All the talk in the Big XII this season has justifiably been about Nebraska and Oklahoma. But is it time that we start looking at Missouri as a legitimate contender in the conference?
The Tigers are unbeaten, and putting a beating on Texas A&M in College Station. I know the Aggies are not the greatest team in the conference, but they’re still a tough team to play against, and they’ve always been tough at home. So for Missouri to be blowing them out is quite an accomplishment.
But maybe we shouldn’t be that surprised. Missouri has highly-touted quarterback Blaine Gabbert under center (or in the shotgun), some very good receivers in T.J. Moe and Michael Egnew, as well as solid backs in Henry Josey and De’Vion Moore.
This was a team that a year ago had a little bit of hype around it. That balloon was deflated, of course, when Ndamukong Suh had his coming out party at the expense of Gabbert and the Tiger offense on a Thursday night. But the talent is still there, and the Big XII is wide open outside of its top two teams.
Of course, we’ll have a much better read on the Tigers after the next two weeks, as they play host to Oklahoma, and then travel to Nebraska. I wouldn’t expect them to even split those games, but the thought of it doesn’t seem as ludicrous today as it did a week ago.
The Knicks missed out on LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh this summer, but they did land Amare Stoudemire, and also acquired Raymond Felton to run the point. David Lee is gone, but New York did get a good young player in Anthony Randolph to take his place. In other words, this Knicks team is going to look a lot different than last year’s club, and probably for the better. Newcomers Ronny Turiaf, Kelenna Azubuike, Roger Mason, (promising) Russian center Timofey Mozgov along with Wilson Chandler and Toney Douglas will round out Mike D’Antoni’s rotation. Cap-wise, the Knicks are still in good shape. Eddy Curry’s $11 M expiring deal can be used as trade bait or the franchise can just let it come off the books, creating around $18 million in cap space next summer, which they could use to sign Carmelo Anthony if he hits free agency. The only big contract on the payroll is Stoudemire’s deal, and the Knicks really need him to stay healthy in order to get their money’s worth. This looks like a franchise on the rise, but they need to land one more star to threaten the upper echelon of the East.