COLUMBIA — The Missouri Tigers play Cornell at 2 p.m. Friday in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament in Boise, Idaho.
It's the first time the Tigers have made the field in six years. To help enliven the experience, here are some links to cool stories and helpful stats to make the game more exciting.
Stuck in the office: If you can't watch the game live from your sofa or friendly neighborhood pub, you can catch all the game live at the NCAA's web site. You might need to download software, but there is a link and it is easily removable from your hard drive.
Statistically driven: If you're a stat geek, Kenpom.com is the place for you. The site is devoted to breaking down how efficient a team is on offense, defense and other statistical categories. Missouri has been among the top 10 all season in overall efficiency. If the idea of looking at that many statistics is enough to fry your brain, the site provides an explanation of how the system works. It's cool to see how teams in the tournament compare to one another.
Catch-up: If you missed a story or just want to learn more about the Tigers tournament experience, here is the Missourian's coverage.
Need something to do?: Missourian reporter Andrew Van Dam hails from Boise and offers a guide about sites to see and things to do for fans attending the games this weekend on The Watchword blog.
Ready to Pounce: USA Today reports that the Tigers are looking to make some noise in the tournament and write a new chapter that helps the program forget a painful loss to UCLA on a last-second shot by UCLA's Tyus Edney in the second round of the 1995 NCAA tournament in Boise.
The road to Boise: The Tigers recount their season-long trek to returning to the NCAA tournament.
Easy to focus: Missouri coach Mike Anderson says that distractions shouldn't be a problem for the Tigers and that the location helps prevent them.
Happy in Ithaca: Steve Donahue might not have the grandest facilities, top-of-the-rung recruits or make loads of money, but Joe Posnanski writes that coaching Cornell in the Ivy League is an experience that an experience he wouldn't trade.
Heading West: Cornell reserve forward Jon Jaques writes about the Big Red's trip to Boise on his blog for The New York Times.
Preparing for Pressure: The Big Red have tried to ready themselves for Missouri's pressuring style of play by picking up the tempo in practice, including the use of a sixth defender.
Slightly Seasoned: Cornell does have one advantage over the Tigers: tournament experience. This is the second straight year the Big Red have made the field of 65 teams.
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