Lot of this might be a repeat because we've been pretty active here with the recruiting news and such of late:
1. Let's start with basketball. It's a gigantic week for Cuonzo Martin's team. Tomorrow is Xavier and Saturday is Illinois. Xavier is decent, not great. Illinois is a lot better than the record indicates and is a brutal matchup for Missouri. The goal is 2-0, the expectation is 1-1, 0-2 is bad news. If I had to forecast it today, I think Missouri beats Xavier and loses to Illinois. If they go 2-0, this is an NIT team I think. If they go 0-2, this is a sub .500 team. At 1-1, I'll withhold judgment.
2. A 2-0 week would not only help the team but might energize the fanbase. We're not at Kim Anderson levels of apathy, but there's just no real buzz around this team. I'm as guilty of it as anyone. It doesn't seem like basketball season. Part of that is that the NCAA Tournament seems like a pipe dream and after going back to having meaningful games all year last year, it's kind of hard to get up for a team that you just really can't see going anywhere. Another part is probably the schedule. There are some good games, but Iowa State is the closest thing to a marquee game before Braggin' Rights and that was six weeks ago. I'm not talking about attendance here (although that is predictably down as well). I'm just talking about general excitement. I'll be honest, I have a hard time getting into college basketball before Braggin' Rights most years...but it's more true this year than in the past. And I'm certainly not alone. Missouri fans don't seem to be paying any attention.
3. Let's talk about Braggin' Rights. I so much want this game to be good again. I want it to mean something. I want people to care. And I'm not talking about the people on this board or even Missouri or Illinois fans. I want the country to care. Because it's a fun rivalry and a hell of an event to attend in person. But the shine has kind of come off of it. Part of it is that Missouri never seems to win. A bigger part is that both teams haven't been good at the same time in a long time. It's been four years since EITHER team was ranked and six years since both were ranked. There are some great storylines behind this one with Cuonzo and Mark Smith and Jeremiah Tilmon and Javon Pickett and the rivalry has regained some steam. But the teams are going to have to get better for anyone outside of the area to care.
4. On to football now. The main storyline this week is obviously recruiting. Let's start big picture and then we'll zero in on some things. The early signing period has really changed recruiting. Last year, we were all interested to see how it would go. We probably won't know for a few years definitively, but this is now National Signing Day. The only kids that are waiting till February are either the elite guys who are at no risk of losing a spot or guys that might be qualification risks. I'd expect pretty much every kid who is verbally committed to a Power Five school to sign this week. If he doesn't, either he's a qualification risk or he's not fully committed and the coaches are going to look elsewhere. But it's almost misleading to call this the early signing period. This is the signing period. The first Wednesday in February is now like the additional signing period.
5. Missouri's got 17 guys on the commitment list if you include Kelly Bryant and Jonathan Nance. I think they'll add at least five to that this week. I'm not going to get into predictions just yet because we'll have a story that looks at some of those on Wednesday morning, but I think we could see 22 commitments/signatures by the end of the week. I think Missouri looks to add an offensive linemen, two or three defensive linemen, a linebacker and potentially a quarterback this week. That will leave maybe three to five spots for February. Chester Graves is the only guy I'm confident they'll just wait for. Other than that, the whole board may change after Friday.
6. We've written the last couple days about the open coaching spot. Barry Odom said he won't do anything until after the bowl game. I don't have any insight into this other than what we've written, but my guess is that Garrick McGee is going to be a full time member of the staff next year. Not sure if he'll coach tight ends or if he'll take over the wide receivers and AJ Ofodile will move to tight ends, but my money's on McGee staying on staff next year.
7. How about a quick look at next year? Let's look at where Mizzou is losing starters and who I think will step into those spots:
QB: Drew Lock out, Kelly Bryant in (no clue who the backup will be because no clue who will still be here)
WR: Emanuel Hall out, Kam Scott or Jonathan Nance in
LG: Kevin Pendleton out, Larry Borom in
RT: Paul Adams out, Hyrin Morrison-White in
DT: Terry Beckner out, Kobie Whiteside in
DT: Walter Palmore out, Jordan Elliott in
LB: Brandon Lee out, Ronnell Perkins in
LB: Terez Hall out, Nick Bolton in
S: Cam Hilton out, Joshuah Bledsoe in
P: Corey Fatony out, Joshua Dodge in
8. Back to hoops, let's go to the women's side. The Tigers have been crazy inconsistent. They're 8-3. They don't have an awful loss on the schedule (Green Bay and South Dakota are actually pretty good teams) but they've underachieved for sure. Even some of the wins haven't been very pretty. I don't think this team's in any danger of missing the NCAA Tournament yet. The SEC is so good that if you get close to .500, your RPI is going to get you in. But getting in isn't the goal. If you have four years of Sophie Cunningham and you never make the Sweet 16, that's a major disappointment. Yeah, you've got Hayley Frank and Aijha Blackwell coming in and maybe you'll be better in the next four years than you have in the last four, but losing arguably the best player in program history isn't likely to mean you improve significantly. And for her never to make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament wouldn't be good. It's an interesting dynamic with the lower profile sports. Imagine if the men had the expectations the women did and had played the same way through nine games. People would be going absolutely insane. But on the women's side, the coach signed an extension before the season, the season has been disappointing so far, and there's no outrage. Sometimes being a lower profile sport can be beneficial.
9. What to watch and listen to:
Watch "The Lost Tapes" on the Smithsonian Network. It's very good. I watched the Apollo 13 and the DC Sniper episodes this weekend
Listen to Part 1 of my long interview with Tim McKernan on his podcast because I'm not above being a shameless self promoter
10. What to read:
Children of Ted from NY Magazine, a story on people suddenly following the thoughts of the Unabomber
The great NFL Heist: How Fox changed the NFL forever from the Ringer
My Dad's Friendship with Charles Barkley from WBUR. This one is great.
1. Let's start with basketball. It's a gigantic week for Cuonzo Martin's team. Tomorrow is Xavier and Saturday is Illinois. Xavier is decent, not great. Illinois is a lot better than the record indicates and is a brutal matchup for Missouri. The goal is 2-0, the expectation is 1-1, 0-2 is bad news. If I had to forecast it today, I think Missouri beats Xavier and loses to Illinois. If they go 2-0, this is an NIT team I think. If they go 0-2, this is a sub .500 team. At 1-1, I'll withhold judgment.
2. A 2-0 week would not only help the team but might energize the fanbase. We're not at Kim Anderson levels of apathy, but there's just no real buzz around this team. I'm as guilty of it as anyone. It doesn't seem like basketball season. Part of that is that the NCAA Tournament seems like a pipe dream and after going back to having meaningful games all year last year, it's kind of hard to get up for a team that you just really can't see going anywhere. Another part is probably the schedule. There are some good games, but Iowa State is the closest thing to a marquee game before Braggin' Rights and that was six weeks ago. I'm not talking about attendance here (although that is predictably down as well). I'm just talking about general excitement. I'll be honest, I have a hard time getting into college basketball before Braggin' Rights most years...but it's more true this year than in the past. And I'm certainly not alone. Missouri fans don't seem to be paying any attention.
3. Let's talk about Braggin' Rights. I so much want this game to be good again. I want it to mean something. I want people to care. And I'm not talking about the people on this board or even Missouri or Illinois fans. I want the country to care. Because it's a fun rivalry and a hell of an event to attend in person. But the shine has kind of come off of it. Part of it is that Missouri never seems to win. A bigger part is that both teams haven't been good at the same time in a long time. It's been four years since EITHER team was ranked and six years since both were ranked. There are some great storylines behind this one with Cuonzo and Mark Smith and Jeremiah Tilmon and Javon Pickett and the rivalry has regained some steam. But the teams are going to have to get better for anyone outside of the area to care.
4. On to football now. The main storyline this week is obviously recruiting. Let's start big picture and then we'll zero in on some things. The early signing period has really changed recruiting. Last year, we were all interested to see how it would go. We probably won't know for a few years definitively, but this is now National Signing Day. The only kids that are waiting till February are either the elite guys who are at no risk of losing a spot or guys that might be qualification risks. I'd expect pretty much every kid who is verbally committed to a Power Five school to sign this week. If he doesn't, either he's a qualification risk or he's not fully committed and the coaches are going to look elsewhere. But it's almost misleading to call this the early signing period. This is the signing period. The first Wednesday in February is now like the additional signing period.
5. Missouri's got 17 guys on the commitment list if you include Kelly Bryant and Jonathan Nance. I think they'll add at least five to that this week. I'm not going to get into predictions just yet because we'll have a story that looks at some of those on Wednesday morning, but I think we could see 22 commitments/signatures by the end of the week. I think Missouri looks to add an offensive linemen, two or three defensive linemen, a linebacker and potentially a quarterback this week. That will leave maybe three to five spots for February. Chester Graves is the only guy I'm confident they'll just wait for. Other than that, the whole board may change after Friday.
6. We've written the last couple days about the open coaching spot. Barry Odom said he won't do anything until after the bowl game. I don't have any insight into this other than what we've written, but my guess is that Garrick McGee is going to be a full time member of the staff next year. Not sure if he'll coach tight ends or if he'll take over the wide receivers and AJ Ofodile will move to tight ends, but my money's on McGee staying on staff next year.
7. How about a quick look at next year? Let's look at where Mizzou is losing starters and who I think will step into those spots:
QB: Drew Lock out, Kelly Bryant in (no clue who the backup will be because no clue who will still be here)
WR: Emanuel Hall out, Kam Scott or Jonathan Nance in
LG: Kevin Pendleton out, Larry Borom in
RT: Paul Adams out, Hyrin Morrison-White in
DT: Terry Beckner out, Kobie Whiteside in
DT: Walter Palmore out, Jordan Elliott in
LB: Brandon Lee out, Ronnell Perkins in
LB: Terez Hall out, Nick Bolton in
S: Cam Hilton out, Joshuah Bledsoe in
P: Corey Fatony out, Joshua Dodge in
8. Back to hoops, let's go to the women's side. The Tigers have been crazy inconsistent. They're 8-3. They don't have an awful loss on the schedule (Green Bay and South Dakota are actually pretty good teams) but they've underachieved for sure. Even some of the wins haven't been very pretty. I don't think this team's in any danger of missing the NCAA Tournament yet. The SEC is so good that if you get close to .500, your RPI is going to get you in. But getting in isn't the goal. If you have four years of Sophie Cunningham and you never make the Sweet 16, that's a major disappointment. Yeah, you've got Hayley Frank and Aijha Blackwell coming in and maybe you'll be better in the next four years than you have in the last four, but losing arguably the best player in program history isn't likely to mean you improve significantly. And for her never to make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament wouldn't be good. It's an interesting dynamic with the lower profile sports. Imagine if the men had the expectations the women did and had played the same way through nine games. People would be going absolutely insane. But on the women's side, the coach signed an extension before the season, the season has been disappointing so far, and there's no outrage. Sometimes being a lower profile sport can be beneficial.
9. What to watch and listen to:
Watch "The Lost Tapes" on the Smithsonian Network. It's very good. I watched the Apollo 13 and the DC Sniper episodes this weekend
Listen to Part 1 of my long interview with Tim McKernan on his podcast because I'm not above being a shameless self promoter
10. What to read:
Children of Ted from NY Magazine, a story on people suddenly following the thoughts of the Unabomber
The great NFL Heist: How Fox changed the NFL forever from the Ringer
My Dad's Friendship with Charles Barkley from WBUR. This one is great.
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