WICHITA, Kan. — Every March, Trent Pierce would make his own bracket.
He didn’t have the technology, so he didn’t fill one out on an app, like we all likely have this week. The Missouri basketball forward was so excited for this time of year, he’d whip up a DIY poster and stick it above his bed. When the March Madness results rolled in, he’d cross the losers out by hand and move the winners along.
Now, the 6-foot-11 sophomore, for the first time in his career, is part of the dance.
Think that means something?
“Finally being a part of it,” Pierce said. “Man, it’s exciting.”
Missouri basketball is back in the NCAA Tournament after a one-year absence from the Big Dance. For 10 players on the Mizzou roster, Thursday’s game against Drake will be the first time they have stepped onto a court with the March Madness logo scribed in the center.
Shortly after Mizzou was announced as the 6-seed in this year’s Big Dance with a Thursday night matchup with 11-seed Drake on the cards, Mizzou coach Dennis Gates was asked what he tells the players who are inexperienced when it comes to March — which is a majority of his roster.
Gates’ answer: “I think all kids have — they’ve experienced it.”
On Wednesday, a day before the Tigers get underway in Wichita for the NCAA Tournament, the Tribune asked as many Mizzou players who are making their first appearance in March Madness as time allowed for about their favorite March memories, and what it means to be part of the processions this year.
Like Gates said, they all remember moments and runs and teams. Incredibly, several Mizzou’s players answered with the same memory — that Villanova shot in 2016 (don’t remind wing Jacob Crews, who liked the Tar Heels). Freshman wing Marcus Allen said he was at Mike Krzyzewski’s last game, a Final Four loss for Duke against UNC.
Now, they’re going to get a chance to create their own moments; their own March Madness history.
Of course, they’ve all done it in their head before — the thing Kris Jenkins did for the Wildcats.
The dreams all follow a similar path. They involve some combination of a playground or backyard hoop, a decent imagination, and an internal shot clock.
3 … 2 … 1 …
Shoot.
Buzzer.
History.
“Knock down the shot,” Robinson said, “and keep doing it over and over again.”
“Probably the famous one — count down the shot clock, make a big shot, buzzer-beater, act like you just did it,” Crews said. “That was one thing I’ve always done.”
Mizzou’s path begins with Drake, which is looking like one of the more popular underdogs in the field this year.
There’s a sensible method behind those picks: The Bulldogs are 30-3 and won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament title. Drake head coach Ben McCollum looks like he’ll be high on the list of just about any high-major coaching opening in the country.
And Mizzou? Well, the Tigers have hit a lull. Gates’ team has lost four of its past five games after reaching mid-February as a dark horse candidate to make a trip to a program-first Final Four.
But the Tigers have proven they can keep pace with just about anyone in the country this season. Then top-five Florida, Alabama and Kansas can attest.
Missouri has the size advantage Thursday in Wichita, and plays a much more up-tempo game than Drake, which will try to slow MU down and grind out a win. Whoever gets through will match up with either 3-seed Texas Tech or 14-seed UNC Wilmington in the second round.
More: Missouri basketball wing Jacob Crews plans to return to Tigers next season
More: How will Drake try to beat Missouri basketball in NCAA Tournament? By slowing Tigers down
It’ll hit different players at different times.
Freshman Peyton Marshall said he got the buzz just before the Tigers’ name was called on Selection Sunday.
Pierce felt it when he saw the open practices and the fans already in seats.
“I mean, yeah, this is the real deal, being a part of it,” Pierce said. … “The environment, the atmosphere; it’s amazing.”
And Crews felt it when he saw the people standing in Missouri’s way.
“When I walked in, not really. Not until I passed Drake,” Crews said. “Drake was sitting there in the hall, and I saw the cameras and the media on the coach and everything, and they were just sitting there stretching and doing their own thing, and I was kind of just like, ‘Alright, we’re here now.’ I wasn’t expecting to see them until tomorrow.
“Seeing them early was kind of like, ‘oh, yeah, we’re here now.’ This is basketball. This is March Madness. It kind of woke me up.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Can Missouri basketball make its own March Madness memories?
