Missouri Basketball: Can Tigers be a threat in 2021 NCAA tournament?

Evidence Missouri will get your bracket busted

There is no statistical category that one can point to and state that the Tigers are elite. Their average of 71.6 points per game is ninth-best in the SEC, while they surrender slightly fewer than seventy points per game as the sixth-best defense.

Even though Dru Smith stands out on the defensive end for the Tigers, Smith just like every other Missouri player did not win any individual conference accolades last season or make any All-Conference teams. Just as Dru Smith is important on the defensive end, on the offensive end it is Jeremiah Tillmon who is literally and figuratively the center of the offense.

Now in his senior season, the 6’10 Tillmon is the only starter over 6’7, a factor that limits their offensive potential as he is most effective with his back to the basket as his teammates clear out. While Tillmon will have some success versus a mid-major who may not have a quality center, the Tigers connect 30 percent of the time from beyond the arc, a percentage that is not even in the top-300 in the nation.

Another red flag is that the three players who average the most shots per game combine to make 41 percent of those shots and because the Tigers are the worst offensive rebounding team in the SEC, there is a direct correlation as to why they do not crack the top-200 in the nation in field goals attempted. One can be assured, there is an even greater correlation between field goal attempts and points scored.