The most awkward Senior Night in the history of senior nights

In case you haven't heard, Mike Anderson has elected to start his four seniors: Marshall Brown, Jason Horton, Darryl Butterfield and Vaidotas Volkus, along with Matt Lawrence for Senior Night on Wednesday. 

I think this has to be the consensus for least popular starting lineup in MU basketball history, right? Brown and Horton fell well short of the expectations that fans and coaches had for them when they hit campus four years ago, Butterfield has proven to be nothing but trouble and as hard as V' plays and as much unintentional comedic value that he offers, he's really just an awful player. 

So how many fans do you think will boo these guys during the pre-game ceremonies? And more importantly, what do you think the appropriate response to give them is?

 In all fairness, many of the problems with the basketball program have not been their fault. They didn't create the Quin catastrophe. And it's not their fault that they were rated so highly coming out of high school by the various recruiting websites. 

But these guys did quit on their team  and coach on multiple occasions throughout their careers. When I remember this class I think the games that I remember most will be the games against Texas A&M in '05, Baylor and Iowa State in '06 and K-State this year. All games where these guys just rolled over and clearly quit trying. And I haven't even mentioned Athena yet.

I can't justify booing a kid in front of his parents, but I'm not sure I can stomach cheering these guys when they've shown so little commitment to the team throughout their careers. 

Volkus I can cheer for because he always gave a pretty solid effort, but like I said, he just kinda sucked. Brown has been a leader in the community and on the team despite his relatively pathetic play over the course of his career. He was involved in Athenagate, but I don't think I can condemn him for making one mistake. 

But when Horton and Butters have their names called on Wednesday night I believe I will watch in silence. Is that appropriate?   

Be sure to check out the rest of Watson's blog today. She gives the rundown on Leo's absurd perceived NBA dreams (I'm officially nominating Leo for dumbest player in Mizzou history), and sheds some light on Keon Lawrence's frustrating season that he seems to have finally come to grips with:

"Honestly folks, Keon had one foot out the door last month. He was terribly homesick, frustrated with the way the team was playing and worried about where he’d fit in next season. But over the last couple weeks, Lawrence has emerged out of Stefhon Hannah’s shadow and found his voice and his leadership."

"Oh, and you can thank Jeremy Maclin for some of Lawrence’s newfound confidence. The two have become close, and Maclin, who shares some experiences with Lawrence, talked his new friend off the ledge several times."

You gotta love our footballers. Now they're even taking care of our basketball team. I'm personally thrilled that Keon has decided to stick with Mizzou. I can see this guy really growing into his leadership role over the next couple seasons. He's dealt with the frustrations of losing and is clearly sick of it. I think we'll see him take a lot of the younger players under his wing the next two years and tell them about what it takes to compete in the Big 12. Remember how Rucker and Zo Williams made a pact to change the culture of Mizzou football after frustrating freshman and sophomore seasons? Couldn't you picture Keon and J.T. trying to do the same thing?