11th seed Missouri Tigers will play Cincinnati basketball on Thursday night at 8:45 p.m. (CT) in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The game will be on TNT and will take place in Washington D.C.
(Here's the full printable NCAA bracket is you need it.)
Despite Mizzou being just an 11 seed, this game is expected to be very close. Looking at the odds on this game, one outlet has Mizzou as a one-point favorite and another has it as a pick 'em. So Vegas feels this will be a close game and they're usually pretty accurate.
Mizzou's offense makes them a potentially dangerous matchup for anyone they play but there has to be some concern that they've lost four of their last five games. Their opponents have been among the Big 12's best so the losses aren't a huge surprise but it's hard to get out of a losing funk.
This week is about Mizzou basketball and the NCAA tournament but Arkansas also fired their head coach, John Pelphrey, and some reports say they will target Mizzou head coach Mike Anderson to replace him. With more attention on Mizzou in the tourney, this will be a question some folks ask potentially creating a distraction. Or, maybe the Tigers rally around their head coach and turn this into motivation.
The Tigers season continues on Thursday night. A win and they'll be playing UConn or Bucknell.
Check out Rock M Nation for more on the game.