<table> </table> OKLAHOMA CITY | Well, the skies certainly have opened for Missouri. It was Black Thursday at the Big 12 tournament. Kansas went down, and the Jayhawks may have lost their first-round NCAA Tournament appointment in Kansas City. Kansas State went down, and the Wildcats surely lost any shot at even making the tournament. Oklahoma went down, and the Sooners lost their No. 1 seed.</p><p>That left Missouri playing Texas Tech at night in front of a sparse crowd. The Red Raiders built a quick eight-point lead. The game was tied at halftime. It looked as if there could be another upset on this crazy upset day in college basketball.</p><p>Only, no. This is one tough Missouri team &#8212; these Tigers might remind you of some other teams. More on that in a second. The Tigers built a small lead in the second half, and then they clamped on their full-court pressure, and the Red Raiders fell apart. Nine Tigers scored, 10 Tigers grabbed rebounds, Missouri shot 58 percent in the second half, and the game became a rout. The Tigers won 81-60. It was numbing how quickly Missouri took apart Texas Tech.</p><p>And now, suddenly, everything is there for Missouri basketball. They are the top seed left in the Big 12 tournament. They are the highest-ranked team left in the Big 12 tournament. They are the only team left in the tournament that did not have to play on Wednesday.</p><p>More than anything, they are the best team left in the Big 12 tournament. When the Tigers execute offensively the way the did on Thursday, when DeMarre Carroll is such a dominant force (19 points, five rebounds, nine-of-14 shooting), when they are as active as they were, well the Tigers aren&#8217;t just the best team left, they are one of the best teams in the country. And here&#8217;s another point in their favor: They feast on tired teams. You have to figure that Oklahoma State will be a bit tired playing for the third straight day. That full-court defense can be even more devastating.</p><p>And if Missouri does win this tournament, it would be their first tournament championship in 16 years. And the NCAA selection committee will have to send Missouri to Kansas City for the first weekend of the tournament. What a turn.</p><p>Yes, it&#8217;s all good at Missouri right now, and longtime Tigers fans have to be reminded a bit of the old Norm Stewart Missouri teams that, year after year, found ways to win the Big Eight tournament. Those teams won six tournaments with their toughness and brashness. They were not always the best team; in fact, they were rarely the best team. But they came to the tournament believing that it belonged to them.</p><p>This Missouri team has that same look. The thing that is so impressive about the coaching job Mike Anderson has done is that this is such a hard style to play. To play the Tigers&#8217; style, to attack at all times, players have to believe they are tougher and more determined than the other guys. They have to believe the other guys will tire first. They have to believe that even if the other team is getting easy baskets early, even if the other team builds a big lead, they will prevail in the end.</p><p>This Tigers team has that toughness. They never seemed even slightly thrown off by Texas Tech on Thursday. They never seemed even slightly worried even though all the other top seeds had lost. They just kept going after Texas Tech until the Red Raiders wilted.</p><p>And here was thing: the Tigers knew they would wilt. That&#8217;s a tough basketball team. And March is looking better all the time.</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">INSIDE </span></strong><br /> Posnanski&#8217;s take on the K-State and KU losses. <strong> | D7, D9</strong></p><p></div>