It was a pretty easy choice for the NCAA basketball game of the day this Saturday as No. 8 Kansas visits No. 4 Missouri in the only matchup of Top-10 teams on the day. It’s the 14th time they have met as Top-10 teams (KU leads 9-5).

Yet there are a few other reasons why this is the clear-cut most important game of the day and one of the biggest regular-season meetings in the history of this rivalry.

First off, Mizzou (20-2, 7-2) is tied with Baylor a game behind the Jayhawks (18-4, 8-1), who have won seven consecutive Big 12 regular-season titles. This will be the first time KU and MU have met with first place on the line since 2009. But perhaps most important to Tigers fans is that with Missouri going to the SEC next season, this edition of the Border War game will be the last time that the two rivals play in Columbia as Big 12 opponents. They play a second game in Lawrence on Feb. 25. KU-MU have been in the same league since 1908. And last but also least, ESPN’s College GameDay will be in Columbia for the first time. The last time ESPN’s college football version of that show visited Columbia it worked out pretty well: Mizzou upset No. 1 Oklahoma on Oct. 23, 2010.

I slipped to 7-3 on the side this year as I expected No. 1 Kentucky to have a bit of a trap game at LSU but the Tigers put up basically no fight. I did hit on the ‘under’, however.

Kansas at Missouri Betting Storylines

This game starts the toughest two-game stretch of the regular season for Kansas as it then visits No. 8 Baylor next Wednesday night – if the Jayhawks can sweep the two, the Big 12 title is all but theirs. Kansas bounced back from its lone conference loss, a shocker at Iowa State, with a rout of Oklahoma on Wednesday, 84-62. Star Thomas Robinson was his usual dominant self with 20 points and 17 rebounds – he’s your Big 12 Player of the Year and has a conference-leading 15 double-doubles. KU has now gone 225 games without consecutive defeats, the longest streak in the nation. Duke is next at 110 games.

Missouri has won two in a row and escaped 67-66 at Texas on Monday night so will be plenty rested. Michael Dixon scored 21 points (on 9-for-10 shooting), including the game-winning layup with 31 seconds left to lead the Tigers. Leading scorer Marcus Denmon gets most of the publicity for Mizzou, but senior forward Ricardo Ratliffe is having an amazing season. He is second on the team in scoring at 14.7 points per game and leads in rebounding at 6.7 rebounds per game but is, amazingly, shooting 75.1 percent from the field, by far tops in the nation. The single-season Division I record is 74.6 percent in the 1980-81 by former Oregon State star Steve Johnson. It should be great to watch he and Robinson go at it. Mizzou leads the nation in two-point field goal percentage.

Both of Mizzou’s losses have been on the road this year. At Mizzou Arena, the Tigers have won 12 in a row and this season are beating opponents by an average of nearly 26 points per game. But the Tigers also haven’t played any lock NCAA Tournament teams at home yet – the best team they have faced there is probably Texas and the Horns lost by 11 (the closest an opponent has come this season).

Kansas won both games against the Tigers a year ago, 103-86 in Lawrence and 70-66 in Columbia. That was Missouri’s last home loss and its only home defeat a year ago. Kansas has won five straight, 10 of the last 11 and 14 of the past 17 matchups with Missouri.

Kansas at Missouri Betting Odds and Trends

Missouri opened as a three-point favorite with the total at 147.5 on college basketball odds. Kansas is 11-10 ATS overall this season and 3-2 ATS in true road games. Missouri is 10-6-1 ATS overall and 5-3 at home. ‘Over/under’ records: KU 7-14, MU 9-8.

KU is 1-4 ATS in past five after a win. MU is 4-0-1 ATS in past five vs. teams with a winning record. The under is 8-0 in Kansas’ past eight road games. It is 4-0 in past four meetings in Missouri. The favorite is 4-0-1 ATS in past five meetings – all Kansas.

College Basketball Picks: Kansas at Missouri Betting Predictions

Kansas will be facing its fifth Top-10 team of the 2011-12 season and sixth ranked team overall – KU has won its past three vs. ranked teams. MU is 3-1 vs. ranked teams.

This all comes down to turnovers – Kansas has been known to be a bit sloppy in that regard, while Missouri is a fast-paced, pressing team that leads the Big 12 in turnover margin. KU leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense and is Top 10 nationally, so MU needs to get easy baskets off turnovers. If Kansas takes care of the ball, it wins. If not, it’s Mizzou. I think the Jayhawks do. Take them and the under.

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