A Thursday night date in St. Louis is where Cinderella goes to die. Missouri State needs a win Saturday to live.
"The play-in round" is a low point for the bottom four teams in the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings, when they need a victory to even be part of the main party at the league tournament, which begins Friday, March 4.
If the past is any indicator, it shows that an appearance at Arch Madness via the play-in round will be a short one. And one the Missouri State Bears have been visiting much too often in the last eight years.