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Dennis Gates has Mizzou poised to make a second NCAA Tournament trip in 3 years under his watch. The Tigers won 25 games in Year 1 under Gates but went through a major slump last season, finishing winless in SEC play. This year, Mizzou has been one of the stories of the season, going 10-7 against the best conference in basketball while knocking off 3 different AP top-5 opponents.
Mizzou will play its ninth game against a ranked opponent on Saturday when it hosts No. 19 Kentucky. The Tigers will be looking for their sixth win in ranked-on-ranked games. The atmosphere promises to be electric against an up-tempo Wildcats team.
ESPN’s College GameDay could have featured the Tigers on the final Saturday of the regular season. Instead, the traveling pregame highlighted its second Duke-North Carolina of the season.
GameDay was soundly criticized for the decision on social media. Duke won the first meeting by 17 points and led by as many as 32 points in Durham. The Blue Devils opened as 11.5-point favorites in the rematch.
Mizzou hasn’t been featured on College GameDay since Feb. 23, 2013, when it played Kentucky on the road. The Tigers have hosted GameDay just once, back on Feb. 4, 2012, when it hosted Kansas for a top-10 showdown.
During an appearance on the show on Saturday, Gates made sure to advocate for his program.
“I wanna invite GameDay to Missouri at some point next season,” Gates said before his time was up. “It is an electric atmosphere. You guys deserve to see it.”
Host Rece Davis sounded more than open to the idea, too.
“I’m in,” Davis responded. “It’s been a really long time since we’ve been there. Too long since we’ve been there. Let’s mark it down. Let’s find a Missouri game next year. We would love to come out.”
The Tigers (21-9, 10-7 SEC) are ranked 15th in the country and are loading up for what they hope is a lengthy NCAA Tournament run. At various times throughout the year, Mizzou has been tabbed as a darkhorse threat to make a deep March Madness run. Bart Torvik gives Mizzou a 47% chance to make the Sweet 16 and a 9.8% chance to make the Final Four. FanDuel has Mizzou priced at +1300 to make the Final Four.
RELATED: Sports betting is expected to arrive in the state of Missouri later this year. Keep our guide on the best Missouri betting promos handy so you can secure a sign-up bonus when the state goes live.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
