When the bracket was dropped there seemed to be a lot of non-Mizzou fans up in arms about the Tigers being sent to St. Louis, a relative home game, when compared to some other teams. But the committee has long said it does its best to protect the top 4 seeds, and then after that schedule as regionally as possible. So despite the generous location for Missouri, they’re still the lowest seeded team in their pod, and a big underdog to win multiple games, let alone a slight underdog to win one.
If you’re
unclear on how the Committee builds a bracket, I suggest you read up as they have rules and they publish them!
This is only the third time Missouri will have played an NCAA Tournament game in the state of Missouri, despite plenty of tournament appearances, and plenty of games in side the state lines.
The Tigers are a 10 seed, which is the 10th time they’ve made the NCAA Tournament as the under-seed, a 9th seed or lower. And just the 5th time as a double digit seed. They were a 10 seed in 1993 and in 2010, an 11 seed in 1986 and 2011, and a 12 seed in 2002. The 9 seeded years were 1981, 2000, 2001, 2013, and 2021.
The other times they were a 10 seed, the Tigers lost to Temple in 1993 by 14 points, and in 2010 they beat Clemson by 8 points.
What’s interesting is the Tigers have played Miami (FL) exactly one team. As a 12 seed in 2002. The Tigers won that game by 13 when the higher seeded Hurricanes had a very rough shooting night. That Tiger team was one who could score the ball, but had some issues defensively, and Miami was the opposite. It wasn’t a great matchup for the Hurricanes and their offense failed to hold things together for them as Missouri jumped out to a comfortable lead, and walked away to a relatively easy win.
I wouldn’t expect that same kind of game this time. These two teams are much more evenly matched. So I would expect a close affair, provided one teams offense doesn’t just completely abandon them.
Missouri-Miami Basketball: How to Watch, Game Info:
TIME: 9:10 p.m. CT
DATE: Friday, March 20th, 2026
LOCATION: Enterprise Arena; Saint Louis, MO
TELEVISION: TBS
STREAM: MarchMadnessLive
BETTING LINE via FanDuel: Miami -1.5
FORUMS: Rockm.Plus/Forums
NCAA Tournament Games to watch, March 19th, 2026
NCAA Tournament Games to watch, March 20th, 2026
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