A banner week for Missouri men’s basketball has brought national recognition to the team.
Missouri was named NCAA Team of the Week by NCAA.com’s Andy Katz after the team earned a road win against Alabama on Wednesday and a home victory against Kentucky on Saturday, the NCAA announced via Twitter.
TEAM OF THE WEEK – Missouri Tigers@MizzouHoops is playing themselves into the NCAA tournament by knocking off Alabama and Kentucky in one week developing their resume even more! pic.twitter.com/Jtf87Wr5X7
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) February 5, 2018
In his weekly college basketball writeup, Katz highlighted Missouri’s plethora of quality wins. According to Katz, Missouri has five “quadrant 1” wins and two “quadrant 2” wins already this season, an accurate barometer of how the selection committee will view Missouri’s resume come tournament time.
Both Alabama and Kentucky received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll, with Kentucky coming in at No. 24 in both polls. Missouri received no votes in either poll.
Missouri’s success last week also got the attention of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. In his latest projected bracket for the NCAA Tournament, Lunardi has Missouri as a 10 seed taking on 7-seed Michigan in the Midwest region, with a potential Round of 32 Border War matchup against Kansas if the Tigers were to get past the Wolverines in the first round. Lunardi also gave Missouri a 15.7 percent chance of making the Sweet 16.
In addition to the team’s honor, graduate transfer Kassius Robertson was recognized as the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week.
Avg. 19 pts, 3.5 reb and four ast in two wins; helped lead @MizzouHoops to its first-ever win over Kentucky. @Kash_Money_5 is the #SECMBB POTW. pic.twitter.com/uj5O5K4ymo
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) February 5, 2018
Robertson, who is averaging 16 points per game, is the first Tiger to receive the honor since Jordan Clarkson received it on Dec. 30, 2013. Robertson leads all graduate transfers in power conferences in points per game and has helped junior Jordan Geist carry the load at point guard for much of the season.
The Tigers will look to keep their momentum going this week when they travel to Oxford, Mississippi, on Tuesday to face the Ole Miss Rebels. Missouri will then take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday in Columbia. Saturday’s game will be the team’s third annual “Rally for Rhyan” game to benefit pediatric cancer research.
_Edited by Bennett Durando | bdurando@themaneater.com_