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1) Let's start with basketball because I'm a super positive person. The Tigers face Butler tonight at 6 in the opener of the Hall of Fame Classic. Make sure you read our Tip Time Preview and Mitchell's story on Xavier Pinson.
This is Missouri's biggest test so far this season. I think Butler is better than Xavier. Playing this game will help the NCAA Tournament resume. While winning it would be huge for the resume, losing it doesn't kill you by any means. We broke down the matchup in our preview, so I'm not really going to get into that here, but it should be a really good game and an excellent chance to find out what the Tigers are at this point.
2) Tuesday will be either Oklahoma or Stanford. Most would expect the Sooners to beat Stanford, so if Missouri wins tonight, it probably gets OU. If it loses, I'd expect Stanford. The Sooners are a good team, but not great. It would be a solid test, especially on the second day of a back to back situation. But I think the winner of tonight's game against Butler will be the expected winner of the tournament. If you face Stanford, you should win. Let's break down the potential scenarios over the next two days:
2-0: Unqualified success and I'll believe this is a probable tournament team
1-1 With a win over Butler and a loss to Stanford/OU: Good week, not great, left something on the table
1-1 with a loss to Butler and a win over Stanford/OU: Disappointing. You'll get a win, the record will be the same as above, but you aren't sure you got a Quad 1 one
0-2: Bad week. Fair to question if this team is capable of what people have thought it is capable of
I will be at both games in KC and have full coverage.
3) The football team lost its fifth straight on Saturday night, 24-20 to Tennessee. We've talked about that one a lot. It was the best game we've seen offensively out of Missouri in five games, but it was hardly good. It was the worst game we've seen defensively out of Missouri in quite some time. It came at a bad time, obviously. Here's the thing about Saturday's loss: I can understand why people are unhappy about it. You're unhappy about any loss, particularly one against a team that you are basically even with. Those are the types of games you have to win to have good seasons (not to mention Vandy and Wyoming). But I saw a lot of people who seemed to decide that Saturday was the game that knocked them off the fence with Barry Odom. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. How is THAT the one that sent you past the point of no return? Tennessee is playing better, they're a decent team, it was a close, competitive game in which Missouri played well. I can see the Vandy game being your tipping point. I can see Kentucky being your tipping point. I can even see virtual no-shows against Georgia and Florida after those two being tipping points. But Saturday? That was an irritating, frustrating loss, but I can't see how you would have gone from maybe thinking Odom should be back to deciding he should be fired after that game. There were a lot of people who already thought he should be fired and those aren't the people I'm talking about here. I'm talking about the people who thought he should come back or said "You know, I'm not sure, let me see how it goes" and then decided on Saturday night it was time to end it. Seems like a strange game to use to make that decision to me.
4) We're going to talk about the coaching situation now. But there's one thing we have to talk about before we talk about the coaching situation. I do not believe you can make a move on the coach prior to knowing the resolution of the NCAA appeal. But the good news is, I think we're very close to knowing that news. No one has specifically told me when the ruling is coming. But in talking to many different people over the last few days, I believe we're going to know something this week. If it's not this week, I am confident a verdict will be rendered prior to the announcement of bowl games on Saturday, December 7. In other words, this isn't carrying over to next year's bowls. We'll find out on Friday if Missouri will have enough wins to play in a bowl game. We could know before then whether they'll actually be eligible to play in one. Two thoughts here:
*If the bowl ban is lifted, you've got to think that gives Missouri a bit of a boost going to Little Rock. As a couple of the players said on Saturday night, nobody is jumping for joy over 6-6 or writing letters home about it. But it's what they've got at this point in time. 6-6 is better than 5-7. It gives you a chance at 7-6. Again, that's not great, but it's better than the alternative. If Mizzou were to find out the ban is lifted, maybe it gives them a little boost knowing they're playing for something.
*If the bowl ban isn't lifted, does it do the opposite? Do you go to Fayetteville with no motivation because no matter the outcome you're playing for nothing? That outcome could be telling too. This is a terrible Arkansas team. They've lost 17 straight SEC games and haven't come within 26 points of anybody in a month and a half. The interim coach isn't going to get the job so it's not like that's a motivating factor for the Hogs. They're ready to be done with the season and start over. So if Missouri were to go down there upset they can't play in a bowl and lose to the Razorbacks? Well, if that happens, I think we all know what's going to come next.
Obviously the appeal ruling is much more about finances than whether Missouri actually gets to play in the Belk Bowl, but this is just about what it would do to the team emotionally and motivationally.
5) For the sake of argument, let's say Mizzou beats Arkansas on Friday. Does that save Barry Odom's job? I think there's a decent chance of that, yes. On Saturday I had said if Missouri lost to Tennessee and beat Arkansas I'd lean about 55/45 to Odom getting fired. I think those percentages are at least reversed and maybe closer to 65/35 that Odom stays if he wins Friday. I can already feel the anger pulsing through your keyboards. "Beating the worst Arkansas team in history (and that's not a made up thing, if the Hogs lose by 16 or more on Friday, this will be the worst season scoring margin in school history) and one of the worst teams in SEC history shouldn't be something that saves a guy's job." I get it. And honestly, I think I might agree with it. I think Jim Sterk should know what he's going to do already and I don't think Friday should really change it. But in talking to some people, I think there is an attitude that it's really tough to fire a guy who has gone to three straight bowl games at Missouri. Again, I'm not saying I agree with it. But I do think that thinking is out there.
1) Let's start with basketball because I'm a super positive person. The Tigers face Butler tonight at 6 in the opener of the Hall of Fame Classic. Make sure you read our Tip Time Preview and Mitchell's story on Xavier Pinson.
This is Missouri's biggest test so far this season. I think Butler is better than Xavier. Playing this game will help the NCAA Tournament resume. While winning it would be huge for the resume, losing it doesn't kill you by any means. We broke down the matchup in our preview, so I'm not really going to get into that here, but it should be a really good game and an excellent chance to find out what the Tigers are at this point.
2) Tuesday will be either Oklahoma or Stanford. Most would expect the Sooners to beat Stanford, so if Missouri wins tonight, it probably gets OU. If it loses, I'd expect Stanford. The Sooners are a good team, but not great. It would be a solid test, especially on the second day of a back to back situation. But I think the winner of tonight's game against Butler will be the expected winner of the tournament. If you face Stanford, you should win. Let's break down the potential scenarios over the next two days:
2-0: Unqualified success and I'll believe this is a probable tournament team
1-1 With a win over Butler and a loss to Stanford/OU: Good week, not great, left something on the table
1-1 with a loss to Butler and a win over Stanford/OU: Disappointing. You'll get a win, the record will be the same as above, but you aren't sure you got a Quad 1 one
0-2: Bad week. Fair to question if this team is capable of what people have thought it is capable of
I will be at both games in KC and have full coverage.
3) The football team lost its fifth straight on Saturday night, 24-20 to Tennessee. We've talked about that one a lot. It was the best game we've seen offensively out of Missouri in five games, but it was hardly good. It was the worst game we've seen defensively out of Missouri in quite some time. It came at a bad time, obviously. Here's the thing about Saturday's loss: I can understand why people are unhappy about it. You're unhappy about any loss, particularly one against a team that you are basically even with. Those are the types of games you have to win to have good seasons (not to mention Vandy and Wyoming). But I saw a lot of people who seemed to decide that Saturday was the game that knocked them off the fence with Barry Odom. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. How is THAT the one that sent you past the point of no return? Tennessee is playing better, they're a decent team, it was a close, competitive game in which Missouri played well. I can see the Vandy game being your tipping point. I can see Kentucky being your tipping point. I can even see virtual no-shows against Georgia and Florida after those two being tipping points. But Saturday? That was an irritating, frustrating loss, but I can't see how you would have gone from maybe thinking Odom should be back to deciding he should be fired after that game. There were a lot of people who already thought he should be fired and those aren't the people I'm talking about here. I'm talking about the people who thought he should come back or said "You know, I'm not sure, let me see how it goes" and then decided on Saturday night it was time to end it. Seems like a strange game to use to make that decision to me.
4) We're going to talk about the coaching situation now. But there's one thing we have to talk about before we talk about the coaching situation. I do not believe you can make a move on the coach prior to knowing the resolution of the NCAA appeal. But the good news is, I think we're very close to knowing that news. No one has specifically told me when the ruling is coming. But in talking to many different people over the last few days, I believe we're going to know something this week. If it's not this week, I am confident a verdict will be rendered prior to the announcement of bowl games on Saturday, December 7. In other words, this isn't carrying over to next year's bowls. We'll find out on Friday if Missouri will have enough wins to play in a bowl game. We could know before then whether they'll actually be eligible to play in one. Two thoughts here:
*If the bowl ban is lifted, you've got to think that gives Missouri a bit of a boost going to Little Rock. As a couple of the players said on Saturday night, nobody is jumping for joy over 6-6 or writing letters home about it. But it's what they've got at this point in time. 6-6 is better than 5-7. It gives you a chance at 7-6. Again, that's not great, but it's better than the alternative. If Mizzou were to find out the ban is lifted, maybe it gives them a little boost knowing they're playing for something.
*If the bowl ban isn't lifted, does it do the opposite? Do you go to Fayetteville with no motivation because no matter the outcome you're playing for nothing? That outcome could be telling too. This is a terrible Arkansas team. They've lost 17 straight SEC games and haven't come within 26 points of anybody in a month and a half. The interim coach isn't going to get the job so it's not like that's a motivating factor for the Hogs. They're ready to be done with the season and start over. So if Missouri were to go down there upset they can't play in a bowl and lose to the Razorbacks? Well, if that happens, I think we all know what's going to come next.
Obviously the appeal ruling is much more about finances than whether Missouri actually gets to play in the Belk Bowl, but this is just about what it would do to the team emotionally and motivationally.
5) For the sake of argument, let's say Mizzou beats Arkansas on Friday. Does that save Barry Odom's job? I think there's a decent chance of that, yes. On Saturday I had said if Missouri lost to Tennessee and beat Arkansas I'd lean about 55/45 to Odom getting fired. I think those percentages are at least reversed and maybe closer to 65/35 that Odom stays if he wins Friday. I can already feel the anger pulsing through your keyboards. "Beating the worst Arkansas team in history (and that's not a made up thing, if the Hogs lose by 16 or more on Friday, this will be the worst season scoring margin in school history) and one of the worst teams in SEC history shouldn't be something that saves a guy's job." I get it. And honestly, I think I might agree with it. I think Jim Sterk should know what he's going to do already and I don't think Friday should really change it. But in talking to some people, I think there is an attitude that it's really tough to fire a guy who has gone to three straight bowl games at Missouri. Again, I'm not saying I agree with it. But I do think that thinking is out there.
