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1) Let's start with some of the stuff we don't talk about as often here. Mizzou wrestling had a big come from behind win over Oklahoma State yesterday, 21-20.
The Tigers got the win on back-to-back pins from Zach Elam and Noah Surtin. Mizzou was ranked 12th and Oklahoma State 10th coming into the match so you could see those flip-flopping and Brian Smith has the Tigers back in the top ten, where they've been for most of the last two decades. The match yesterday was a Big 12 Conference dual, thanks in large part to Oklahoma State and its head coach, John Smith.
"They were all pushing for it to happen. They see the big picture that the Big Ten has kind of separated itself a little," Brian Smith said last April when the move was announced. "The Big 12 has a lot of really good programs and with us coming in, we just add to that."
It's refreshing to know that in some places in college sports, people still try to do things for the greater good of the sport. Take heed, college football.
2) Missouri's second most successful program is about to begin another season. The Tiger softball team is in Leesburg, FL for five games this weekend. The Tigers will start with Penn State and UCONN on Friday, then face Wisconsin on Saturday before back-to-back games against ranked teams in Virginia Tech and Liberty. Larissa Anderson's team is ranked 10th in the preseason poll coming off hosting a Super Regional and finishing last year 13th. Alabama, Florida and Arkansas are SEC teams ranked ahead of Mizzou, but the Tigers absolutely have expectations of competing for a conference title. We'll have @ColeLeeMU interning and covering the team for us this season. Mizzou isn't at home until March 4 so we won't have regular game coverage until then, but it should be another season worth following for the softball program for sure.
3) On to the teams many of you follow more closely, Cuonzo Martin's team pulled one out in College Station on Saturday. The Tigers dealt Texas A&M its sixth straight loss with a 70-66 win that broke Mizzou's own four-game losing streak. Kobe Brown returned to being Kobe Brown, Amari Davis and Boogie Coleman hit some big shots and the Tigers avenged a come-from-ahead loss to the Aggies a couple of weeks ago. Big picture, it doesn't really mean a ton because this season isn't really headed anywhere, but winning is always better than losing. And it could help Mizzou move up the league standings a little bit. It seems crazy, but at 3-6 Missouri is actually a half-game out of 7th place in the SEC right now. The next two games are at Vanderbilt (4-6) and home against Ole Miss (3-7) and if Missouri can win those, it will be right around the middle of the league standings. Nobody sets preseason goals of finishing 7th or 8th, but considering where Mizzou spent much of the season, you've got to start somewhere. Five of the nine games remaining for Mizzou are against teams that are at least two games below .500 in league play.
4) Regardless of what anyone thinks, I'm fairly confident there has been no decision made on Cuonzo Martin's future. That will be done at the end of the season and not before. I'm not interested in advocating for or against Martin coming back. The decision will be made and we'll cover it and dive into what it means when we know. But I do not think it is a foregone conclusion. For a couple of weeks now, I've told people that I view the situation as similar to the one Barry Odom was in after the 2019 football season. While the on-court results haven't been great by any means, they've been good enough that I can make an argument Martin has done enough to earn one more season in which he's given the opportunity to show he's capable of turning things back in the right direction. But the biggest argument against another year is the general downward trend of the program and the complete lack of enthusiasm in the fanbase. Many have made up their minds and I understand what I write here won't make a difference. But I'm going to go ahead and use the next two points here to make the case for and against another year. I also think it's worth noting here that one of the big reasons Odom didn't get another year is that his relationship with his boss had deteriorated. Things were hardly peachy between Odom and Jim Sterk by the time he was let go in November of 2019. The relationship between Martin and Desiree Reed-Francois is, so far as I know, much better. Also worth mentioning: I'm taking the financial aspect out of this argument. Yes, it's a factor. But we all know what the contract and buyout situation is so I'm going to take a look at it outside of that aspect.
5) Let's talk about the reasons Martin deserves one more chance. He took over a terrible program. There's no arguing that. He got it turned around with the momentum of the Porter brothers helping land a highly regarded recruiting class and he had Mizzou back in the NCAA Tournament in his first season. But for all the positive PR and off-court momentum the Porters generated, the on-court contributions to the turnaround were very, very limited (one season of Jontay averaging 9.9 points and 6.8 rebounds). After two down years, Martin returned to the NCAA Tournament last year. Had you told Mizzou fans the day he was hired that Martin would be ten games over .500 and make two tournaments in his first four years, the vast majority of them would have taken that in a heartbeat and absolutely wouldn't have thought there was any chance he'd be on the hot seat in year five. When you look at the big picture view, just based on on-court results, you can certainly make a case that Martin did enough in his first four years to survive a down season in year five when he's turning over 80% of the roster. Add in the fact that the team has played better in the last month than it did in the previous two and you can argue on the side of progress being made earning him a chance to show it can continue. The man did take over a program that was an average of 14 games under .500 for three straight years and turn it into a competent, sometimes relevant program. That can't just be ignored.
