Aug. 15, 2007
Columbia, Mo. -
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With the return of four starters and a remarkable 87 percent of his team's scoring, Mizzou Men's Basketball Head Coach Mike Anderson unveiled a beefed-up schedule for the 2007-08 campaign as his Tigers could face up to nine NCAA Tournament teams, including as many as seven foes from "BCS" conferences in non-league action alone.
A challenging Big 12 Conference ledger notwithstanding, the Tigers face a challenging road schedule in non-league play that includes games at Arkansas, Mississippi State and California (Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series), a neutral-court contest vs. Illinois in the Busch Braggin' Rights Game in St. Louis and possible match-ups with Maryland, Michigan State and/or UCLA in the semifinals and finals of the College Basketball Experience Classic at the new Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. Mizzou would need to secure wins in the first and second rounds of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Columbia, Mo., on Nov. 12-13 to advance to Kansas City, as would other regional hosts Maryland, UCLA and Michigan State. Brackets for the Missouri Regional have yet to be finalized by tournament officials and will become available at a later date.
In addition to Mizzou's potential participation in Kansas City, former head coach, Norm Stewart, will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Nov. 18. Stewart directed the Missouri program for 32 seasons and accumulated a school record 634 wins on the MU sideline. Mizzou will continue its Kansas City invasion on Nov. 24 when the Tiger Football program takes on Kansas at Arrowhead Stadium.
"This is certainly a schedule that will challenge our team on a number of fronts and is indicative of the type of games we want to be playing here at Mizzou," Head Coach Mike Anderson said. "One of my initial thoughts is the difficult road schedule. Mississippi State advanced to Madison Square Garden in the NIT last season and Arkansas qualified for the NCAA Tournament and both of those programs have the bulk of their players returning. We travel to California in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series and Cal is a young, talented and athletic team. Our non-conference road schedule will basically be an extension of our Big 12 schedule.
"We are also pleased about having the opportunity to play in both St. Louis and possibly Kansas City in the CBE Classic," Anderson continued. "The Illinois game in St. Louis is one of the more unique rivalries in college basketball and a great opportunity for our fans and alumni in St. Louis to have the Tigers come to their backyard. Of course the opportunity is there for us to play at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, but we'll have to take care of business at home first. With that being said, we feel like this schedule will help prepare us for Big 12 play and that will inevitably put our team in better position for postseason consideration with regards to strength of schedule."
The CBE appearance marks the third time in six years that the Tigers will play in the event formerly known as the Guardians Classic. Missouri won the 2001 Guardians Classic, defeating Alabama and Iowa in the final rounds, while they advanced to KC in 2004, but fell to Creighton and Houston after winning a pair of opening-round games in Columbia.
Sandwiching games in the CBE Classic are a Nov. 16 contest with Southern and a Nov. 25 game with Western Illinois. Missouri defeated the Jaguars 87-58 last season thanks to 24 points from Matt Lawrence and 17 tallies from Keon Lawrence. The meeting with Western Illinois will be the second in school history. Mizzou defeated the Leathernecks 91-64 on Dec. 9, 1985.
The Tigers leave the state of Missouri for the first time on Nov. 28 for an intriguing match-up with 2007 NCAA Tournament participant Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark. A return game for former Razorback assistant coach Anderson and Mizzou assistant coaches T.J. Cleveland (four-year Arkansas letterman) and Matt Zimmerman (1990 UA graduate), the Tigers will go searching for their first win in Bud Walton Arena and first win in Fayetteville since Dec. 7, 1991, when the Tigers upended the Hogs 87-76. Missouri defeated Arkansas 86-64 on ESPN2 last season despite playing in a driving snow storm. The storm dumped 15 inches of snow on Mid-Missouri.
Snow shouldn't be an issue on Dec. 1 as the Tigers travel to Berkeley, Calif., to face the California Golden Bears in the Big 12 / Pac-10 Hardwood Series. As part of the arrangement, the Tigers will host the Bears in Mizzou Arena next season. The meeting will be the fifth all-time between the two programs. The last meeting came on Dec. 2, 1986, with Cal earning a 64-63 win in Berkeley.
The Tigers return to Mizzou Arena to face NCAA Tournament participant Purdue on Dec. 8. The nationally-televised ESPN2 meeting will be the 11th all-time between the two storied programs and fourth all-time in Columbia. Mizzou is 1-2 vs. Purdue at home, with the last home win coming Dec. 6, 1972.
Home tilts with McNeese State (Dec. 15) and North Carolina A&T (Dec. 17) lead into the 27th annual Busch Braggin' Rights Game in St. Louis. The Tigers and Fighting Illini battled to a 73-70 decision last season and with the addition of Bloomington, Ill., native Justin Safford and the return of Stefhon Hannah (Chicago, Ill.), the Tigers now have two players from the state of Illinois, making this year's game a true "Braggin' Rights" affair. The contest will once again be televised by ESPN2.
A game against Coppin State on Dec. 27 and a trip to Postseason NIT semifinalist Mississippi State on Dec. 29 close out the year. The Tigers defeated both Coppin State (98-77) and Mississippi State (83-75) last season, but the Bulldogs return a host of talented players, including First Team All-Southeastern Conference performer Jamont Gordon, Second Team pick Charles Rhodes and All-Freshman selection Ben Hansbrough.
Mizzou rounds out non-conference play on Jan. 8 when it hosts Missouri-Kansas City for the second time in three seasons. The second all-time meeting for the Tigers and Kangaroos, Mizzou defeated UMKC 60-42 on Nov. 29, 2005. In fact, with the inclusion of preseason games against Missouri-St. Louis on Nov. 3 and Missouri Western on Nov. 8, the Tigers will face three teams from the Show-Me State this year. Last year, Anderson scheduled Missouri-Rolla in exhibition play, meaning the Tigers have entertained games against each University of Missouri System institution over the last two years.
The Tigers then open Big 12 play Jan. 12 against the Texas Longhorns. A returning NCAA Tournament club, MU will actually face three NCAA teams in their first-four Big 12 contests. The Tigers host a home date vs. Kansas on Jan. 19 and a road game at Texas Tech on Jan. 23.
Missouri Basketball and the Mizzou Sports Network will release the complete television schedule for the 2007-08 season at a later date. Game dates for select Tiger Basketball contests could change in order to make accommodations for live televised contests on MSN.
For more information on the University of Missouri Men's Basketball program, please visit our website, mutigers.com. For season ticket information, please contact the Mizzou Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS.
2007-08 Mizzou Men's Basketball Schedule Notes:
• Missouri could face up to seven opponents from BCS Conferences during non-conference play, which would be the most in the regular-season since the 1985-86 campaign when the Tigers faced eight "BCS" squads.
• In fact, Missouri could face a team from each BCS league minus the Big East. Missouri has games vs. Mississippi State and Arkansas from the SEC, Purdue and Illinois from the Big Ten, California from the Pac-10 and could face Maryland from the ACC.
• Mizzou could face up to five NCAA Tournament teams in non-league action. The Tigers are guaranteed games against 2006-07 NCAA participants Arkansas, Illinois and Purdue and could enjoy two games versus UCLA, Michigan State and Maryland at the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo.
• In addition to those contests, the Tigers have a game vs. Mississippi State, a program that advanced to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals of the Postseason NIT last season. In fact, ESPN "Bracketology" expert Joe Lunardi has the Bulldogs as a No. 10 seed in this season's NCAA Tournament projection.
• The Tigers have a number of repeat opponents on their 2007-08 non-conference schedule. The Tigers will face Arkansas, Coppin State, Illinois, Mississippi State, North Carolina A&T, Purdue and Southern once again.
• Missouri will face the University of Missouri-Kansas City for the second time in three seasons. The Tigers are 1-0 vs. the Kangaroos, with the lone series meeting coming Nov. 29, 2005. Missouri won that contest 60-42.
• Including exhibition games vs. Missouri-St. Louis and Missouri Western, the Tigers will face three teams from the "Show Me" State this year.
• Missouri will compete in the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic (formerly Guardians Classic) for the third time since the 2001-02 season. The Tigers won the event in 2001-02 and advanced to Kansas City in 2004-05, before suffering defeats to Creighton and Houston at Kemper Arena.
• Mizzou could enjoy up to 15 non-conference games this season and as many as six of those games could be away from Mizzou Arena, however, 12 of those 15 non-league games could be within the state of Missouri borders.
• The Big 12 / Pac-10 Hardwood Series contest against California will mark Mizzou's first game on the West Coast since Dec. 13, 2003, when the Tigers faced Gonzaga in Seattle, Wash.
• The game vs. a Pac-10 foe will be Missouri's first since facing Southern California in the John Wooden Classic at the "Pond" in Anaheim, Calif.
• Missouri has a tough start to Big 12 Conference play in January, as the Tigers face three NCAA Tournament teams from the 2006-07 season in their first-four games, Texas, Kansas and Texas Tech.
• The Tigers will get a great deal of national exposure this season, as they are currently scheduled to play seven games on national TV. Depending on television assignments and advancement in the CBE Classic, that number could jump to 11 in the regular season, which would be the second most in school history. The 2003-04 Tigers played 12 regular-season games on national TV.
• The Tigers will enjoy national contests on ABC (at Oklahoma), ESPN (at Kansas), ESPN2 (Purdue and vs. Illinois), ESPNU (Kansas and Oklahoma State) and Fox Sports Net (at Cal).