Join Mizzou beat writer Dave Matter for his live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday
Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Dave Matter in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
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I noted two of our 2023 football recruits are not ranked. Since one of the most outstanding strengths of our coach has been his first two classes have ranked in the top 20 nationwide I am a little surprised. To me this is either he is having trouble this recruiting season bringing in top recruits or he feels these players are worthy of a three star rating and he is not fixated on this year’s class rankings.Your thoughts. -
A couple factors here. The kicker isn't ranked by the national recruiting services because they generally don't rank kickers. But Blake Craig was highly rated by the Kohl's kicking camp, which is considered the best specialists camps/companies in the sport. He's now been given a two-star rating by Rivals.com.Marquis Johnson and Nicholas DeLoach are now three-star prospects by Rivals. They were both under-the-radar recruits when they committed, which isn't unusual this time of year when seniors-to-be are attending camps around the country and just now getting noticed by Power 5 programs.Otherwise, when you're recruiting a higher caliber of prospect - like Mizzou is doing now under Drinkwitz - you have to play the long game for some of the best recruits. Other than quarterbacks, a lot of the four- and five-star targets don't commit early. They want to take their visits and drag out the process. That's happening now.
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Okay, Mr. Matter ... at the risk of getting "banned" for coming back at this a third (and, I promise, last) time, I have to say one more thing about what I'm afraid will soon be a parallel between the dismissal of charges against UNC and whatever comes out of the KU case.
When I mentioned that I feel as if the NCAA looked for a way out of punishing one of its elite programs in UNC it came up with what I consider to be a ridiculous set of reasoning that you accurately stated: Because the academic fraud was available to more than just athletes, we (the NCAA) either can't or won't punish UNC for this fraud.
To me, that's like the district attorney for St. Louis County saying, "Well, I see people in Boone County aren't being prosecuted for armed robbery so I guess I can't prosecute people here with it. Gotta let 'em off because it's all or nothing." To say that's specious "logic" by the NCAA would be kind. UNC had a documented history of decades of academic fraud in which not just students, but faculty and athletic staff were culpable and the NCAA simply slipped out the back door without bringing any punishment and hoped people would soon forget about it ... and then Mizzou was next up with offenses that were a small fraction of what went on at UNC, self-reported, cooperated to a defined level of, "exemplary," and got a sizeable punishment. I'm just afraid they'll use similar laughable "reasoning" to let KU off the hook. I don't see any other explanation for the delay in a resolution to all this. Thanks for letting me vent on it, one last time. -
Again, because other UNC students were getting the same benefit that the UNC athletes were getting, it wasn't considered an extra benefit. There's no NCAA rule that says athletes can't take BS classes; but they're not allowed to receive extra benefits that aren't made available to non-athletes.
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I think that Defense could be a strength for this 2022 iteration of the Tigers. Ty'Ron Harper figures to be a prominent figure to that success in my eye. If you feel the same can you throw out a few other names that figure to be a part of increasing the strength of this defense and why in your estimation. Thanks
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Ty'Ron HopperAn average Mizzou defense would be a huge upgrade from last year. Huge.I'm starting to work on my All-SEC ballot. Isaiah McGuire is certainly a candidate, along with Kris Abrams-Draine and maybe JC Carlies. Defensive end is a strength. Mizzou is solid at safety. Hopper had a very strong second half of the season at Florida. I'd be a little concerned about D-tackle, cornerback depth and depth overall. It's time for some young athletes to emerge and become contributors on that side of the ball.
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There are only so many passes to go around, but I like Chance Luper at receiver to make an impact. Good things happen when he touches the ball. Defensively, I was impressed with the glimmers we saw of Arden Walker at defensive end. Maybe he can become the first edge rusher off the bench. Joseph Charleston should be a solid contributor at safety. I liked what I saw from him in the spring.
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I'm on that 6-6 fence for football. A game worse or better shouldn't be surprising. Until the quarterback situation is resolved, it's hard to forecast any kind of breakthrough for this program. Maybe if there was a sure-thing All-SEC running back on the roster it would be easier to overlook the uncertainty at QB. But that's not the case. And we still don't know if this defense will be marginally improved from last year's disaster. It can't be much worse - and Blake Baker's track record indicates he'll put a much-improved unit on the field. But there are no guarantees.It's much harder to come up with a record for men's basketball, especially when we don't know the full schedule. Most teams in the SEC restored their roster like the Tigers - and other five programs have new head coaches. If the new pieces click, then it's fair to expect a competitive team that can push for a middle-of-the-pack seed in the SEC tourney, between No. 6 and 9.
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Hi Dave,
With the ACC getting rid of divisions, it's only a matter time until the SEC gets rid of them too. Do you see the SEC moving to some type of pod setup with a short playoff for the SEC championship. I'm not sure if it's possible without extending the season, but it would seem they could move to 4 pods of 4 teams then have a 2 round playoff for the SEC championship. It would seem to be alternative if the Alliance keeps holding off on a true College Football playoff. -
It was widely reported at the SEC spring meetings that the league will eliminate divisions once Texas and Oklahoma join but won't adopt any pod system. The two models being considered revolve around an eight- or nine-game conference schedule. If they stay with eight, then they'll go with a 1-7: You play one permanent opponent every year then the other seven opponents rotate. The nine-game model is 3-6: Three fixed opponents and six rotating teams. That's the model that Mizzou/Drinkwitz favor. There's no major rush to decide on the format for now with OU and Texas not joining until 2024 or 2025.
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The team lost four transfers: Aijah Blackwell (Baylor), Izzy Higginbottom (Arkansas State), Kiya Dorroh (Colorado State) to the portal.Ladazhia Williams also transferred (LSU), though she went through her senior day ceremony last season and wasn't necessarily expected back.Obviously Blackwell was a huge loss. Leading scorer and rebounder. Higginbottom contributed this past season, but when you lose transfers to mid-major programs, I'm not sure they should count as major losses.The team added freshmen Averi Kroenke Ashton Judd, the Class 5 player of the year in Missouri, and graduate transfer Katlyn Gilbert from Notre Dame.They'll have to replace Blackwell's production by committee. No one player can reproduce what she provided. But Hayley Frank should be a preseason All-SEC contender and the leader of the team going forward.
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In the last fiscal year, softball generated $357,298 in revenue and spent $1,728,730.Women's basketball generated $230,617 in revenue and spent $3,429,407.Every year I publish the school's NCAA financial report
Mizzou Athletics 2021 Financial Report
I don't have the specific data for TV revenue based on appearances. -
As Far as Mizzou Offense goes I think Dom Lovett leads the team in receptions and yards. I can see a toss up of TDs between Luther and Tauskie. I am assuming a lot of 4 receiver sets due to a true standout at the TE spot so far, Thus Tauskie and Luther getting Redzone opportunities. Your Thoughts