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1) The spring football transfer portal window is opening this week. It will remain that way until April 30. (I've seen both Monday and Tuesday as the opening day. It doesn't really matter that much. It's one or the other and tampering has been happening for weeks anyway). There have been reports that it's going to be out of control, the wildest thing we've ever seen. Maybe. There could be some huge names go in. But in terms of sheer volume, there's no way as many players enter now as did in December. That's especially going to be true in the SEC. The conference has a rule that if you transfer in the spring window you can't transfer to another conference school. Most big names in the SEC aren't going to leave for another place. I think most of the players you see leaving SEC schools will be younger guys who made a mistake or are looking for more playing time.
That's my expectation at Missouri. We confirmed last week that Kyran Montgomery, Ryan Hoerstkamp and Michael Cox are planning to enter. Montgomery confirmed that with a social media post. I'm sure there will be a few others, but I'm not expecting them to be significant contributors or starters. Of course, surprises wouldn't be surprises if we expected them, so nobody's going to rest easy until the portal closes again.
2) Mizzou is currently sitting at 81 scholarship players by our count. That includes the players listed above already being removed. So Missouri has four open spots and that could grow. I'd term Mizzou's portal activity as aggressive, but selective. Missouri isn't searching for starters necessarily, but it isn't going to take just anybody. They're looking to fill a hole here or there. They don't have that many spots open. So they have to be smart about what they look for. The only thing I'm confident they'll try aggressively to add is another offensive lineman. I'd think it will be an interior player, but a tackle is possible. Cornerback and safety are possible. I think they'll also have a couple "best player available spots" in case someone expresses interest that's just too good to turn down even if you don't necessarily have to have someone at that position. We'll keep you updated on movement in and out.
3) The portal is also still open in basketball for another couple of weeks. There will be more movement on that front. We've written a lot about that already.
Portal plan a work in progress
Gates talks roster changes
I'm expecting three or four more additions to the roster. We ran down some of the most likely candidates and where things stand with them. If you subscribe, you can check that post out here. If you don't, well, you'll read it somewhere or find out eventually.
I'd set the over/under for commitments this week at 2.5. Don't ask if I'd take the over or the under. I don't know. That's why it's a good over/under.
4) I've talked with a few people since the end of the basketball season that the offseason has basically become the second season. One way to say that is there is no offseason. There is an offseason. It's just incredibly active. Think about the calendar:
June: Biggest official visit period
July: SEC Media Days
August: Fall Camp
September-January: Football season
November-March: Basketball season
December/January: Portal season for football, signing day
March/April: Portal season for basketball, second portal season for football
So maybe May is the offseason in college sports now. But I'm sure we'll find things to fill the void. The point is, there's always something going on. And in the 24/7 news cycle, media and fans treat all of it like it's huge major news. So there's never a time you wake up in the morning and say "Okay, cool, I know for sure nothing important is happening today."
I've wondered a lot since the end of the basketball season which one people enjoy more. The right answer--in my opinion--should be the actual season. I mean, the games are what we care about, right? But there are only 13 football games and somewhere around 35 basketball games. That's 48 game days total all year long. That leaves us 317 other days. And I think there's definitely a segment of fans that enjoy those other 317 days more than the 48 game days. The games are judgment day. That's when you find out if you did enough on all the other days of the year to pass the test. But the rest of it is a soap opera. There's always some sort of drama. And there's no real concrete answers that come out of it. We'll spend the next three months (as will every other Internet site that talks about sports) debating whether or not Eli Drinkwitz did enough in the offseason to put Mizzou football in the playoff. We'll spend those months and another two debating whether Dennis Gates has put basketball in a position to rebound to year one or whether another year two is in store. And there's no way to prove any of those opinions right or wrong until those 48 days on which the teams will play before next April.
I'd be interested in the feedback here. Which one do you enjoy more? Because I think there's a large segment of sports fans (and to be honest, sites like this one cater to them) who, if they're being truthful, enjoy the offseason every bit as much and maybe even more as the actual season. I'm not saying that's right or wrong. Everyone can feel how he feels. I just find it fascinating. College sports has become a 12-month-a-year obsession. I don't know exactly when it happened, but it's absolutely happened.
5) Outside of gymnast Mara Titarsolej, who will compete individually at the NCAA Championships (7 pm Thursday on ESPN2), the only actual competition of note for the next four months is baseball and softball. The softball team dropped the series finale to Florida, but still took the set two games to one. Mizzou is now 33-11, 7-8 in the SEC with one non-conference game (Wednesday vs SIU-E) and three SEC series (Georgia, Mississippi State, South Carolina) left to go. The clear goal for the Tigers is to win enough to host a regional. If they get really hot or get an upset elsewhere in the bracket, perhaps they host Super Regionals. But right now, hosting a regional is the goal.
The baseball team continues to be Forrest Gump's proverbial box of chocolates. The Tigers swept Florida and then turned around and lost to SIU-E and dropped two of three at Georgia. The Tigers are 16-21 overall, 5-10 in the SEC. The top 12 teams in the league qualify for the conference tournament. Right now, Mizzou would be in as either the 11 or 12 seed (they're tied with Ole Miss, the teams don't play each other and I don't know what the tiebreakers are). LSU is 3-12 in league play, Auburn is 2-12. The goal for Kerrick Jackson is to stay in front of those two and get a shot to play in Hoover. That would be progress. Missouri plays both teams. The Tigers host LSU this weekend and Auburn May 10-12. Those are the two most important series of the rest of the season.
