ADVERTISEMENT

The movie Major League and this basketball team

So many comparisons. Our coach probably told DRF he needed to think about it. Told her he has a guy on the other line interested in white walls and will call back. Our players when they announced most of us probably said who are these freakin guys. Our Willie Mays Hays who can run like mays and hit like hays, Hodge, finally coming around. Our announcer sobering up and saying we are in it. This team actually has a shot at doing something we have not seen in awhile. Make the tourney and win a couple games. Ahh yes we might have that one fan say, we will blow it in the playoffs. Going to be fun ride!!!!!

BASKETBALL QUICK THOUGHTS ON MIZZOU VS. OLE MISS AT THE HALF

-I want to see that Aidan Shaw alley-oop play to start every game from now on.

-D'Moi Hodge is back to being a human flamethrower. It's like he's been saving all his makes for this particular game. I've written about how important it is for Kobe to play up to his potential each night for everything to go right for Mizzou. But D'Moi has to do his job, too. He's doing it extremely well tonight.

-I've said it before but I'll say it again: Isiaih Mosley and Mo Diarra look exactly like what this team needed. There hasn't been any stagnation in the offense -- it's especially promising that Mosley seems to have shaken off the rust from the 3-point line. The Tigers are keeping pace on the boards. When you let those two players help a team that was already good without them, you have a team that can be very good.

-This shouldn't come as too much as a surprise, but Ole Miss, a team missing its starting point guard in Matthew Murrell, is on pace to cough up double-digit turnovers. Mizzou's in their face all night long and its helped in building up the lead. But defensively, it seems like the Tigers are taking the same approach they did against Vanderbilt: don't foul, even if it means letting them score in the paint. Mizzou's making too many 3s for OM to keep up anyway.

-Nick Honor is doing the Lord's work out there. I don't think he had a single shot attempt until the last few minutes of the half but was still making a big impact by setting guys up and spearheading the press. I believe Dennis Gates when he says this is an unselfish team.

-Mizzou's playing well but is letting Ole Miss hang around. They probably need to go on a run to start the second half.
Screenshot_20230124_065722.png

NEW STORY TEN THOUGHTS FOR MONDAY MORNING

1) When last you read these thoughts, Missouri had not taken a quarterback out of the transfer portal. That changed on Friday when former Miami signal caller Jake Garcia committed to Mizzou. Garcia's addition is interesting on a few levels. First, let's just talk about what it means for the QB competition. Garcia and Sam Horn will split reps in spring football (which is probably only about six weeks away). Then Gabarri Johnson will hit campus in June. And at some point before fall camp (I don't know exactly when) Brady Cook should be healthy. It's not realistic to think Johnson is a major part of the conversation this year. So it's really a three-way competition between Garcia, Cook and Horn. There are arguments to be made that all three could have an edge:

Cook--Experience. And if nothing else, Eli Drinkwitz has shown he likes to lean on experience
Horn--He's been the future for a couple years now. He's always been the one that was supposed to be the centerpiece of Drinkwitz's rebuild
Garcia--He's the new guy. You don't bring in transfers for no reason. And he was the highest-rated of the three out of high school.

I don't have a clue who will win the job. I just hope we're allowed to see some of spring football to have the first clue what any of them look like.

2) At least one of the three almost certainly won't be on Missouri's roster next season. That's saying nothing bad about any of them and not trying to push any of them out the door. But quarterback is the only position where only one guy plays (and we've learned over the last couple of years, it's going to take something monumental for more than one guy to play). All three want to start. All three can be starters in college (say what you want, but Cook was a middle of the road type SEC starter; he can be a starter for a college football team and even some Power Five teams).

If Cook wins the job: Is Horn willing to wait another year? The interesting thing is Cook even has a year after THIS one. He was only a redshirt sophomore this season.

If Horn wins the job: Would Cook be willing to stick around to be the backup? Most guys who have already been a starter and lost their job wouldn't be. If Horn wins the job, it pretty much means Cook isn't going to start again in his career here barring injury. This is the only scenario where you would think about Garcia leaving because Horn is younger than him, so if Horn's the starter, it might mean Garcia never would be. But he's already transferred once, he'd have to get a waiver to do so again and the NCAA has said it's going to be stingier with waivers. If he wanted to transfer again, Garcia might have to drop down a level.

If Garcia wins the job: Could Missouri lose Cook AND Horn? Same scenario applies for Cook here, but with Horn, this is now a guy who is only one year ahead of him rather than two. If Garcia's your starter, Horn's probably looking at waiting until year four to take over. That seems...doubtful to me.

3) No new players can enter the transfer portal now until May 1, except for those who have already graduated. Graduate transfers can enter the portal at any time. But other than that May 1-15 is the only time players can enter the portal. As of today, we've got Missouri at 91 scholarship players. Again, we're not sure that's exactly right. It could be slightly less than that. But if all of the signed players show up, Mizzou is a handful of players over the limit. They have to be at 85 by the first day of fall camp. So you're looking at somewhere around six guys who have to either transfer out or not be on scholarship next year. And that doesn't even include anyone Missouri could add in the portal going forward. So you could easily still be looking at close to ten MORE players who have to transfer out.

4) What does Mizzou still need in the portal? I still think they could use a tight end, though that may not be something they take. I think they need at least one more offensive lineman and maybe two. I think an edge rusher is still a possibility and I'm not ruling out running back, though they may be okay standing pat there. So I think you're looking at three or four more additional transfers in at some point before fall camp. Which means somewhere around eight to ten guys leaving the roster.

Regarding Mosley

I know he didn't make any of his 3 point shots last night. But did y'all see the amount of space he created on those shots? He simply does things with the ball that not even my boy Gholston can do. Mosley knows how to set his defender up and get him off balance.

He'll get Shaw and Diarra easy rim runs with how much attention other teams pay to him. The offense will look alot more fluid once Gates find the right players to put around him. I actually wouldn’t mind him out there with East, Diarra, Shaw and Carter. A little shooting, some size and some creativity with East and Mosley..

FOOTBALL RECRUITING ACC and SEC visits planned for Florida 2024 four-star QB Adrian Posse

Posse should be visiting Mizzou soon to throw in person for the staff. Update on Rivals:

The basketball team long

To start off with I’m old enough to remember Sparky as our head coach and when coach Gates was hired I thought Cleveland st wtf is that the best we can do? So I looked at the schedule and thought how many losses we would have like the UMCK tragedies in the past. Now I see some things that have not been presented in the past for awhile.

First coach Gates looks professional and so does his staff dressed in suits and ties and not pull over shirts and such looking like a fan and that may not mean much to others but to me it does. And on the side line acts professional you don’t see him whine and cry like Musselman at Arkansas.

Second he has proven he can coach to me and I can’t emphasize that enough, he has put together a team of young men that on any given day can beat anybody. With not many who would start or play for the likes of Kentucky. And I read the Q&A with Drew and a question was asked about when a 5 star would be gotten by CG. My bet is sooner rather than later.

Finally my enthusiasm for Missouri basketball is back and I can’t wait for tonight to tip off and I hope we win by 30.

MIZ~ZOU
ADVERTISEMENT

Filter

ADVERTISEMENT