60 Second Rant: Is Mizzou Really a Lock?

As Mizzou's lone senior, Justin Safford
must lead his team to at least one more
victory to guarantee the Tigers a spot
in the NCAA tournament field. - Photo
courtesy of Jamie Squire/Getty Images

ESPN's college basketball analyst Joe Lunardi is a bracket guru and incredibly accurate on his NCAA tournament predictions.

Lunardi currently has the Missouri Tigers penciled in as a 6 seed in the tournament.

While Saturday's 80-70 road loss to Kansas State was not a bad loss and won't hurt the Tigers too much, it brings up an interesting question....

What happens if the Tigers lose at home to Kansas and on the road against Nebraska?  And even worst, what position will Mizzou be in if they lose in the first round of the Big 12 tournament?

Doing so could put tihe Tigers in a heap of trouble and here is why.

I'm not predicting that Tigers will lose all of these games, but it is not out of the question that it could happen.

And if it did, that would give Mizzou a 22-10 record overall, a record generally given to 7-10 seeds.

But the Tigers would be just 8-8 in the Big 12 with 5 teams ahead of them.

They also would be on a 4 game losing streak, which is something the tournament committee always considers when constructing their field.

So, it is possible that Mizzou, despite being ranked in the Top 25 the entire season, might miss the tournament with poor play down the stretch-run of a season that started off so promising.

Of course all of this speculation is erased if the Tigers can just find a way to win one more game.

But that is never easy when the calendar turns over to March.