Missouri

Mike Anderson was hired as Missouri's men's basketball coach yesterday, taking over after Quin Snyder's resignation last month. Anderson, who led Alabama-Birmingham to a 24-9 record and an NCAA tournament appearance this season, is the first black head coach hired on a permanent basis in a major sport at Missouri. He is a former assistant to Nolan Richardson at Arkansas and played for Richardson at Tulsa. As coach at UAB for four years, Anderson put together an 89-41 record with three NCAA tourney appearances.

Just as it did last season and the one before that, Missouri brought its A-game out of the cobwebs for Kansas. Playing with a dislocated shoulder, sixth man Tyron Lee hit two free throws with 11.4 seconds to play as the host Tigers upset the No. 3 Jayhawks for the third straight time at home, winning, 74-73, last night. "They're a top 10 team when we play them, in this building at least," Kansas guard Ryan Robertson said. "It's unfortunate for them that they can't duplicate that performance every time they step out on the floor.

Alabama thought it would have to contend with Missouri's towering twins in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament. With one of them suspended, 6-10 center Roy Rogers easily sent the Crimson Tide into the third round. Rogers had 20 points, 13 rebounds and nine blocks last night as Alabama beat the visiting Tigers, 72-49. The Tide advanced to tomorrow night's game at South Carolina, which beat Vanderbilt, 80-70. The winner heads to the tournament semifinals in New York.

It wasn't as if Memphis coach John Calipari had forgotten what freshman guard Tyreke Evans could do once the season started. Evans, who played at American Christian Academy in Aston, came to Memphis as one of the nation's most-heralded recruits. Still, Calipari was cautious about asking Evans to step into the point-guard spot vacated by last year's freshman sensation, Derrick Rose, who led the Tigers to the national championship game against Kansas and then became the top pick in the NBA draft.

Rooster Cogburn had it. So does Missouri, perhaps the ugliest, least appreciated, most maligned No. 1 seed ever to lurch within one victory of the Final Four. But true grit can mask a great many flaws, as the Tigers did in their 98-88, overtime victory over fourth-seeded Syracuse last night in an NCAA West Regional semifinal game at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Missouri plays Arizona tomorrow afternoon for the West championship and a ticket to the Final Four in Charlotte, N.C. "The main thing is that our team has a lot of grit," Missouri coach Norm Stewart said after the latest in a long line of improbable successes.

Two picture-perfect, one-handed lobs by Aaron Miles set up easy baskets by Christian Moody and J.R. Giddens, and all of a sudden there seemed little doubt that No. 3 Kansas would rally to beat Missouri. Giddens' bucket gave Kansas a nine-point lead - after trailing by eight at halftime. It got the crowd screaming and sent the host Jayhawks rolling to a 73-61 victory over their archrival last night. "I was sitting on the bench, but I was yelling my lungs out," said Wayne Simien, who had 22 points and eight rebounds.

Iowa State, truly, was saved by the bell. The Cyclones, finishing up a dismal first half capped by the ejection of coach Tim Floyd just before the intermission, regrouped and rallied to upset No. 17 Missouri in the first round of the Big Eight Tournament yesterday in Kansas City, Mo. "It's kind of like the fighter getting knocked down just before the bell," assistant coach Terry Reed said. "If that half hadn't come, the situation could have really deteriorated. " Iowa State made just one of its first 19 shots, but Missouri failed to capitalize, hitting only four of its first 18. After 12 minutes, the Tigers held an 8-5 lead.

A charter plane carrying Missouri players to the game at Nebraska went off the runway in wet conditions last evening at Columbia (Mo.) Regional Airport. No one was injured in the mishap, which happened just after 5 p.m., said airport safety officer Robert Bias. "The pilot made a tight turn, and the left main gear slipped into the mud," Bias said. The plane was pulled out of the mud so passengers could reboard the Champion Air 727 last night, he said. Chad Moller, a spokesman for the Missouri athletic department, said the plane had been getting into position on the runway and moving at a very low speed.

NEW YORK - Villanova wasn't supposed to win last night at Madison Square Garden. So when the Wildcats, who had lost two of their previous three games, trailed 10th-ranked, unbeaten Missouri by 16 points with a little over 12 minutes to go in the first game of the Jimmy V Classic doubleheader, well, it seemed about right. But 11 minutes later the Wildcats were within seven, with the ball. A turnover coming out of a timeout when Maalik Wayns got trapped in the corner and threw a pass that sailed untouched into the backcourt, pretty much derailed their comeback.

Greg Folgia, who helped pitch Christopher Dock to the PIAA Class A baseball championship last spring, signed a letter of intent yesterday to play at the University of Missouri. Folgia signed in the auditorium at Dock, a small Mennonite school, before about 50 people, including a number of his classmates. Missouri is a member of the Big Twelve Conference, as is Texas, the defending College World Series champion. His other suitors included Kentucky, East Carolina, Villanova and Pittsburgh.

CLARKSVILLE, Mo. - The fast-rising Mississippi River made travel difficult Saturday, on the water as well as for those simply trying to cross it. The Mississippi, Missouri, and other Midwestern rivers in at least six states have surged since heavy rains drenched the region over the last few days. At least two deaths were blamed on flash flooding and a third was suspected, and crews in Indiana were searching for a man whose car was swept away. The National Weather Service predicted what it characterized as major flooding on the Mississippi from the Quad Cities through just north of St. Louis by the weekend, with similar projections farther south into early in the week.

JUST ONE league starting Thursday and it's one of the better ones at the mid-major level. The Missouri Valley Conference coined its tournament "Arch Madness" because it takes place in St. Louis. It also frequently provides hair-raising action, such as last year when top-seeded Wichita State fell in the semifinals and Creighton won the championship in overtime. Missouri Valley Regular-season champ: Creighton, which had been ranked as high as 11th back in November, beat Wichita State on the final day of the regular season to claim its first outright crown since 2001.

ST. LOUIS - The Army Corps of Engineers on Friday began reducing the flow from a Missouri River reservoir, a move expected to worsen low-water conditions on the Mississippi River and potentially bring barge traffic to a halt within weeks. The Missouri flows into the Mississippi around a bend north of St. Louis. One result of this year's drought, the worst in decades, has been a big drop in water levels on both rivers. The corps announced this month that it would reduce the outflow from the Gavins Point Dam near Yankton, S.D., to protect the upper Missouri basin.

Malvern Prep graduate Ryan Nassib threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Alec Lemon with 20 seconds to go, capping a 21-point fourth quarter as Syracuse spoiled Missouri's home finale with a 31-27 win Saturday night. Lemon had 12 receptions for 244 yards and two scores, including a 13-yard catch that tied it at 17 earlier in the fourth. After trailing by 17-3 early, the Orange (6-5) followed up on a 45-26 upset of previously unbeaten Louisville a week earlier and became bowl-eligible for the second time in three seasons.

Is it a symptom of fractiousness plaguing the nation? Evidence of rugged individualism by American patriots? Or a problem with people clueless about the Internet? Since the election, a bunch of malcontents (not that many, really) have filed petitions through a White House website with an ominous request. They want Obama to allow their states to secede from the Union. Not that the president has the power to make that happen. But that's not the problem. It's the number of petitions filed on behalf of individual states.

% of               Obama   Romney    State vote   Obama   Pct.   Romney   Pct.   Electors   Electors    Alabama 99   790,503   38   1,248,564   61   0   9    Alaska 99   90,743   42   120,329   55   0   3    Arizona 99   713,858   43   902,831   55   0   11    Arkansas 98   390,245   37   640,075   61   0   6    ...

WELCOME TO the new digs. On Saturday, Missouri hosts Georgia, while Texas A&M will host Florida. These are not intersectional matchups. They count in the SEC standings. The way this stuff is headed, one day you might just see San Diego State in South Philly playing a Big East tilt against Temple. Everyone understands these moves are all about the cash. It's why Nebraska is now in the Big Ten and Colorado's affiliated with the Left Coast. But it's not as if the SEC added Southern California or Oklahoma.

NEW ORLEANS - As the remnants of Hurricane Isaac pushed their way up the Mississippi valley on Saturday, spinning off severe thunderstorms and at least four tornadoes, some on the Gulf Coast were impatient with the pace of restoring power days after the storm dragged through the state. While New Orleans streets were bustling again and workers were returning to offshore oil rigs, thousands of evacuees couldn't return home to flooded low-lying areas of Louisiana and more than 400,000 sweltering electricity customers in the state remained without power.

MISSOURI Senate candidate Todd Akin caused a firestorm over the weekend when he explained why he believes there are no exceptions that would allow abortion, even in cases of rape: "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down" and not get pregnant. Akin may have been referencing some of the ancient Greek texts that had similar strange views about how the human body functions. For example, people in ancient Greece believed that hysteria was caused by the womb detaching itself and wandering around the body, causing all kinds of problems.