After losing in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal on Friday, Missouri basketball now has its sights set on an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. While it’s uncertain where the Tigers will fall in the 68-team field, they are getting a huge boost with their star player available returning to the lineup for the first game which takes place on Thursday or Friday, per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.
Mark Mitchell (knee) is expected to be fully available for the Tigers’ first NCAA Tournament game this week, per a school spokesman. The junior guard is the team’s scoring leader, averaging 14.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Despite Missouri’s deep rotation, it was clear that Mitchell’s absence against Florida was felt.
Missouri basketball’s NCAA Tournament projection
Missouri believes it can compete with any team in the bracket. They play fast, and are the kind of spirited squad that can make some serious noise if they can regain momentum.
Head coach Dennis Gates knew going into the SEC tournament that the Tigers were going to have a daunting road, and their quarterfinal exit could wind up being a blessing in disguise for their journey through March.
“If you look at the entire conference, you guys were shocked that we hadn’t had a three-game losing streak when everybody else in the conference has,” Gates said on March 8, via Nathalie Jones of ABC17. “But other teams have had three, four games.. Hell, Texas A&M was on a four-game losing streak until they beat somebody, and they ended up beating the No. 1 team in the country to disregard a five-game losing streak in this conference. But they still remain top-25, right? Now think about that.. SEC teams going through three- to five-game, or three- to four-game losing streaks staying in the top-five, staying in the top-25. That’s unheard of. But what it says is, this is more difficult than anybody thinks.”
Missouri currently projects as a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, per ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
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