Can't remember the last time Mizzou shot so poorly. But Georgia's defense had something to do with that, although Mizzou missed a lot of shots they usually hit.
As far as rankings, when Mizzou is making their shots they can play with anybody outside of the top five or six teams. Especially at home. Their wins at Cal and over South Carolina showed that. But their overall talent level and athleticism is not what the top teams have. Nor is their depth. Porter has been ill and missed her last two games, and looked weak tonight against the Georgia bigs. In all honesty though, if Georgia was more disciplined in their shot selection, the game would not have been close. (It was a one point game in the fourth quarter but when Mizzou got down six with a minute and a half to go Missouri started fouling and Georgia made their free throws down the stretch to pad their lead.) Ironically, Missouri could have come into this game undefeated, except for a hiccup in their first game and a close loss to LSU when Cunningham was injured. Yeah, 11 might have seemed high, but you can't move a team down until they lose. The losses for Mizzouri are on the horizon though, as the toughest part of the schedule - -Miss St., Tenn, Texas A&M, Kentucky -- there are some losses there. Trust me, there won't be six SEC teams in the top 16 seeds of the NCAA Tourney. The NCAA has to get some Pac 12 and Big 10 teams in there, whether they deserve it or not.
Still, outside of the top 8 or 9 teams, there are no really great teams. And yes, I believe there is less consistency among the top 25 teams than there has been in years past. And maybe even at the top. Louisville kills ND, then falls to Florida State. And ND, they're not even consistent from half to half!
But let's look at whose behind Missouri in the rankings. Ohio State? They got mauled again tonight. UCLA? Four losses, and their freak win against Baylor a night they were missing their coach can only get them so far. Michigan? Oregon State? Duke? All very flawed teams with some bad losses. The AP has Texas A&M at 15 and Georgia at 21 and I think both those teams are under ranked. (Missouri was ranked 16 in the pre-season, Georgia was unranked and picked to finish 8th in the SEC, and that probably accounts for the difference in rankings.) And we've got six teams in the Top 25 with at least five losses and less than 16 wins... a bit unusual at this point in the season. Parity at long least? Could be!
Georgia at home is a handful -- just ask Texas A&M, who beat Tennessee. They have some raw talents who are getting coached up. They can disrupt even a well-coached team's offense. Their weaknesses are their discipline, shot selection, and shooting accuracy. They've won six in a row and their only losses are to Texas and Miss State. I predict they'll roll over their next four opponents before their showdowns against Tenn and South Carolina. (They play Tenn in knoxville, but they still might have a chance.) Then they'll win the rest of their games and could finish as high as second in the SEC and grab a two or three seed in the Tourney.
Missouri finished third in the SEC last year, and they have a better team this year. But they will struggle to finish in the top five because the SEC overall is better.
