If you didn’t see this coming, you weren’t paying attention.
Kansas 102, Missouri 65. Ouch.
Evidently, the wise guys in Las Vegas didn’t have the best handle on what was about to transpire in Lawrence, Kan. The betting line was Kansas minus-23 points. If I was in the desert Saturday, I would have thrown my wallet, my car title and my return plane ticket at the betting window to get money down on the Jayhawks at that number. Then just sat back and sipped on an expensive scotch which I would have bought before making the wager to watch the carnage that was about to occur during the next two hours.
It was a mismatch between a pair of mismatched opponents.
Kansas is about at its usual standard at No. 8 in the country, but Missouri can lay claim to being one of the worst Power Five conference teams in the NCAA this season.
But here’s the thing. It’s good they played because the rivalry is back.
This wasn’t the best year for the Border War to return if you are a Tiger fan. This team is not good. But when the series was scheduled to resume, there was no way to know Missouri was going to be quite this bad.
And they are bad. Somehow, Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin has recruited a team of players that can’t shoot and play just enough defense to keep Kansas from scoring 103 points. Is Martin on the hot seat after Saturday’s game? Well, he probably was before Saturday, so Saturday’s ugliness didn’t help his cause.
There was no way Kansas was going to take its foot off the gas Saturday afternoon. Kansas coach Bill Self has had almost a decade to stew about some things.
Kansas didn’t want to play Missouri after the Tigers left the Big 12 to head to the Southeastern Conference. I don’t blame them. After Missouri and Texas A&M left for the SEC, the Jayhawks were a Texas freakout away from being a member of the Mountain West because while basketball is nice, it’s football that feeds athletic departments and Kansas football the past decade is on par with 2021-22 Missouri basketball for ineptitude.
While Boise, Idaho, is lovely I hear, the thought of making that trip every year must have made Self shudder and ponder where exactly he was going to bring along his adidas friends to coach next.
And if Self and Kansas are still upset Missouri took the money and ran to the SEC, they only need to see the Border War is now sponsored by a grocery store chain. So making more money is not necessarily a bad thing if you’re the one making it.
I didn’t watch Saturday’s game, I was covering the Missouri Duals. And I have no intention of scouring ESPN’s streaming service to see if it is available.
But if I have the opportunity to be at next season’s game at Mizzou Arena, I will be there.
The Missouri-Kansas rivalry is back. And that’s a good thing.