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Before you dive in here, I've already written a lot about Saturday's game in my Saturday night wrap and my Sunday morning thoughts so if there's something you don't see mentioned here, it's probably mentioned there. I'll wrap the Mizzou thoughts here and get into national stuff as usual in this morning's thoughts.
1) I've got a hard time remembering a better five day period for Mizzou fans than the last five days.
Wednesday: Hoops beats Oregon
Friday: Mizzou lands Isaac Thompson
Saturday: Football beats Arkansas
Sunday: Hoops beats Wichita State
For a fanbase that has been starved for relevance and a run of good news for something going on six years now, this was a pretty good week. Not every week is going to be this good. There's bound to be something negative happen at some point. But enjoy it while all the news is good news (Side note: It's amazing how many people have said this week that our coverage is great and we've done an excellent job; funny how much more people enjoy reading about good news with their team). It's been a pretty long run of irrelevance for Missouri's two major sports. It's fun to feel like you're trending toward the opposite. Walking out of Mizzou Arena after the Oral Roberts game I told someone I just wanted to feel like I was covering something that mattered because it had been a long time. This week feels like we're getting there.
2) Let's go a little deeper on the basketball stuff. I thought the best news about Sunday was that I didn't think Missouri played a great game and they won on the road against a decent team by double figures. Wichita State isn't as good as it's sometimes been in the past. But they're a decent team. Mizzou had its leading scorer from the previous game (and the main reason it beat Oregon) go 1-13 from the floor. It had the guy we've always considered the most important piece dealing with foul trouble and unable to stay on the floor (Jeremiah Tilmon played just 18 minutes, contributing 7 points and 4 rebounds). And still, Missouri won by 10 and wasn't seriously tested for most of the last 15 minutes. Mark Smith was a major reason why. Smith scoring 19 points and making only two threes is a great sign. It's taken longer than usual, but I think we're finally seeing the player Cuonzo Martin thought he was getting three years ago. Kobe Brown was a major contributor with 14 points and 7 rebounds. I thought it was interesting that after the game Martin said he didn't think Brown played a great game by any means. I don't know for sure if he was disappointed in the defense, if this is kind of a motivational tactic to keep Brown going or what, but I thought in terms of contributing offensively, Brown gave Mizzou as much as I've seen him give. He also told reporters after the game his shot didn't feel good so he had decided before the game he was going to ignore the jump shot and concentrate on driving. Do that more. I've never seen anything that tells me Kobe Brown is a great outside shooter anyway.
3) Now, about that commitment Eli Drinkwitz picked up. First of all, it's very big. Yes, we're 12 months away from Isaac Thompson being able to sign, but you'd much rather try to hang on to him than try to get him away from someone else. There's a lot of thought that Thompson can be the start of an avalanche in the St. Louis area and in the state. I'm not sure if that's true. Don't get me wrong, it's great to get him and momentum absolutely can happen with programs. But I have often found that talk of domino effects and package deals and everyone wanting to play together doesn't come to fruition. If Missouri does well in the state, I think it will have a lot more to do with the program being successful and Drinkwitz's message resonating with recruits than it does some herd mentality of all wanting to play together. Again, I think Thompson is an excellent get for Missouri. I think he can be a cornerstone of the 2022 class. It certainly doesn't HURT Missouri's chances with other guys in the class. I'm just saying I'm not sure the domino effect theory is something I believe strongly in.
4) I've always argued against the concept of "ace recruiters." But Drinkwitz is making me rethink that. I've always thought the ability to recruit had far more to do with the program you were recruiting to than the individual coach doing the recruiting. I still think the program is overall more important, but Drinkwitz is making me thing the gap might be quite a bit smaller than I've always thought. His 2021 class is tied for the best ranking Missouri has ever had right now. He's one of 23 coaches to have multiple commitments for 2022 already and one of 24 to have at least one 4-star. He got a top five player in the state more than a year before he'll be able to sign. He's getting things done on the recruiting trail and it's undeniable. The question is whether he can overcome the one thing that has always been Missouri's biggest hurdle in recruiting: Can he make it cool to go to Mizzou?
We've talked in circles for years about the issues facing Missouri in recruiting its own state. It's a very diverse state with all kinds of different cultures and politics and values. It's very disconnected. There's not much state pride. And as an extension, kids don't grow up viewing Mizzou as cool. It's cool to say you're going to Ohio State or Oklahoma or Texas or USC. It's not cool to say you're going to Mizzou. Heck, in some ways, I think it's even viewed as cooler to say you're going somewhere like Colorado or NC State or something like that just because it's different and far away. Drinkwitz's challenge (kind of ironic since he frequently refers to his own nerdy white guy image) is to make local football players view Mizzou as a cool place to go. It doesn't happen overnight and ultimately the only thing that really makes it happen is winning consistently over a period of years. Can he do it? We'll see.
