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1) Missouri kept hope alive on Saturday night with a win over Florida. The hill is still steep. Missouri still has a ways to go before I'm going to legitimately talk about the NCAA Tournament. I think they can lose six games the rest of the way and have a CHANCE to get in. That would be 10-8 in SEC play with a win at West Virginia or 11-7 in SEC play with a loss in Morgantown. It's possible, but not easy by any means. But had Missouri lost, you're now talking about a team that would have had to go 11-4 in its last 15 SEC games (with the first two on the road) and there wouldn't be any reason to believe it was even possible. I'm not ready to say it's likely by any means, but Saturday at least makes it possible.
2) I'm not going to rehash the entire game because we covered it and wrote plenty about what it meant on Saturday night and Sunday morning. But one thing I do think is worth emphasizing again.
Cuonzo Martin: “Part of it, when Jeremiah was here, guys looked for him...You look for him to post and that can make you reserved or passive. Play the game. You have to go out and play the game.”
This wasn't a question about Tilmon. Completely on his own, the coach brought up the fact that Missouri's offense is more free and maybe better without Tilmon on the floor. I don't want to say it's a shot across the bow or a message. I think Martin and Missouri would like to have Tilmon available (from talking to people, I think he'll miss another three weeks at least and I don't think it's impossible at all that we've seen him play his final game in a Mizzou uniform), but I think what that signals is that the coaching staff has reached the same point a lot of us reached at some point this year. And that is the fact that it's time to stop dreaming about what Jeremiah Tilmon might be and accept what he is. He's a solid player who's capable on certain nights of being a great player, but he is not consistent or reliable and he is not a guy you can build a team around. This team will be better if it's spreading the ball and playing free on offense than it will be by trying to force feed a touch to Tilmon on every possession. Even if he returns, the offense should far more resemble what it did against Florida than what it was with him involved.
3) Here's something that surprised me about the game on Saturday: It hurt Florida much more than it helped Missouri, at least according to KenPom. The Tigers entered the game 55th on KenPom. After the win they were 54th. Florida entered the game 23rd and is 35th as of this morning. I don't really know what that means; it's just something I thought was interesting.
4) This is a large week for Missouri. The Tigers are at Mississippi State on Tuesday night. They are at Alabama on Saturday. These two games are like virtually every game left on the schedule. They're tossups. Mississippi State is 60 at KenPom. Alabama is 53. The Tigers are projected to lose both games by three points, given a 39 and a 37% chance to win respectively. So, if they play ten times, maybe Missouri loses six in both cases, but the competition is close enough to what Missouri is that it wouldn't be surprising for Missouri to win. Nothing would be a big surprise this week. They could go 0-2, 1-1 or 2-0. Absolutely none of it would surprise me. Maybe the figured something out and are going to go score 80 points twice and win. Maybe they won't be able to throw the ball in the ocean tomorrow night and they'll lose 54-36. I have no idea. I think the goal is to split these two. I think Alabama is the tougher game because the Tide can really score. They had a 21 point lead on Florida, they took Kentucky to the wire in Rupp. But again, nothing's going to surprise me out of this week. We'll have the Synergy driven preview of tomorrow's game later today and our regular preview and prediction tomorrow morning.
5) Recruiting is about to get busy for Eli Drinkwitz. This coming weekend will be the first of three official visit weekends before the late signing day. Sean Williams posted some notes on prospects we've been able to track down over the weekend. I'm not going to go prospect by prospect. I would warn that this three-week stretch isn't very likely to blow you away in terms of star ratings. The big names just aren't out there for Missouri to get right now. It's largely going to be a class made up of under the radar guys. Either guys that Drinkwitz gets in on who other major programs might not have room for or maybe taking some commitments from Group of Five type schools. As of this morning, the class is ranked 70th. That's going to change for the better by a lot. Missouri has 12 commitments. Of the 69 schools ranked above them, only three have fewer than 15 commits. So simply by adding eight more players, Missouri is likely to make up a significant amount of ground. It will definitely be a top 50 class. I'm not sure it will get into the top 40, but it's possible. But the fact of the matter is, once you made a coaching change, you knew it wasn't going to be a class that was going to blow anyone away on paper (and realistically, it wasn't that even before the coaching change).
6) The coaching staff is finalized. Rather than run it all down here, we listed the likely responsibilities in our story when they hired Marcus Johnson on Friday. We're hoping to be able to talk to one or more of those assistants this week on the podcast or in person and we'll let you know. I can't really say whether it's a good staff, a great staff, a decent staff or a terrible one. I don't know enough about the guys. The proof will be in how they recruit and play on the field. We won't really have a good idea on that for a couple of years.
7) We're in a time where we can branch out beyond Missouri a little bit in the thoughts, so let's talk about the national title game. First, college football has to not give us 16 days between the semifinals and finals. A lot of people have kind of forgotten this game is happening because it's been so long. Honestly, there are times I've forgotten it. But it is happening and it should be a good game. That's mainly what I hope for is something that's competitive and compels me to stay awake for the whole thing.
If I had to make a pick, I'd pick LSU. I just think they're that much better than anyone else. I would have picked them against Ohio State too. I just don't think anyone is good enough to slow down that offense enough to win. Honestly, I think Ohio State is a better team than Clemson. I know Clemson won the game, but I came out of that one thinking Ohio State is better. Not that Clemson is bad. Not at all. I just think the Buckeyes are a little better. Trevor Lawrence has never lost a game as a starter. Nobody's going to feel good about picking him to lose. It will not be shocking at all if Clemson wins. But LSU is the best team in the country in my opinion. I'll go with the Coach O's 37-27. You can make your pick and get free stuff from me here.
8) Speaking of football, this is the best thing that came out of this weekend's NFL playoffs (except for maybe one game that I'm going to address in point number 9):
Marshawn is a comic genius. For those who have never seen it, watch Marshawn watching Red Panda.
1) Missouri kept hope alive on Saturday night with a win over Florida. The hill is still steep. Missouri still has a ways to go before I'm going to legitimately talk about the NCAA Tournament. I think they can lose six games the rest of the way and have a CHANCE to get in. That would be 10-8 in SEC play with a win at West Virginia or 11-7 in SEC play with a loss in Morgantown. It's possible, but not easy by any means. But had Missouri lost, you're now talking about a team that would have had to go 11-4 in its last 15 SEC games (with the first two on the road) and there wouldn't be any reason to believe it was even possible. I'm not ready to say it's likely by any means, but Saturday at least makes it possible.
2) I'm not going to rehash the entire game because we covered it and wrote plenty about what it meant on Saturday night and Sunday morning. But one thing I do think is worth emphasizing again.
Cuonzo Martin: “Part of it, when Jeremiah was here, guys looked for him...You look for him to post and that can make you reserved or passive. Play the game. You have to go out and play the game.”
This wasn't a question about Tilmon. Completely on his own, the coach brought up the fact that Missouri's offense is more free and maybe better without Tilmon on the floor. I don't want to say it's a shot across the bow or a message. I think Martin and Missouri would like to have Tilmon available (from talking to people, I think he'll miss another three weeks at least and I don't think it's impossible at all that we've seen him play his final game in a Mizzou uniform), but I think what that signals is that the coaching staff has reached the same point a lot of us reached at some point this year. And that is the fact that it's time to stop dreaming about what Jeremiah Tilmon might be and accept what he is. He's a solid player who's capable on certain nights of being a great player, but he is not consistent or reliable and he is not a guy you can build a team around. This team will be better if it's spreading the ball and playing free on offense than it will be by trying to force feed a touch to Tilmon on every possession. Even if he returns, the offense should far more resemble what it did against Florida than what it was with him involved.
3) Here's something that surprised me about the game on Saturday: It hurt Florida much more than it helped Missouri, at least according to KenPom. The Tigers entered the game 55th on KenPom. After the win they were 54th. Florida entered the game 23rd and is 35th as of this morning. I don't really know what that means; it's just something I thought was interesting.
4) This is a large week for Missouri. The Tigers are at Mississippi State on Tuesday night. They are at Alabama on Saturday. These two games are like virtually every game left on the schedule. They're tossups. Mississippi State is 60 at KenPom. Alabama is 53. The Tigers are projected to lose both games by three points, given a 39 and a 37% chance to win respectively. So, if they play ten times, maybe Missouri loses six in both cases, but the competition is close enough to what Missouri is that it wouldn't be surprising for Missouri to win. Nothing would be a big surprise this week. They could go 0-2, 1-1 or 2-0. Absolutely none of it would surprise me. Maybe the figured something out and are going to go score 80 points twice and win. Maybe they won't be able to throw the ball in the ocean tomorrow night and they'll lose 54-36. I have no idea. I think the goal is to split these two. I think Alabama is the tougher game because the Tide can really score. They had a 21 point lead on Florida, they took Kentucky to the wire in Rupp. But again, nothing's going to surprise me out of this week. We'll have the Synergy driven preview of tomorrow's game later today and our regular preview and prediction tomorrow morning.
5) Recruiting is about to get busy for Eli Drinkwitz. This coming weekend will be the first of three official visit weekends before the late signing day. Sean Williams posted some notes on prospects we've been able to track down over the weekend. I'm not going to go prospect by prospect. I would warn that this three-week stretch isn't very likely to blow you away in terms of star ratings. The big names just aren't out there for Missouri to get right now. It's largely going to be a class made up of under the radar guys. Either guys that Drinkwitz gets in on who other major programs might not have room for or maybe taking some commitments from Group of Five type schools. As of this morning, the class is ranked 70th. That's going to change for the better by a lot. Missouri has 12 commitments. Of the 69 schools ranked above them, only three have fewer than 15 commits. So simply by adding eight more players, Missouri is likely to make up a significant amount of ground. It will definitely be a top 50 class. I'm not sure it will get into the top 40, but it's possible. But the fact of the matter is, once you made a coaching change, you knew it wasn't going to be a class that was going to blow anyone away on paper (and realistically, it wasn't that even before the coaching change).
6) The coaching staff is finalized. Rather than run it all down here, we listed the likely responsibilities in our story when they hired Marcus Johnson on Friday. We're hoping to be able to talk to one or more of those assistants this week on the podcast or in person and we'll let you know. I can't really say whether it's a good staff, a great staff, a decent staff or a terrible one. I don't know enough about the guys. The proof will be in how they recruit and play on the field. We won't really have a good idea on that for a couple of years.
7) We're in a time where we can branch out beyond Missouri a little bit in the thoughts, so let's talk about the national title game. First, college football has to not give us 16 days between the semifinals and finals. A lot of people have kind of forgotten this game is happening because it's been so long. Honestly, there are times I've forgotten it. But it is happening and it should be a good game. That's mainly what I hope for is something that's competitive and compels me to stay awake for the whole thing.
If I had to make a pick, I'd pick LSU. I just think they're that much better than anyone else. I would have picked them against Ohio State too. I just don't think anyone is good enough to slow down that offense enough to win. Honestly, I think Ohio State is a better team than Clemson. I know Clemson won the game, but I came out of that one thinking Ohio State is better. Not that Clemson is bad. Not at all. I just think the Buckeyes are a little better. Trevor Lawrence has never lost a game as a starter. Nobody's going to feel good about picking him to lose. It will not be shocking at all if Clemson wins. But LSU is the best team in the country in my opinion. I'll go with the Coach O's 37-27. You can make your pick and get free stuff from me here.
8) Speaking of football, this is the best thing that came out of this weekend's NFL playoffs (except for maybe one game that I'm going to address in point number 9):
Marshawn is a comic genius. For those who have never seen it, watch Marshawn watching Red Panda.
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