The higher the climb, the harder they fall. Plus it helps Mizzou for kU to win against a good non-con opponent(conference strength, strength of schedule, etc.). I want kU to be as highly ranked as possible for both our games against them. On the upcoming schedule front, Mizzou hosts Coppin State tomorrow night. Hopefully they can take care of business and then let loose on Arkansas Thursday. First big game of the year, and should be the best crowd of the year as well. Opposite styles too, with Mizzou being a smaller team that pushes as much as possible, and Arkansas being bigger and playing a slower game. What are Mizzou's strengths this year? Relentless defensive pressure and surprisingly good outside shooting have been the big things thus far. They also share the ball very very well. In a couple games teams have hung with them for a while, but in the second half the difference in conditioning becomes more apparent and the press gains effectiveness. Mizzou also plays a very deep bench, with 9 players averaging at least 13 minutes a game. On the downside, Mizzou is a small team with only a couple bigs. One of the tradeoffs of the "Fastest 40 Minutes" is that we often get outrebounded, but most times that is mitigated by the larger advantage in turnovers. The offense has been stalled for times, especially when our scoring oriented guards(Hannah, Keon Lawrence, Matt Lawrence when someone can get him the ball) aren't on the floor in lieu of defensive minded players like J.T. Tiller and Jason Horton. EDIT: The broken press can also lead to some mismatches in the half court and occasionally some easy buckets. What about the Hogs? I saw the results of their performances on ESPN but didn't get a chance to see them in action. In other words, exactly what I'm accustomed to from the Richardson Hogs. No surprises there. Good outside shooting is a threat. The Hogs's strength is in the frontcourt. They go four deep in guys 6-8 and up--Steven Hill (7'), Darian Townes (6'10"), Charles Thomas (6'8"), and Vincent Hunter (6'10")--who can play 4/5. Hill is an exceptional defender at 7-0 who has virtually nothing to offer offensively. He came into tonight's action with 22 points and 21 blocks. The other guys are a lot more adept. Thomas can take it out 20 feet and drain it, and the other two can take it out 12-15 feet and be threats. Townes has the best offensive post game on the team altogether. Sonny Weems is a 6-6 swingman who was the top prospect in junior college ball after leading UA-Fort Smith to the JC title last season. He's a leaper with a good outside shot and the strength to play inside at times, and he's currently the leading rebounder. As I've said before, he doesn't have the passing skills, but he's essentially taking the Ronnie Brewer role on this team. At guard, Gary Ervin, a MSU transfer, is the point. He was expected to be a penetrator and distributor and push the offense down the floor, but thus far he's shown a surprisingly soft shot from the outside. Patrick Beverley is the 2 guard, and he's been somewhat up and down. He shows extraordinary athleticism and plays vicious defense, and came into tonight's action leading the Hogs in scoring at 15.3 PPG. (Weems took over the lead after tonight.) He's a freshman, though, and has his freshman moments--tonight he was a turnover machine, and he got into foul trouble. Stefan Welsh, another freshman, provides outside shooting off the bench. The Hogs have played tremendous defense thus far--Marist has shot the best against them at 42%, and they create turnovers. Arkansas will use the bench heavily--they currently have six players averaging 20+ minutes, nine averaging 12+ minutes, and only two averaging 30 minutes or more. The Hogs lost three double digit scorers from last season (all guards), so they don't really have an established go-to man. That man could be Weems, but he hasn't topped 12 shots in a game from the floor yet and has only reached double digits twice, so that's yet to be determined. This game projects a LOT like Arkansas/SO ILL. Blanket, aggressive defense to overcome a lack of size. AR came out on top of that one, but it was very, very close until OT. If the Hogs can avoid the turnover monster, they should come out on top, but that's much, much easier said than done.