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So we're at the point where the ten thoughts tend to be a little more widespread and freelance. There's not that much going on. Last week was one of the slowest weeks of the year as far as Mizzou sports. So we'll talk some Mizzou, but we're also going to branch out into other things because otherwise, I don't have any idea how I'd come up with ten thoughts.
1) It wasn't a great weekend for Mizzou softball. The Tigers were swept in a Sunday doubleheader by the Tigers from LSU and lost the weekend series. That knocked Mizzou down to 7-5 in SEC play, 29-9 overall. Obviously it's still a very good season with Mizzou safely inside the top 20 and almost certainly headed for NCAA Tournament play and quite possibly hosting a regional. Larissa Anderson has things rolling. The program might not quite be back where Ehren Earleywine had it at its height (that has to be proven by getting to Women's College World Series, multiple) but it's not far off. And as far as I know, there's no hint of the drama that seemed to follow Earleywine at every turn. Anderson has been Jim Sterk's best hire so far.
2) On the other diamond, Mizzou baseball beat South Carolina on Friday night before losing the last two games of the series. They were outscored 24-5 in the final two games. That left Mizzou 11-19, 4-8 in league play. They've been outscored 94-45 in 12 SEC games. So you can't really pick out any one area. The Tigers are just getting beat up all over the place. There is some good news, though. Mizzou's last four SEC series are against Georgia, Florida, Auburn and Alabama. None of them are in the top half of their division. Georgia and Florida are the teams right above Mizzou in the East. There is a path to passing a those schools and avoiding the cellar, even if the NCAA Tournament looks like a virtual impossibility.
3) The main focus of the next couple of months will be recruiting. In that light, @Sean_Williams was in Dallas for the Rivals camp this weekend and has already posted a few notes and observations. We'll have much more to come this week. Sean will also attend Rivals camps in Indianapolis and Atlanta to catch up with some Mizzou targets. I'm meeting up with D.J. Wesolak next weekend in Boonville and both @mitchell4d and I are trying to set up some more in-person interviews with Mizzou's regional priority targets. The Tigers currently rank 21st in the 2022 team rankings with six commitments.
4) On the hoops side, after a very busy week and a half in the transfer portal, things slowed down this week. Nothing has really changed on this front. We're still expecting Missouri to add a front court player and, if it can, Tamar Bates. Again, there's no real timetable here. Things could happen at any time. We're supposed to be talking with Cuonzo Martin some time this week.
5) The real intrigue as far as transfers today might be with one of the outgoing ones. Xavier Pinson posted an instagram story (which he has since deleted) implying he would be choosing between Kansas and LSU today. We'll see. I'm not sold he's committing anywhere today. If he does, I'm not sold those schools have room for him. But maybe they do. We'll see. I know many of you will read this and say "Why do I care about him?" You don't have to. It's okay if you don't. This is only for the people who are interested.
6) Pinson's situation brings up something that I have thought about some of these transfers for a couple of weeks now. I want to be clear, I don't begrudge any kid who chooses to transfer. I don't think it's ruining the sport or anything like that. There are valid reasons for it, as stated by another former Tiger.
BUT I do think some of these dudes are doing it for the wrong reasons. Last I checked, something like 27% of the players in Division One basketball are in the portal. That means every team is losing and gaining an average of three players (and obviously some of these players are going to be left without a spot). I don't feel awful for a player left without a spot or ending up in a worse situation. That's the risk you take. If you're going to fight for the right to be allowed to transfer without penalty (which I support) you also have to accept consequences. But my bigger concern is how many of these kids are doing this because they want to be recruited again. Every single kid I see posting a list on Twitter or a message on Instagram, the comments just immediately turn into fans of multiple schools saying "Hope to see you in black and gold" or "You'd look great at Minnesota" or "Be a Gator!" or whatever. There's a whole discussion to be had about which side of this conversation is stranger, but my point is, I think a lot of these kids like feeling wanted. How many of them are going through the transfer process because it will make them feel wanted?
I don't begrudge any high school kid for living up every bit of the recruiting process. You're only going to get that once. But once you're a college player who's looking for a second school, it rubs me the wrong way a little bit. I'm not saying you don't post a commitment and be proud of it. Not at all. But it's a little like a second wedding to me. Feel free to have it, invite people if you want and enjoy the hell out of it. But understand if some people choose not to go and make quite as big a deal of it as the first one.
Insert old man yelling at cloud GIF here I guess.
7) This is normally the spot where I'd go on and on about the Masters. Except there's not that much to say. There was about a 20-minute window where it seemed like it was going to be a finish worth watching. Then Xander Schauffele put it in the drink on 16 and the last three holes were just a matter of Hideki Matsuyama not wetting his pants repeatedly, which he did not. It was fine. I always like watching a major. Augusta fought back a little bit after everyone destroyed it in November. It's a big win for the country of Japan and kudos to Matsuyama. But it was just a leaderboard full of guys that are solid golfers who I don't love or hate and there wasn't much to get fired up about. I actually did yard work for a solid 90 minutes in the middle of the round.
8) Here are the two things I liked most about the Masters courtesy of Twitter. Both involved caddies:
9) The Masters was actually part of a larger thing that's been happening for me over the last month. We're getting there, guys. There is normal. We're not all the way there, but we're on our way. We had an NCAA Tournament. Some fans were there. Major League Baseball is happening with some fans. There were "patrons" at Augusta. I'm going to go to a baseball game at some point this summer. We scheduled a vacation this week. My son's school, as well as Mizzou, announced that they're planning on full schedules and dorms in the fall.
I'm not interested in the discussion of whether that took too long or whether it all ever should have been shut down or any of those things. I'm just in the camp of Thank God it's finally happening. I use the sports stuff as proof that it's happening because that's the lens through which many of us here view life. It's been a wild 13 months. Forever, we've all lived through one of those periods that later generations are going to look back at and say "I wonder what that was like." But a lot of times over the previous 13 months we've heard the phrase "the new normal." I'm sure some things will change. But I've seen a lot of signs in the last few weeks that maybe the new normal won't be all that different than the old normal. I'll be grateful when that happens. It's already starting to.
10) This week's reading recommendations:
Golf Digest: He wanted to talk with the president so he stormed Augusta National
Golf Digest: Augusta National magic revealed again in a solitary pine tree
Bloomberg Businessweek: Bill Hwang had $20 billion, then lost it all in two days
Wired: I called off my wedding. The Internet will never forget.
The Atlantic: The Show that changed television forever
KC Star: Alex Gordon relishing retirement
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