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1) We're going to start with softball because how often do we have a chance to start with softball? Missouri earned the No. 7 national seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night. If the Tigers win the regional round, they host Super Regionals next weekend. If they win that, they're in the Women's College World Series for the first time since 2011, which was the third of three consecutive appearances.
Missouri made a run to the SEC Tournament championship game, giving the Tigers eight wins in their last ten games. And they probably needed every one of them. LSU, which Mizzou beat in extra innings in the tournament semifinals on Saturday, was the No. 9 national seed. Had Missouri lost that game, it's not hard to see the two teams switching places and the Tigers having to go on the road for Super Regionals next weekend.
Mizzou has now made the tournament every year in which it has been played under Larissa Anderson. This puts Anderson in the top three of current Mizzou head coaches in my opinion. We'll get to that list later on. But she now has some pressure. Mizzou has advanced out of the regional round just once in her previous four tournaments and hasn't yet made the WCWS. That's now the expectation. I'm not going to call it a failure if Missouri doesn't get there, but I've got no problem calling it a little bit of a letdown. Mizzou isn't a school that's traded in potential titles very often. When you have a team good enough to do it, you've got to take advantage. Especially in a sport where the program has shown that potential in the recent past.
2) What Anderson believes to be her team's greatest strength will be tested in postseason play. In response to a question about the postseason last night, she said what she really liked is that her pitching staff is healthy and rested. Laurin Krings has thrown 117 innings this year. The next two pitchers--Cierra Harrison and Marissa McCann--are right around 100. Then throw in closer Taylor Pannell, who is one save away from tying the Division One record for a season. Contrast that to LSU's Sydney Berzon, who has thrown 187 innings and went for more than 200 pitches in a 14-inning win over Alabama in the SEC Tournament.
Is it better to have one dominant pitcher or multiple pretty good ones? Krings might not be the ace for any of the other top eight teams. But not everyone has as many options as Anderson does either. The last time Mizzou made the WCWS, it happened largely because it had one of the best pitchers in the country taking the circle in Chelsea Thomas. But by the time the Tigers reached Oklahoma City, Thomas was gassed and there were no other options. This team has options...but does it have any individual good enough to get Mizzou to that point?
I'm not saying one is better than the other. Just saying Missouri does it in a little different way than some and it will be interesting to see.
3) I said over the weekend that Jenna Laird made perhaps the best individual play I've seen out of Missouri all year long.
In my opinion, there are probably three other potential nominees for the top Mizzou play. Here they are:
How would you rank those? What am I missing?
4) As long as we're doing end of the year lists, let's go with my top five games of the year:
Football: Mizzou beats Kansas State 30-27
Football: Mizzou beats Ohio State 14-3 in Cotton Bowl
Softball: Mizzou beats LSU in extra innings to reach SEC Championship
Basketball: Mizzou overcomes 20-point deficit to beat Minnesota
Baseball: Mizzou scores three in 9th for 11-10 win to complete sweep over Florida
Again, open to suggestions.
5) How about the top three teams at Missouri this year?
In order, right now, I'd go football, softball, volleyball. For some, football's spot atop this list is cemented. I'd argue softball has a chance to top it, but to do so probably needs to reach the championship series of the NCAA Tournament. If Mizzou does that, I've got a hard time arguing anything's better, even though far more will remember the 11-2 football season. Dawn Sullivan took the volleyball team back to the NCAA Tournament. Either way, I think these are pretty clearly the top three seasons for Mizzou sports in the 2023-24 calendar year. They're also the three most improved programs. A year ago, those three teams combined to go 12-38 in SEC play and 50-52 overall. This year, they were 28-22 in league play and 72-30 overall. Pretty impressive turnarounds.
