After drifting down to the eighth seed ahead of their narrow loss to Kansas in last week's edition of Joe Lunardi's Bracketology Missouri held steady Monday, still holding their spot in the NCAA Tournament's Cleveland regional against ninth-seeded Tennessee. Missouri State, as predicted, fell out of the bracket entirely following their MIssouri Valley Tournament loss to Indiana State; they're listed as among the first four out in this week's edition.
MIssouri couldn't exactly be faulted for losing by four points to a team that's had a number-one seed sewn up since Bracketology 101 was an after-school elective, but their place in the tournament remains precarious pending the results of the Big 12 Tournament, which begins Wednesday. Mizzou comes into its first-round matchup with Texas Tech having lost its last three games, including two on the road to Kansas City and Nebraska before their tough home loss to Kansas. Their game with Texas Tech comes on the heels of Pat Knight having been fired pending the end of the tournament, which should lend a strange dynamic to the affair in Kansas City.