Mizzou basketball falls in AP, NET rankings while on COVID-19 pause
The Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team is still firmly in the Associated Press Top 25 and ranked for the fifth straight week, though Mizzou did fall a tad after blowing a second-half lead in a loss at Mississippi State last week.
Mizzou came in at No. 17 in the weekly poll, down from 13th last week. The Tigers played only one game after their LSU game was postponed because of COVID-19 considerations. MU was supposed to play Tuesday against Vanderbilt, but that game was also pushed back as the Tigers are on pause until Wednesday.
That means Mizzou’s lone game this week is at Texas A&M at noon Saturday, pending further COVID-19 test results. The Tigers had a positive coronavirus test last week, and after subsequent contact tracing and quarantine, they had to temporarily halt basketball activities.
The Tigers stand at 7-2 overall but 1-2 in SEC play after a rocky start. They were blown out by No. 10 Tennessee, the lone other SEC team ranked. Alabama received the most voting points of any team that didn’t crack the top 25 as the Tide have impressed early, starting 4-0 in conference play.
Mizzou boasts wins over two ranked teams: No. 14 Illinois and No. 22 Oregon. The Tigers are still firmly in the mix to make the NCAA Tournament, though it’s still too early to dive deep into bracketology.
MU debuted at No. 10 last week in the NCAA Evaluation Tool, or NET, rankings. It now slots in at No. 25 as of Monday, though the rankings are updated on a daily basis.
The NET ranking is utilized by the NCAA selection committee to determine at-large bids. It rates each game into four different quadrants based on quality of opponent and location. Quadrant 1, for example, is a home game vs. teams ranked 1-30, neutral games vs. teams 1-50 and away games vs. teams 1-75.
Mizzou is still only one of three teams nationwide to boast four Quadrant 1 victories, joining Houston and Gonzaga. Only six other teams have three Quadrant 1 wins. The Tigers are 1-1 in Quadrant 2 games.