For the third time in the past four seasons, Missouri men’s basketball is going dancing.
The Tigers are the 10-seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament bracket and will play the Miami Hurricanes on Friday in St. Louis during the First Round.
If Mizzou advances, it will play the winner of the matchup between 2-seed Purdue and 15-seed Queens.
MU enters March Madness with a 20-12 record and went 10-8 against SEC competition during the regular season. The Tigers have lost three straight games heading
into the opening week of the Big Dance, most recently losing 78-72 to Kentucky in the second round of the conference Tournament.
But Mizzou’s wins against top teams including Florida and Vanderbilt, plus its placement in the key metrics strength of record and wins above bubble compared to other squads near the cut line, made MU’s status on Selection Sunday fairly secure.
The Tigers’ bid this season gives them consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons under Frank Haith. It’s also the first time MU has received March Madness bids in three out of four years since the program made five straight trips to the tournament from 2008-09 to 2012-13, spanning the tenures of Haith and Mike Anderson.
