No. 5 Kansas, No. 7 Syracuse, No. 11 Texas, No. 12 Gonzaga, No. 13 Illinois, No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 24 Oklahoma State) earned spots in the pre-season poll. In addition, a total of eight Big 12 teams either were ranked or received votes in the poll.

Tiger head coach Quin Snyder and seniors Rickey Paulding, Travon Bryant and Josh Kroenke participated in Big 12 Media Day today in Dallas. Quotes from the day are posted at www.Big12sports.com.

Following two exhibition games on Nov. 10 and Nov. 18, Mizzou will open its season Nov. 29 when it takes on Oakland University in Detroit. For single-game and season ticket information for Tiger Basketball, log on to www.mutigers.com or call 1 (800) CAT PAWS or (573) 884 PAWS in mid-Missouri. Immediately following this release is a complete ESPN/USA Today Preseason Poll:

USA TODAY/ESPN TOP 25 COACHES' POLL Oct. 30, 2003

The Top 25 PRESEASON men's basketball coaches poll, with team's final 2002-03 records in parentheses, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last seasons final's poll and first-place votes received:

  Last season's First-place
	Rank	School (record)	 Points	final rank	votes
	1.	Connecticut (23-10)	762	11	 25
	2.	Duke (26-7)	 697	9	 3
	3.	Michigan State (22-13)	677	18	 1
	4.	Arizona (28-4)	 638	5	 0
	5.	Kansas (30-8)	 589	2	 0
	6.	Missouri (22-11)	560	22	 0
	7.	Syracuse (30-5)	 533	1	 1
	8.	Florida (25-8)	 507	16	 0
	9.	Kentucky (32-4)	 498	4	 0
	10.	North Carolina (19-13)	493	not ranked	 1
	11.	Texas (26-7)	 461	3	 0
	12.	Gonzaga (24-9)	 403	not ranked	 0
	13.	Illinois (25-7)	 399	13 (tie)	 0
	14.	Wisconsin (24-8)	392	13 (tie)	 0
	15.	Oklahoma (27-7)	 353	7	 0
	16.	Louisville (25-7)	291	19	 0
	17.	Stanford (24-9)	 258	20	 0
	18.	St. Joseph's (23-7)	244	not ranked	 0
	19. tie	Cincinnati (17-12)	225	not ranked	 0
	19. tie	Notre Dame (24-10)	225	15	 0
	21.	Wake Forest (25-6)	216	12	 0
	22.	Pittsburgh (28-5)	148	8	 0
	23.	Marquette (27-6)	78	6	 0
	24.	Oklahoma State (22-10)	61	24	 0
	25.	Maryland (21-10)	46	10	 0

Others receiving votes (2002-03 record): Oregon (23-10) 33; North Carolina State (18-13) 30; Xavier (26-6) 30; Utah (25-8) 29; Colorado (20-12) 25; Auburn (22-12) 23; Brigham Young (23-9) 20; California (22-9) 19; Purdue (19-11) 16; Texas Tech (22-13) 12; Arizona State (20-12) 10; Memphis (23-7) 10; Ohio State (17-15) 10; Dayton (25-6) 8; Charlotte (13-16) 6; Providence (18-14) 5; Creighton (29-5) 4; LSU (21-11) 4; Akron (14-14) 3; Colorado State (19-14) 3; Louisiana-Lafayette (20-10) 3; Seton Hall (17-13) 3; Bowling Green (13-16) 2; Temple (18-16) 2; Tennessee (17-12) 2; Utah State (24-9) 2; Wichita State (18-12) 2; Illinois-Chicago (21-9) 1; Indiana (21-13) 1; Manhattan (23-7) 1; Minnesota (19-14) 1; UNLV (21-11) 1.

Tiger Tidbit There are currently eight schools around the country that have both their football team ranked (Oct. 27 ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Football Poll) and their men's basketball team ranked (Pre-Season ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Basketball Poll), and four of them are Big 12 schools ...

Here's the list

School			FB		BB

Michigan St. 10 3 Missouri 24 6 Florida 21 8 Texas 16 11 Oklahoma 1 15 Louisville 25 16 OPittsburgh 23 22 Oklahoma St. 15 24