Missouri Kansas Betting - Missouri And Kansas Play For The Big 12 Title

The Missouri Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks both laid the Baylor Bears at their feet. As a result, these Border War rivals will play for the 2012 Big 12 regular season basketball championship.

Missouri Tigers @ Kansas Jayhawks - Saturday, February 25
Sports betting line: No line

Why Missouri Will Win

When you do your homework and assess your sports bet on this game, you need to be cognizant of the fact that Missouri is an extremely resilient team. Kansas outplayed Missouri for the first 38 minutes of the teams’ previous regular-season meeting on Feb. 4, taking a 71-66 lead into the final two minutes. However, the Tigers just kept coming at the Jayhawks, and their persistence was rewarded. Marcus Denmon, the playmaking guard who has been so noticeably fearless for Missouri this season, knocked down two big-time threes to give Missouri a 72-71 lead and – eventually – a 74-71 victory over Kansas. Denmon is part of a veteran core of starters that has given stability and cohesion to the Tigers this season under first-year coach Frank Haith, a frontrunner for the national coach of the year award.

Missouri embodies the kind of team that’s extremely hard to knock out. The Tigers are not a dominant team, but they stay in the ring until the very end and play with the energy needed to endure 40-minute games played at a blistering pace. The prospect of playing a road game at the intimidating Phog Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas, would disturb and unsettle many teams. It’s not likely to make Missouri flinch. This team will push Kansas to the limit, and if Denmon can stick a few more jumpers in crunch time, the Tigers will take the Big 12 title before they head off to the Southeastern Conference.

Why Kansas Will Win

The college basketball betting experts who follow Big 12 basketball know that while Missouri did win the first matchup between these teams in Columbia, Missouri, the Tigers received a definite stroke of luck with 1:43 left in that contest. Kansas forward Thomas Robinson – an NBA-ready performer who devastated Missouri in that game three weeks ago – made a spin move to the basket for a lay-up that appeared to put Kansas up by seven points, at 73-66. Instead, the far-side official called a charge when the Missouri defender clearly flopped. That one call swung momentum in the game; a proper no call would have given KU a three-possession advantage. Instead, Missouri found the gateway toward a final finishing kick and a 74-71 win.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Kansas will come out fired up in this game… not just because the Big 12 is on the line or because Missouri is a hated rival, but because the Jayhawks believe that they were wronged the last time these teams met. Kansas has every incentive to play its best game of the year. The Jayhawks won’t be mildly motivated; they’ll be supremely motivated.

Who Will Win

In Lawrence, on the Jayhawks’ home court, it’s naturally going to be tough for Missouri to win. The fact that Kansas is playing its best basketball of the season will make the task that much more difficult for the Tigers. It would be very surprising if Missouri won; pick Kansas to win the Big 12 once again.