Missouri coach Mike Anderson, left, and players huddle up in the second half against Kansas on Monday, February 7, 2011 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Jesse Newell: Welcome back to the GameDay Cram Session, as Kansas is taking on Missouri on Saturday morning at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.

Tom, what do you think is the best explanation for Missouri’s drastic home (17-0) and road (2-7) splits this season? Usually teams that perform that well at home are a little better on the road than that.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Missouri coach Mike Anderson, left, and players huddle up in the second half against Kansas on Monday, February 7, 2011 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Tom Keegan: The Tigers win when they force turnovers and shoot well from the outside. A team that relies on those two factors is going to have a greater home-road disparity. It’s easier to rattle teams at home, with the crowd turning up the heat, than on the road. It’s also easier to slap at the ball at home than on the road because if the arm gets slapped instead of the ball it’s not going to get called a foul as often at home as on the road.

Teams that don’t have low-post scoring forces also don’t do as well on the road because the road-home disparity isn’t as great for shots taken down low as for outside shots. Long-range shooters are most comfortable shooting on their home courts with their familiar background.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Brady Morningstar connects on a three-pointer from the corner over Missouri forward Steve Moore during the first half on Monday, Feb. 7, 2011 at Allen Fieldhouse.

That’s one reason you tend to see lower three-point shooting percentages in games played in domes. Another reason is generally only big games are played in domes and good teams generally play in big games.

JN: I hadn’t thought about this, but Mizzou Arena is probably the closest thing the Big 12 has to a dome. It’s not, obviously, but it is an open-air arena with a lot of room behind both baskets.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Sherron Collins puts up a free throw in front of a lively Missouri student section during the second half, Saturday, March 6, 2010 at Mizzou Arena.

It’s a background the Missouri players are obviously used to and one that opposing teams might struggle with.

Switching to KU, if you had to guess, who do you think will get the most minutes the rest of this season: Tyshawn Taylor, Elijah Johnson or Josh Selby? Who would you guess will get the second-most minutes from that group?

TK: I’ll answer the easy part of that first. Josh Selby will play the least. Right now, Selby’s not as good offensively, defensively, or in transition in each direction as the other two point guards. As a sophomore, he might be better than both, but for right now, he’s a distant third. My guess is Elijah Johnson and Tyshawn Taylor will play a similar amount, but if I had to go with one, it would be Elijah Johnson.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Elijah Johnson gets up for an alley-oop jam against Texas A&M during the second half on Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at Allen Fieldhouse.

JN: Interesting. Self did let Johnson play through his second-half mistakes against Texas A&M, and the coach was rewarded for it, as the sophomore played great defense and helped disrupt the Aggies’ offense. We’ll see if Johnson continues to get that long leash the rest of this season.

All right, Tom, what’s your prediction for this game?

TK: Missouri 88, Kansas 86. Kansas wants an outright title and the rivalry means a lot to the Jayhawks, but a victory here means even more to Missouri. This will be a really tough environment and if Kansas can win this game, that bodes well for their chances of making a deep run.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Brady Morningstar wrestles for a loose ball with Missouri guard J.T. Tiller during the first half, Saturday, March 6, 2010 at Mizzou Arena.

JN: I’m going with KU by three.

KU most likely will turn the ball over above its season average on Saturday, but the Jayhawks can overcome that if they simply keep pounding the ball into the paint.

Missouri doesn’t have a way to stop KU’s big men. In the Jayhawks’ 103-86 victory over the Tigers on Feb. 7, KU’s three main frontcourt players (Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris, Thomas Robinson) combined for 47 points on 16-for-20 shooting (80 percent) with 22 rebounds. In that game, MU as a team only had 21 rebounds.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas forward Thomas Robinson delivers a tomahawk jam between Missouri defenders Steve Moore, left, and Justin Safford during the second half on Monday, Feb. 7, 2011 at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Tigers will keep it close with their quick runs and frenzied defensive play, but I think KU’s bigs will be efficient enough to lead the Jayhawks to the win.

OK, Tom, who’s your Hawk to Rock?

TK: Tyrel Reed.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Kansas guard Tyrel Reed shoots over Missouri's Marcus Denmon on Monday, February 7, 2011 at Allen Fieldhouse.

He always plays great against Missouri. He grew up hating the state, the university and especially the basketball program.

JN: Wow, three straight games picking Tyrel. It’s worked out well for you so far.

I’ll go with Markieff Morris.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Kansas forward Markieff Morris dunks on Missouri on Monday, February 7, 2011 in Allen Fieldhouse.

The KU big man seems to have a tendency to follow up a lousy rebounding game with a great one. Here are his rebounding numbers the last six games: 11, 0, 15, 7, 10, 3.

So, if the pattern holds to form, we should be able to mark Markieff down for double-digit rebounds against Missouri (already the worst rebounding team in the Big 12).

Give me a double-double on Saturday for the junior forward.

Tracking the picks

Predictions tally (through 30 games)
Tom: 26-4 record, 336 points off (11.2 points off/game)
Jesse: 28-2 record, 363 points off (12.1 points off/game)

Hawk to Rock

Tom Keegan
Longwood: Tyrel Reed (6th in Keegan ratings)
Valparaiso: Marcus Morris (1st)
North Texas: Tyrel Reed (6th)
Texas A&M-CC: Marcus Morris (5th)
Ohio: Markieff Morris (3rd)
Arizona: Marcus Morris (1st)
UCLA: Tyshawn Taylor (1st)
Memphis: Markieff Morris (4th)
Colorado State: Tyshawn Taylor (2nd)
USC: Tyrel Reed (6th)
Cal: Marcus Morris (6th)
UT Arlington: Tyrel Reed (8th)
Miami: Marcus Morris (3rd)
UMKC: Markieff Morris (9th)
Michigan: Thomas Robinson (8th)
Iowa State: Tyshawn Taylor (7th)
Nebraska: Josh Selby (9th)
Baylor: Josh Selby (3rd)
Texas: Marcus Morris (3rd)
Colorado: Markieff Morris (5th)
Kansas State: Marcus Morris (4th)
Texas Tech: Markieff Morris (4th)
Nebraska: Mario Little (7th)
Missouri: Tyrel Reed (7th)
Iowa State: Markieff Morris (2nd)
Kansas State: Brady Morningstar (2nd)
Colorado: Marcus Morris (3rd)
Oklahoma State: Marcus Morris (1st)
Oklahoma: Tyrel Reed (3rd)
Texas A&M: Tyrel Reed (1st)
Average Hawk to Rock: 4.4th in Keegan ratings

Jesse Newell
Longwood: Markieff Morris (1st in Keegan ratings)
Valparaiso: Brady Morningstar (8th)
North Texas: Tyrel Reed (6th)
Texas A&M-CC: Thomas Robinson (2nd)
Ohio: Tyshawn Taylor (4th)
Arizona: Brady Morningstar (8th)
UCLA: Markieff Morris (6th)
Memphis: Thomas Robinson (1st)
Colorado State: Markieff Morris (1st)
USC: Thomas Robinson (2nd)
Cal: Markieff Morris (2nd)
UT Arlington: Brady Morningstar (10th)
Miami: Tyshawn Taylor (8th)
UMKC: Josh Selby (1st)
Michigan: Tyrel Reed (4th)
Iowa State: Marcus Morris (1st)
Nebraska: Thomas Robinson (3rd)
Baylor: Tyshawn Taylor (6th)
Texas: Josh Selby (8th)
Colorado: Jeff Withey (7th)
Kansas State: Tyrel Reed (8th)
Texas Tech: Thomas Robinson (1st)
Nebraska: Tyrel Reed (5th)
Missouri: Markieff Morris (3rd)
Iowa State: Brady Morningstar (4th)
Kansas State: Marcus Morris (4th)
Colorado: Josh Selby (6th)
Oklahoma State: Elijah Johnson (2nd)
Oklahoma: Markieff Morris (2nd)
Texas A&M: Thomas Robinson (7th)
Average Hawk to Rock: 4.3rd in Keegan ratings