Now that football season is over, these probably aren't all going to be Mizzou-centric. Most of them will be, but I'll throw some other stuff in there too.
1. Quick football notes. Brian Odom appears to be the top target of Alex Grinch to coach the linebackers at Oklahoma. As one person told me, "Grinch is going to make him say no." It's still the opinion of people I've talked to that Odom would probably say no rather than leave his brother's staff. Last we knew (both on our side and Oklahoma's) there hasn't been contact between Grinch and Odom at this point. A lot of Sooner fans also want Roy Manning, who was Grinch's linebackers coach at Washington State and who currently coaches linebackers for Chip Kelly at UCLA. Don't have a great feel for how this one would go. If I were forced to bet on it, I'd say Odom stays in Columbia, but I wouldn't put a lot of my own money behind that.
The other "stay or go" situation is Albert Okwuegbunam. Nobody at Missouri has been told what he is going to do. The deadline to enter the draft is next Monday, so a decision needs to be made by then. I've heard some chatter that he's coming back, but again, that has not been communicated to anybody at Missouri to my knowledge and until it is, it doesn't really matter. Like Odom, if I had to bet today, I'd say Albert stays in school, but it wouldn't be a big or a confident wager.
2. Elsewhere, there's still a college football game to be played. Bama and Clemson meet for the title at 7 tonight. These two teams have been on a different level all year. Yes, I know UGA pushed Bama and Syracuse pushed Clemson, but those two teams were still clearly a step or four below the Tide and the Tigers. If both teams play their A game, I think Bama is a better team. I think if they play ten times, Bama wins about seven. On one night, Clemson can win. Trevor Lawrence is probably the best quarterback in college football right now and I think he can hurt Bama on the deep ball. No unit in the sport has probably been as underappreciated the last few years as what Clemson has had at wide receiver. But this is the first Bama team that can win a track meet too. I just hope for a close game. My predictions:
Tonight: Bama 37, Clemson 30
Next year: Clemson 34, Bama 27
Because, yes, I think they're playing again. The quarterbacks are back. Most of the receivers are back. These two teams are so ridiculously above everyone else that I don't see how anyone overtakes them. Over the last four recruiting classes (2015-2018), Alabama has signed 19 five-stars. Clemson has signed 15. The only other schools in double figures are Georgia (15), Ohio State (11), USC (11) and Florida State (10). If you figure there are 30 five-stars per year, that means 28.3% of them have gone to Clemson and Bama. If you add those other four schools, 67.5% of the available five-stars have gone to six schools (four of which are actually really good at football). The rich just get richer. It takes more than one or two players to turn it around in football, which makes it very tough for anyone to break into that top tier.
3. Let's talk basketball and let's start on the women's side. Robin Pingeton's team picked up a huge win yesterday, beating 10th ranked Tennessee 66-64 for the program's first ever win in Knoxville. Sophie Cunningham (more on her in a minute), led the way with 20 points, 6 boards and 6 assists (not to mention six turnovers). Lauren Aldridge came up with 12 big points, but even bigger, Hayley Troup scored 16 on 4-6 shooting from three-point range. The Tigers are going to need 20 a night out of Cunningham. But every night, they're going to need two other players to support her. They don't have to be the same two, they just need two. I've been pretty clear about this season for the women's team. They have to make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. To have Sophie Cunningham and never make it to the Sweet 16 would be a terrible disappointment. That's the goal. The regular season almost doesn't matter. Except obviously you want to give yourself the best chance to get there. The Tigers had a couple of non-conference hiccups, but the SEC is going to offer them chances to get some quality wins. If Mizzou can find a way to go about 12-6 in the league and have a few of those wins be big time wins like yesterday, it might just be able to play its way into hosting, despite a lackluster non-conference slate.
4. So, about Sophie...there was another dustup yesterday
That came as a result of an elbow from Cunningham to Vols star Rennia Davis
Your view of this depends entirely on who you root for. Missouri fans will look at that video and say Sophie made a basketball move and Davis flopped and drew the intentional foul and then the assistant coach was being an immature clown in the postgame. Volunteer fans will look at it and say it's the latest in a series of dirty plays by Cunningham and the coach was just sticking up for her player. Neither side will ever change its mind and I'm not here to convince you either side is right or wrong (because honestly, I think there's some truth on both sides). If Sophie is on your team, you love her competitiveness and you think she's tough as hell. If she's not on your team, you think she's a dirty player. There's no doubt she's competitive. There's also little doubt at times that competitiveness crosses the line to dirty. But Missouri fans wouldn't trade her for anybody in the country.
5. On the men's side, over the last two days, we've reviewed the non-conference schedule and predicted the SEC schedule. If I'm being honest, I think 9-9 is a little generous...probably by a game or two. I probably gave the Tigers a road win or two they won't get. I just think that the SEC features some really talented frontcourts and those will probably expose the Tigers, who I don't think can continue to shoot 40% from three-point range as a team. Take a team like South Carolina (which won at Florida on Saturday). They're not all that good, but Chris Silva can get Jeremiah Tilmon in foul trouble and when he does, where does Missouri turn? Realistically, I'd say 9-9 is the goal, but I'm not sure Missouri can get there. I think Tennessee, Auburn and Kentucky all win at least 12 games. I think the other 11 could all beat each other on any given day.
1. Quick football notes. Brian Odom appears to be the top target of Alex Grinch to coach the linebackers at Oklahoma. As one person told me, "Grinch is going to make him say no." It's still the opinion of people I've talked to that Odom would probably say no rather than leave his brother's staff. Last we knew (both on our side and Oklahoma's) there hasn't been contact between Grinch and Odom at this point. A lot of Sooner fans also want Roy Manning, who was Grinch's linebackers coach at Washington State and who currently coaches linebackers for Chip Kelly at UCLA. Don't have a great feel for how this one would go. If I were forced to bet on it, I'd say Odom stays in Columbia, but I wouldn't put a lot of my own money behind that.
The other "stay or go" situation is Albert Okwuegbunam. Nobody at Missouri has been told what he is going to do. The deadline to enter the draft is next Monday, so a decision needs to be made by then. I've heard some chatter that he's coming back, but again, that has not been communicated to anybody at Missouri to my knowledge and until it is, it doesn't really matter. Like Odom, if I had to bet today, I'd say Albert stays in school, but it wouldn't be a big or a confident wager.
2. Elsewhere, there's still a college football game to be played. Bama and Clemson meet for the title at 7 tonight. These two teams have been on a different level all year. Yes, I know UGA pushed Bama and Syracuse pushed Clemson, but those two teams were still clearly a step or four below the Tide and the Tigers. If both teams play their A game, I think Bama is a better team. I think if they play ten times, Bama wins about seven. On one night, Clemson can win. Trevor Lawrence is probably the best quarterback in college football right now and I think he can hurt Bama on the deep ball. No unit in the sport has probably been as underappreciated the last few years as what Clemson has had at wide receiver. But this is the first Bama team that can win a track meet too. I just hope for a close game. My predictions:
Tonight: Bama 37, Clemson 30
Next year: Clemson 34, Bama 27
Because, yes, I think they're playing again. The quarterbacks are back. Most of the receivers are back. These two teams are so ridiculously above everyone else that I don't see how anyone overtakes them. Over the last four recruiting classes (2015-2018), Alabama has signed 19 five-stars. Clemson has signed 15. The only other schools in double figures are Georgia (15), Ohio State (11), USC (11) and Florida State (10). If you figure there are 30 five-stars per year, that means 28.3% of them have gone to Clemson and Bama. If you add those other four schools, 67.5% of the available five-stars have gone to six schools (four of which are actually really good at football). The rich just get richer. It takes more than one or two players to turn it around in football, which makes it very tough for anyone to break into that top tier.
3. Let's talk basketball and let's start on the women's side. Robin Pingeton's team picked up a huge win yesterday, beating 10th ranked Tennessee 66-64 for the program's first ever win in Knoxville. Sophie Cunningham (more on her in a minute), led the way with 20 points, 6 boards and 6 assists (not to mention six turnovers). Lauren Aldridge came up with 12 big points, but even bigger, Hayley Troup scored 16 on 4-6 shooting from three-point range. The Tigers are going to need 20 a night out of Cunningham. But every night, they're going to need two other players to support her. They don't have to be the same two, they just need two. I've been pretty clear about this season for the women's team. They have to make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. To have Sophie Cunningham and never make it to the Sweet 16 would be a terrible disappointment. That's the goal. The regular season almost doesn't matter. Except obviously you want to give yourself the best chance to get there. The Tigers had a couple of non-conference hiccups, but the SEC is going to offer them chances to get some quality wins. If Mizzou can find a way to go about 12-6 in the league and have a few of those wins be big time wins like yesterday, it might just be able to play its way into hosting, despite a lackluster non-conference slate.
4. So, about Sophie...there was another dustup yesterday
That came as a result of an elbow from Cunningham to Vols star Rennia Davis
Your view of this depends entirely on who you root for. Missouri fans will look at that video and say Sophie made a basketball move and Davis flopped and drew the intentional foul and then the assistant coach was being an immature clown in the postgame. Volunteer fans will look at it and say it's the latest in a series of dirty plays by Cunningham and the coach was just sticking up for her player. Neither side will ever change its mind and I'm not here to convince you either side is right or wrong (because honestly, I think there's some truth on both sides). If Sophie is on your team, you love her competitiveness and you think she's tough as hell. If she's not on your team, you think she's a dirty player. There's no doubt she's competitive. There's also little doubt at times that competitiveness crosses the line to dirty. But Missouri fans wouldn't trade her for anybody in the country.
5. On the men's side, over the last two days, we've reviewed the non-conference schedule and predicted the SEC schedule. If I'm being honest, I think 9-9 is a little generous...probably by a game or two. I probably gave the Tigers a road win or two they won't get. I just think that the SEC features some really talented frontcourts and those will probably expose the Tigers, who I don't think can continue to shoot 40% from three-point range as a team. Take a team like South Carolina (which won at Florida on Saturday). They're not all that good, but Chris Silva can get Jeremiah Tilmon in foul trouble and when he does, where does Missouri turn? Realistically, I'd say 9-9 is the goal, but I'm not sure Missouri can get there. I think Tennessee, Auburn and Kentucky all win at least 12 games. I think the other 11 could all beat each other on any given day.
