The Roos

The Kansas City Roos are coming to town on Saturday.  They represent the University of Missouri @ Kansas City, but they are to be referred to as the Kansas City Roos.

I dunno.  You're all bent outta shape about UMKC, but you want to be called the Roos.

Go figure.

They began in D1 hoops in 1989.  They have never made the NCAA Tournament.  Since 2000, they have had 6 winning seasons. They were starting to make a little progress under Billy Donlon (think Wright State and literal non-step substitutions. Should have been a hockey coach).  Donlon was 19-12 in 21-22 and then decided to go to Clemson as an assistant.

They brought in Marvin Menzies, with pretty high expectations given where the program was at the time. Menzies was highly successful at New Mexico State, making 5 tournament appearances in 9 seasons.  He went next to UNLV, where he took over right after Todd Simon's stint as interim coach.  He was .500 there, fired, was an assistant for a couple years, and then went to the Roos.

They had a rough year last year.  A ton of injuries and they were 11-21 with a 314 kenpom, their worst in 10 years and that time it got the dude fired.  Then, they lost their top two scorers to the portal.

They were picked 8th in the official Summit League poll pre-season and Blue Ribbon had them 9th.  The Summit is the 21st-ranked conference and the MAC is the 20th.

BG and KC have played once.  In 2016, the Roos beat BG with a last second basket. That was Huger's 2nd year and part of a 4-game losing streak to start the season.

Lest we forget, BG has a terrible recent track record against teams represented by a Kangaroo.  Also, UMKC has twice given UT an early disqualifying loss in a year they thought they might earn an at-large bid, including last year.

The Roos are 5-6 this year, but only 2-6 against D1 teams. Their wins were over SEMO (352) and Lindenwood (339).  So no quality wins.  On the other hand, they have lost to Kansas, Baylor, Colorado State and UNC-Greensboro, along with Brown (248) and Middle Tennessee (241), both on neutral floors.

Their Kenpom is 268. ESPN says BG has a 79% chance of winning and Kenpom makes it 76%.  BG is a 5.5-point favorite.

To date, they have played the #61 schedule in D1.  BG has played #294.

They have played at a slow pace, at 67 possessions a game.  They are struggling on the offensive end, with .99 points per possession.  (1.045 is D1 average so far). They do 2 things well on offense--they make 3FGs (#127) and they try a lot, and they rebound (#66).  They don't get to the line much and they are #344 in making FTS (BG is #353) and #323 in turnovers. 

On defense, they allow 1.12 points per possession. Their strength is rebounding, #36. They do not defend 2FG (#304) or 3FG (#337) well, don't force turnovers (#241) and give up a ton of FTs (#352).  Until BG starts hitting FTs, they aren't really ready to take advantage of that.

Their leading scorer and rebounder is Jamer Brown, a highly ranked JUCO transfer and Blue Ribbon's pick as Summit newcomer of the year. He's scoring 14.2 on 50% and 27% shooting.  Also 5.5 rebounds per game.

Next is Anderson Kopp, their top returning player. He is scoring 13.1 PPG on 48% and 25% shooting, adding 5.1 RPG and has 32 assists, tied for the team lead. He's a 6'6" G.  FWIW, he did not play in their last game.

Cameron Faas is their third-leading scorer and a major 3FG threat.  He is making 53% of his D1 3FG attempts.

So, this is one BG would expect to win. One issue is health...it will be interesting to see who is able to go.  BG had 4 guys in street clothes last game.