Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Predictions: Missouri Tigers

After a long hiatus, the Border War resumes today in Lawrence, KS. The Missouri Tigers have struggled this season, but will a heated (allegedly) rivalry game against the Kansas Jayhawks be enough to get them going? Or will the good guys prevail in blowout fashion?

Take a look at what our staff thinks (no GIFs today!), and then leave your own prediction in the comments below!

Mike.Plank: Why are we playing this game again? I get (most of) the fans are excited about it, but will the players care more about this game than, say, Tulsa or Tarleton State or fill in the blank? It’s just another game to them, no? Although, they may figure out that’s not the case in pregame as the FIeldhouse is rocking on the way toward tipoff. Regardless, I don’t need more toxicity in my life right now; the world has enough of that as it is. And that’s all this is between two fan bases who absolutely despise each other. I don’t want to have to deal with Missouri fan again. We were way better off letting them wallow around in irrelevancy for the last 10 years (while they BEGGED KU to play them over and over) than we will be by acknowledging their program with this ridiculous 6-game series. If you oppose playing Wichita State regularly, it’s the same argument against playing this matchup. It does nothing for our program while elevating theirs. This was an embarrassing capitulation by KU Athletics; as far as I’m concerned, KU surrendered the Border Cold War and I’m absolutely not interested in this. Missouri 1, Kansas 0.

dnoll5: I’m with Mike on this one, I just don’t care about this more than I cared about UTEP. I mean, you could roll Andy, Mike, Fizzle, David, and me out there as opponents and you’d get 16,300 people buying tickets, so from a KU perspective, there’s really no point in playing them. That said, I hope Bill Self runs it up against these clowns, UMKC style. Kansas 95, Missouruh 60.

Kyle_Davis21: Damn, Fetch and I didn’t make the RCT starting five against KU. Hopefully we’re coming strong off the bench, freshman-year Sheron style. It’s probably not worth going in depth on how bad Missouri is on offense or at taking care of the ball (it’s bad). Instead, two nostalgic points:

1. I had forgotten that Raef’s epic left-handed dunk came against Missouri. Watching that play never gets old.
2. I was lucky to be at the 2012 game. And I’ve been fortunate to be at some other great ones (WVU comeback, Selden against Kentucky in OT, McLemore bank against the Iowa State Hawkeyes) but that game was an overload of the senses. I called my dad after and barely had a voice and could hear mostly ringing in my ears

Kansas should win by a ton. Kansas 91, Missouri 68

Fizzle406: A guy I work with asked me what I was doing this weekend and I told him I was gonna take the kids sledding and maybe a few other things. The mizzou game didn’t even cross my mind until later on in the day. The thing is, I just don’t care about this matchup anymore. They suck. We are gonna beat them, and badly. But the old excitement I used to get for this game is gone. Kansas 87, Missouri 65

Andy Mitts: I don’t care how hard they push the “official” name, this will ALWAYS be the Border War to me. I understand why there is excitement among those in the fanbase that either just don’t know any better or are pining for the glory days of the past in the rivalry. There is a reason that the first play you think of when you hear Thomas Robinson’s name is that block. But those days are gone, and there is absolutely no guarantee that we can even get close to it again.

I keep hearing that Bill Self has “come around” on this game, but I’m not buying it. Of course he is going to say this is the biggest game on the schedule. His players are excited about it, you don’t want to give them a reason to slack off, and you definitely don’t want to give anyone bulletin board material (even though it wouldn’t matter). But when we get done with this 6-game series, it’s going to take an awful lot for me to look back on it and say that it was both a good thing and something we should continue.

As for the game, Kansas rolls. The only player worth mentioning is Kobe Brown, but David McCormack matches up well and Kansas should be able to give him plenty of help if needed. If you are going to play them, might as well demolish them. Kansas 97, Misery 58.