"And this could be the final game in Columbia for these two teams ..." said one of the announcers.
Right now, the pundits will suggest that this was a proper goodbye to an epic rivalry. Two teams in the top 10 of the country meeting in an emotional, back-and-forth game that was the rarest of sports animals — the 74-71 Missouri victory delivered on months of hype.
Kansas and Missouri will be in different conferences next year, meaning they won't be automatically meeting on the hardwood. And while Missouri is game, Kansas is not. Jayhawks' coach Bill Self has repeatedly stated that the two schools will not be playing in the near future. This is a rivalry that doesn't need to end. The Jayhawks and Tigers each play 31 games this season (and that doesn't include the conference championships). One slot could be reserved per year by both schools.
I've had five years to understand why Kansas-Missouri, Kansas State-Kansas, and Kansas State-Missouri matter. It's Arrowhead awash in Black and Gold and Blue and Red. It's football being relevant again at Kansas. It's the cords in Frank Martin's neck standing out like Pixy Stix.
The Big 12 isn't always pretty, but I never thought it would be petty. Yes, Kansas, you were jilted. Yes, Missouri, you left for a prettier dance partner. And while some Kansas fans say good riddance, I bet most would still relish the chance to make it hurt where it hurts the most: the scoreboard. This is a rivalry that doesn't need to end. A tripod can still stand if you take away one of its legs; it just can't carry the same weight.
Showing 1-18 of 18
How is not playing MU in KU's best interest? What is the downside to playing? How does it hurt KU?
Petty. Vindictive. Childish.
Missouri will get the same experience that Nebraska got when they joined the Big 10. They got welcomed into the conference by every other team putting a target on thier back. They got thrashed and treated like the interloping, money grubbing, carpet baggers that they are. I hope Missouri enjoys getting used in the SEC, they've proven they are whores now they can spend the money left for them on the nightstand and look in the mirror with shame!
Oh pleeez, KU people. I can hear your cry from here. Wah wah!! Throw your sand little girls. Fact is, you don't know how we're going to do in the SEC. MU will be fine. And our football team? Really? Coming from you guys? LOL I don't really care if we play you guys again in either sport. Really don't. We own you in Football (which is what I really cared about) and now we're one away, maybe two, with saying a big FU after this year. Its obvious you guys don't like it. Which is music to my ears.
All of you MU fans saying KU does not want to play....I give you this article. Sports illustrated. Why should we continue to play? You need us, we don't need you a all. We have a national platform. You don't.
Kansas right in refusal to schedule Missouri after this season, more Story Highlights
Kansas has little incentive to play Missouri after Tigers jump to SEC next season
Kansas-Missouri, the so-called "Border War," has been one of the truly special rivalries in college basketball. That's why the Tigers' 74-71 victory on Saturday night felt so bittersweet. Beginning next season, Missouri will compete in the SEC, meaning that Saturday's game was the last scheduled meeting to take place in Columbia. They will play again in Lawrence on Feb. 25, and possibly a third time in the Big 12 tournament. Beyond that, however, the future is uncertain.
It's not easy to see something this good come to an end. Throughout the game, ESPN's Dick Vitale repeatedly implored the schools to keep playing even after they're in different leagues. During the College Gameday pregame show, Jay Bilas went to so far as to assume the game will happen in the very near future. "They're gonna play," he said. "Whether it's next year or the year after, they're gonna play again."
I'm not so sure I share Bilas' optimism. Nor do I share Vitale's hope. I'm not just okay with seeing this rivalry come to an end. I actually want it to.
Why am I being such a killjoy? Because as much as I love a great rivalry, I loathe conference expansion even more. This has been the worst trend to hit college sports in a long, long time. Missouri's decision to go to the SEC was bad for college sports, bad for the Big 12 and certainly bad for Kansas. (I believe it will prove to be bad for Missouri, too, but only time will tell.) Coming on the heels of Texas A&M's decision to likewise bolt for the SEC, Missouri's defection almost put the Big 12 out of business. If the conference had dissolved, Kansas would have been in a tough spot. KU does not have an elite football program, so it would have been forced to beg leagues like the ACC and Big East to shoehorn the Jayhawks into their ranks. It would have been a sad moment for a proud school.
Missouri's basketball coach, Frank Haith, and its athletic director, Mike Alden, have said they want the series to continue. Their counterparts across the border, however, are not playing along. "It will not happen in the immediate future," Kansas coach Bill Self said after the game on Saturday night. "They chose to be someplace else. It's fine. It's their prerogative. If it is better for them, so be it, but if you choose to be somewhere else, you leave a situation behind that is not the same as what it was when you were in it."
That was a more diplomatic version of the answer that Baylor women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey gave last fall when asked if her team would continue to play Texas A&M: "If a man wants to divorce me and says our relationship has no value to him, and then he asks me if he can sleep with me, the answer is no," she said.
If Missouri is going to convince Kansas to change its mind, it's going to have to overcome more than just the hurt feelings of a jilted lover. The hard truth is, Missouri needs this game significantly more than Kansas does. The Jayhawks have won three national championships and have been to 13 Final Fours. Missouri has never even been to one. Kansas can recruit on a national scale, while Missouri has to focus on the Midwest. If injected with truth serum, I'll bet Haith would tell you the move to the SEC is making his job harder. So why would Self do something that will only make it easier?
Besides, it's not like Kansas has trouble scheduling nonconference games. The Jayhawks still have two years left in the Champions Classic that will rotate them with Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State. They are a perennially plum choice for all the major Thanksgiving and Christmas week tournaments. Their decision to participate in an intersectional matchup guarantees that it will be broadcast on ESPN or CBS. If Kansas agreed to play Missouri, it would be providing the Tigers with a national platform they currently lack. Hard to see the upside in that for the Jayhawks.
But think of the Kansas fans, Vitale urged. They want this game to continue, right? Actually, no. "I've heard from a lot of our coaches, our administrators, our larger donors and our fan base. The overwhelming majority ask me not to play Missouri at this time," KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger told me. "They feel that by leaving for another conference, they harmed our league -- our family, so to speak. They don't want to reward that."
Will this series resume someday, as Bilas predicts? I suppose so. After all, Auburn and Alabama quit playing each other in football back in 1907. It only took 41 years -- and a threat by the Alabama House of Representatives to cut funding -- for those teams to agree to play each other again. I doubt it will take four decades for Kansas and Missouri to resume their series, but I also doubt it will happen anytime soon. Nor should it. Missouri had every right to act in its self-interest, but now so does Kansas. Hey, it's just business, right?
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/seth_davis/02/06/kansas.missouri/index.html#ixzz1ljHzQkgM
I couldn't care less about this 'rivalry' and neither could the thousands of empty seats at Arrowhead on Thanksgiving weekend. It was a nice run but it's over, folks. Time to move on.
KU fans are sore losers. Meanwhile Missouri is onto bigger and better things..........
The Missouri/kansas rivalry dates back to civil war times and has been played out on the basketball court since 1907. Both teams even take their symbolic representation from the civil war, as MU is represented by the ‘Tigers’ a militia group that served to protect Columbia and ku is depicted accurately by the ‘Jayhawks’, the terrorist group that pillaged and murdered innocent people in surrounding boarder towns. Missouri fans are lucky in this capacity, as their chief foil is the embodiment of all you would want in a rival. Infamous nationally for embarrassing NCAA tournament losses, notable for being the most penalized men’s basketball program in NCAA history, and virtually universally recognized as having the worst fanbase in college basketball…ku on the court has been able to throughout history to be the opposition that provided many memorable match ups and notable moments.
1907 – MU crushes ku 34-12 in the last game of the season. The game is also James Naismith last career contest, and in completing the sweep leaves the games inventor 0-2 all time versus MU.
1908-1915 – ku wins 30 of the next 32 games in an era when the teams play 4 times a season to take a commanding lead in the all time won/loss.
1916-1919 – MU takes a 25-5 halftime lead and rests its starters the entirety of the second half en route to a 42-20 win in 1916. The headline in the Tribune the next day proclaims “Playing the scrubs against Kansas! Fond dream, thou art real at last.” MU proceeds to take 3 of 4 from they jayhawks in each of the next 4 seasons.
1920 – In the first games between two Hall of Fame Coach's, Walter Meanwell gets the better of Phog Allen with a season sweep of four wins in four contests. As Phog's biography states, “Meanwell was who Phog wanted to be and beat.”
1921 – MU sweeps four more from ku, sending Allen’s record to 0-8. The wins lead MU to the #1 end of season ranking in the Premo Polls. MU has now won 21 of the last 25 contests between the two teams.
1922 – MU and ku tie for the conference title and split the series. In an effort to break the tie, MU challenges ku to a playoff at a neutral site. ku declined the challenge using what the KC Star called an “alibi” saying the season was long enough and they wanted to play no more games. MU finished atop the Premo Polls for the second year in a row, and despite one more loss on the season ku claimed a mythical national championship for which they still hang a banner to this day.
1923-1927 – ku wins 12 straight contests.
1928 and 1929 – MU wins all 5 contests.
1930 – Tied atop the standings going into the last matchup of the season, MU plays its first ever game in Hoch Auditorium in front of the largest crowd to see a ku game to date. MU leaves with a 23-18 win that resulted in the Tigers first Big 6 championship.
1933 – MU's John Cooper is credited with being the college game's first jump shooter and leads the conference in scoring and MU to a win over the jayhawks in Columbia. Erstwhile and persistent whiner Phog Allen successfully petitions the conference to adopt a 3 second rule in the paint to limit Brown’s effectiveness following the season.
1935 – MU would close the year against conference leading ku in a pair of games. ku's Ray Ebling was the league's leading scorer, but was held to a total of 2 total points in the contests and MU swept ku to give ISU their first league crown.
1936 – Phog Allen complains formally to the conference when MU fans chant a modified version “Rock Chalk Dead Hawk” throughout the contest in Columbia.
1939 – Needing a win in the season’s final game for a conference title, a then record crowd of 5,000+ crammed into Brewer to witness MU rush out to a 29-11 halftime lead over ku and cruise to a 54-30 win and a Big 6 title. In doing so the Tigers qualified for the 8 team field in the first NCAA tournament, but declined an invitation due to travel costs.
1943 – Only the second matchup to going into overtime in series history, by now 108 games long, occurs in Columbia. The Tigers lose 47-44 in the extra period.
1947 – In the first matchup between Phog Allen and new Tiger coach Sparky Stalcup, Allen would rush across the court during play and shove Stalcup as he argued with a referee. Stalcup would raise his fist and shout, “Get the hell back on your side of the court,” before being restrained. MU would go on to claim their first win in Lawrence in 17 years. The rematch in Columbia featured a singular matchups in series history as a flu outbreak resulted in only reporters and radio announcers allowed inside the gymnasium to watch the teams play in front of an empty house.
1952 – In the Big 7 tournament, freshman Win Wilfong would score a team high 17 but after falling to the floor attempting to grab a rebound would be stomped on by ku All American Clyde Lovellette who was ejected. A near brawl erupted with the booing lasting past the end of the game. Unable to get the incited crowd to leave the PA announcer proclaims, “I hope everyone remembers where you are, this is America not Russia.” In the next matchup in Columbia, upset about a supposed timekeeping error Phog Allen erupts shouting “unprintable remarks”, leading MU AD Don Faurot to confront him and state, “Now get out of here Doc, you are causing enough trouble” and grab him by the arm and escort him off the court.
1954 – In his first game ever in Lawrence and after being heavily recruited by ku, Norm Stewart scores 22 to lead MU to a 76-67 win and knocks ku to second place and out of the NCAA tournament.
1955 – In their last matchup at Hoch Auditorium MU claims a 76-65 win to move to #6 in the AP Polls, their highest ranking ever at that point. The Tigers complete the season sweep with a 19 point victory in Columbia.
1956 – In Phog Allen's final season, senior Norm Stewart lead MU to a 76-54 win in Columbia and in the only ever meeting between the Tigers and Phog Allen in the arena that bears his name MU completed the season sweep and became the first team to claim a victory in the new building. Norm finished his Tiger career 5-1 against the jayhawks in regular season games.
1961 – After pregame introductions had to be halted in Lawrence due to the unruly crowds abuse stemming from ku's forfeit in football for cheating (that cost MU a national title), the rematch in Columbia was even more volatile. ku had just received probation tied to paying for Wilt to play there, and needed a win to tie KSU for a league title. Charlie Henke for MU and Wayne Hightower for ku were the returning 1 and 2 scorers in the league from the prior year and this contest would determine which of the two would lead the league in scoring this season. Henke had 20 points by halftime and was thoroughly frustrating Hightower and the jayhawks. A technical foul right before intermission resulted in ku free throws to start the second half and incensed the crowd. 5 minutes in to the second half Henke fouled Hightower on a rebound attempt and the ku center started wildly throwing punches. The two stood toe to toe trading haymakers and both benches as well as the bulk of the crowd spilled onto the floor in a full fledged riot on national TV. The fight lasted a full three minutes and both Henke and Hightower were ejected (leading to MU's all time leading scorer and rebounder being ejected on his senior day) in a game MU went on to win 79-76. MU and ku athletic directors met afterwards to discuss discontinuing the series, with Don Faurot stating, “If any bitterness exists it has been brought about by the people of Kansas….the responsibility for the brawl rests with Hightower for throwing the first punch and the ku bench for rushing into the fray.”
1964 – In Dick Harp’s last season as a jayhawk coach, MU wins all three matchups with ku.
1968 – In his first year after taking over after back to back 3 win Tiger teams, Norm Stewart goes into Lawrence and collects a 67-66 win.
1969 – Trailing 46-45 with three minutes to play, Stewart elects to hold the ball for a last shot. MU literally stands with the ball at midcourt until 15 seconds remain and then sets in motion a play resulting in a made 20 footer that gives MU a 47-46 victory. In the rematch in Lawrence, Stewart would send Captain Don Tomlinson during the pregame warm-ups to meet with ku coach Ted Owens and demand the ku end of the floor…with Stewart listening and laughing beneath the bleachers. MU would win again 56-55 for the season sweep.
1972 – In the last matchup between the teams in Brewer Field House, MU closes the building out in style with a 64-60 win over ku.
1973 – In John Brown's senior season, MU found themselves trailing by 18 in the second half in Lawrence. However, as ku fans pelted the MU bench with paper cups during the comeback MU roared back and claimed a 73-69 win. As he ran off the court an elated Norm Stewart hollered at the hostile crowd, “The worst fans in America!” repeatedly as he returned to the victor's locker room.
1976 – In the first matchup in the conference tourney championship game between the two teams since 1951, MU claimed a victory with a 79-69 win. MU would then open conference play against the jayhaw and the game would not be nearly as close, a 99-69 MU rout. In the next meeting Willie Smith would rebound a miss and tip it in at the buzzer to complete a three game sweep in Lawrence.
1977 – MU again faces ku in the conference tournament title game, and again wins this time 69-65. It is the Tigers 5th tournament title in 6 years.
1979 – Curtis Berry records the last 20 point/20 rebound game in MU history in a 58-55 win over ku that ties Norm Stewart for the all time lead in wins at MU.
1980-83 – Steve Stipanovich and Jon Sundvold go 6-2 vs conference also ran ku in the regular season on the way to an unprecedented 4 straight league titles.
1987 – In the first year of the 3 point shot in the Big 8, freshman Lee Coward hits a buzzer beater from long range to give MU a 63-60 victory over ku. After going on to win the league title, they again met ku in the conference title game. Coward would again hit a buzzer beater to give MU the conference tourney title as well.
1988 – After finishing 3rd and 4th in the Big 8, both programs receive a 6 seed in the NCAA tourney. MU was ranked as high as 15th until March, whereas ku had been completely unranked since January. ku capitalizes on their bracket falling apart to reach the Final Four, played in KC, where they win one of the most improbably NCAA titles in history.
1989 – In their first meeting with new head coach Roy Williams, MU hands ku their worst ever loss in Allen Field house in a 91-66 beating. ku is the ineligible for the postseason, the only defending NCAA champion ever to be.
1990 – ku would come to Columbia as the nation’s #1 ranked team and undefeated, while MU was #4 with only one loss. After collecting a 95-87 win, MU supplanted ku and took over the #1 ranking. The rematch in Lawrence pitted at this point #1 ku vs #2 MU, the only time in the history of the matchup the teams met with the top two spots in the polls. MU would win again to reclaim the #1 ranking and send Roy Williams record to 0-4 vs MU.
1992 – Against #3 ranked ku, Anthony Peeler puts on a one man show. Leading all scorers with 24 with just less than 8 minutes remaining, Peeler scored 19 more down the stretch to finish with 43. But after cutting the lead to 2 with less than a minute to play the Tigers fell short and lost 97-89.
1994 – MU defeats #3 ku in Columbia, and then in the rematch in Lawrence on the strength of 32 from Melvin Booker MU again defeats #4 ku to propel themselves into an undefeated conference season, just the third time in Big 8 history it had been accomplished.
1996 – MU defeats #3 ku to give the jayhawks one of their only three losses in the regular season.
1997 – ku brings their best team of all time into Columbia with a #1 ranking. They would leave with a double overtime loss after Corey Tate hit a buzzer beater to give MU a 96-94 win. It was the only regular season loss ku would suffer on the year, while MU would fail to qualify for any postseason with a below .500 record on the season.
1998 – Norm again knocks off a #3 ranked ku team despite fielding a team that only won 15 regular season games. It is the third straight loss in Columbia for Roy Williams.
1999 – After classless Ryan Robertson taunted MU fans when he finally won a game in Columbia for the first time, Norm instructs his players after they win in Lawrence to “walk off the court like you’ve been there before.” No small feat since MU was the last conference opponent to win in Lawrence back in 1994 and since the formation of the Big 12 ku had only lost 4 conference games (three of which were to MU). After wrapping up a 71-63 victory in what would be Norm's last season, MU calmly walked off the court in front of a silenced jayhawk crowd and went on to finish second on the year in conference.
2000 – Against #7 ku Clarence Gilbert explodes for 27 points before they are able to injure him, leading MU to an 81-59 crushing of the jayhawks. "I think we broke their hearts," Missouri forward Johnnie Parker said afterward. "I was talking to a couple of their guys after the game and they were really down, and I've really never seen Kansas that way."
2001 – On a day when Norm Stewart had his jersey retired, #3 ku falls 75-66 to unranked MU. "The frustrating thing is I don't think they had their A game, and I think Quin would say the same thing," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "But whatever letter grade you give their game, it was five or six times better than ours." Kareem Rush had 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Tigers.
2002 – After trailing by only 1 point at halftime in Lawrence, the Tigers get blown out 105-73. In the rematch in Columbia ku entered the game ranked #1, but with the Tigers leading with less than 2 min to play Nick Collision hit an uncharacteristic 3 pointer and the jayhawks hung on for a 95-92 win.
2003 – After losing due to back to back slop baskets to finish the game in Columbia by Miles and Hienrich MU faces #4 ku in the conference tournament, and dispatches them 68-63 to advance to the conference finals. “We’re going to be disappointed. I'm gonna be ****ed off. If that language bothers you, I apologize. My wife doesn’t like for me to say that, “said Roy Williams after the game.
2004 – In his last home game and the final game played at Hearnes Arthur Johnson scores 37 points but his effort is spoiled as freshman David Padgent rifles the ball into the front of the rim at the buzzer and was the recipient of a fortunate bounce. ku won 84-82 and sent MU to the NIT.
2005 – In the first ever meeting in Mizzou Arena, #7 ku loses to 15-15 overall MU 72-68.
2006 – Thomas Gardner erupts for 40 points and Christian Moody miss two free throws with no time remaining to send the game to overtime, a game MU eventually wins 89-86.
2007 – In the first matchup with Mike Anderson, MU travels to #5 ranked ku in Lawrence. MU trailed 78-77 with 44 second remaining, but a basket by Sherron Collins put the margin at 3 and a Matt Lawrence 3 point attempt at the buzzer failed to draw iron. Ineligible player Darell Arthur scored 9 in the contest for ku.
2008 – ku entered the game in Columbia with a nation’s best 25 point margin of victory, but would lead only by as much as 8 in a game that came down to the final minute. Leo Lyons would foul out in only 13 min of play, and ku would hold off the Tigers 76-70 on the strength of 23 combined points from ineligible players Darell Arthur and Brandon Rush and a 45 to 22 disparity in free throw attempts.
2009 – Despite only scoring 16 points in the first half and a shooting a season low 36% from the field, MU was able to force 27 turnovers and hold ku to only 1 basket the final 8 minutes. Zaire Taylor converted at the buzzer to give MU a 62-60 win.
2011 - #2 ranked ku leverages its home court advantage to foul out both Tiger big men who were shooting 81.3% from the field against ku’s overmatched bigs into a second half victory. The Tigers were unable to rise to the occasion in the rematch, shooting a season worst 29% from the field and 13% behind the arc, and fell by 4 points to #2 ku.
Which leads us to this weekend….in what may be the final time MU welcomes ku to Columbia. MU is higher ranked, deeper, more talented, and more experienced team and ku has a decided officiating advantage both on its homecourt and away. Only two chapters remain to be written as MU moves off to a superior conference and ku fades into the recesses of history like San Francisco, CCNY, or Seattle in a lower tier conference.
Update...check the scoreboard. Tigers won a close one Saturday, see ya in Low Rents for the rematch.
Yo Truman. Why would KU give you the satisfaction of playing them? We own you scrubs. You bitches keep saying "why KU not want to play us" or "just cuz we left doesn't mean the rivalry has to stop". If it was that damn important, than you wouldnt have left. We have nothing to prove against you in any sport. We didn't choose to stop playing you. MU made that decision when they decided to leave the BIG 12. I hope that extra 10 mill per year the school gets satisfies you fans because the the only sport you were decent in (football) is about to go back to the shit house. If I were an MU fan I would be outraged how the school puts a price tag on their fans and their win/loss column. The only winner are the MU executive that will get bigger checks. You fans wont have as much to cheer about. You 7-5 football record will now go to 5-7. No bowls for you. Who gets the last laugh???
Ed- You are stupid. If Texas, OU and OSU was going to leave the Big12, they already would have! The Big 12 is in great shape now that the last of the dead weight will be gone next year. Besides, if the Big 12 did dissolve, which it won't, why would KU have to beg to get into Conf USA or some other weak conference??? We are not Mizzou, we do not have to beg to get into a conference. You begged to get into the BIG 10, then after you were rejected you begged to get into the SEC. The ACC or BIG EAST would come calling KU. You bum
You MU fans are jokes!!! You have one good basketball year of the past 20 and suddenly you think you guys are somebodies! LMAO. You sucked the past 20 years and you will suck the next 100. Glad your asses are gone, you don't deserve to be in the same conference as Kansas. Who do you guys think you are anyways? Your football program is nothing either. Yea, just cus you had a few good years doesn't mean anything. Don't you remember that Pinkle almost got fired a few years back???
Yes Missouri left the Big 12. When Texas, OU, OSU do the same....KU and KSU will be begging Conf USA or the WAC to let them in. Leaving the Big 12 for the SEC was the smart thing to do.
Yea it's sad you Gayhawks have such little pussy as a athletic director too.Have some ball continue to play MIZZOU it's been goin on forever.We cant help they wanna stay in the NEW Texas league.COCK COCK A GAYHAWK.
Just because MU is moving doesn't mean the Border War games have to stop. I support what MU does in effort to do whats best for the School. As far as I know, MU is still up to the challenge of playing KU football and basketball, its KU that is acting like a child (typical) "Wah wah, If you're leaving then we won't play". Grow up KU. Step it up and play us once a year at Arrowhead and Sprint Center (Neutral grounds). The ball is in your court.
I think it's cute how missouri is begging for more. Domination to the tune of 171-95 clearly isn't enough for those masochists. "Thank you sir, may we have another?"
Relationships come and go. Missouri opted out of the Big 12, so they don't get an automatic 2 games against any of their old rivals. Kansas and all the other Big 12 remaining teams will decide if it's in their best interest to play Missouri, Nebraska or Colorado any more or ever again. Just like those teams made the determination on what was in their best interest.
like
dislike
