Polls reveal Missouri is gaining respect around nation

~ Texas and Mizzou are the conference's only teams ranked in all three major polls.

DALLAS -- As always, the expectations are high for the Texas Longhorns after they won their second national championship in four years. The preseason hype for Missouri is a new experience.

Missouri is the only Big 12 team besides the unanimously top-ranked Longhorns listed in each of the three major preseason polls. The Tigers are coming off their third straight NCAA tournament appearance, but the 40 wins last season were their most since 1991.

They're not used to so much recognition early.

"We're going to have expectations externally that we really haven't had to deal with early in the season," Tigers coach Tim Jamieson said Thursday during the Big 12 coaches preseason conference call.

The Tigers are 10th through 14th in the three major polls, and were picked by Big 12 coaches to finish third in the league behind Texas and Nebraska, which along with Baylor also went to the College World Series last year.

Instead of the polls, Jamieson has pressed his team to focus on the day-to-day activities that come with preparing for the season.

"We're not going to talk about [polls] any more," he said. "That is not something we want to discuss in the dugout, at practice, in the clubhouse. ... It's a pat on the back, and it sure feels good, but it's not going to mean a lot if we're not there at the end of the year."

Missouri has all of its position starters back except All-Big 12 outfielder James Boone (.340, 8 home runs and 72 RBIs). The Tigers return their top two starting pitchers -- juniors Max Scherzer (9-4, 1.86 ERA) and Nathan Culp (9-2, 3.50), a left-hander.

Longhorns long on pitching

Texas lost five position starters, including three senior infielders. While they return six pitchers, they have to find a replacement for closer J. Brent Cox (8-3, 19 saves, 1.73).

"We have to move forward. We have to put an infield together and find a short reliever," said coach Augie Garrido, the winningest coach in college baseball with 1,486 victories -- 391 over the last nine seasons in Texas.

"We have a lot of new players that have a chance to make important contributions," Garrido said. "We're just getting ready to take the journey."

Baylor, which has to replace three top pitchers, was picked fourth by the Big 12 coaches, followed by Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Kansas, Texas Tech and Kansas State.

"It was really, really hard not to pick Missouri to win this league," said Baylor coach Steve Smith, who gave his preseason node to Texas, "until somebody beats them."

Nebraska won a school-record and NCAA-high 57 games last season. Among the Cornhuskers' 15 returning lettermen are pitchers Joba Chamberlain (10-2, 2.81), Johnny Dorn (12-2, 2.16) and Brett Jensen (3-5, 16 saves, 1.96).

"Mention those guys, that is comforting. That helps," Huskers coach Mike Anderson said. "Obviously, you like going into a year having your No. 1 pitcher back. And Dorn, last year we didn't talk much about him but had high expectations."

Oklahoma, with eight position starters and three starting pitchers back from another NCAA regional team, and Texas A&M have new head coaches.

Golloway manages to stay

Sunny Golloway led the Sooners to a 12-6 record as interim coach at the end of last season after coach Larry Cochell resigned after making racially insensitive comments. Oklahoma hired Gene Stephenson, but the same day he was hired, he decided to return to Wichita State. Four days later, Golloway had the interim tag lifted.

Rob Childress, Nebraska's pitching coach the last eight seasons, replaced the fired Mark Johnson at Texas A&M. The Aggies haven't been to the College World Series since 1999 and were second-to-last in the Big 12 last season.

"Talk about the Big 12, everybody is good," Childress said. "What makes good teams great is a blue-collar attitude, go and outwork people."

Oklahoma State, now in its third season under Frank Anderson, was 34-25 last season but finished under .500 in the Big 12 (12-15) for the first time.

Kansas plays the earliest opener in the Big 12, Wednesday at Hawaii-Hilo. Senior first baseman Jared Schweitzer (.366, 7 HRs, 32 RBIs) is among six returning starters.

Larry Hays goes into his 20th season at Texas Tech, which has to replace six position starters. Hays has 730 of his 1,425 victories (fourth among active coaches) with the Red Raiders.

"I'm happy to still be here," Hays said. "It's going to be a year where we're going to depend tremendously on new players. We have one obviously weakness, that's experience at this level."

For the players, not the coach.

Kansas State third-year coach Brad Hill can depend on 20 returning lettermen from last year's 30-25 squad. That includes eight pitchers, with the weekend starting rotation intact.