Mizzou Links, 7-7-07...Happy Live Earth Day!

So my laptop crashed yesterday morning, but fear not, Sanity Readers! A replacement is on the way...oh, and what a replacement it will be...once you go mac, you never go back...

• Dave Matter has an interesting article about Mizzou and its lack of StL recruiting success. It's a good article from top to bottom, but here are the two juiciest bits. First, from DeSmet coach Pat Mahoney:
  
  

  "We’ve had an outstanding relationship," he said of Ford, who has recruited St. Louis since Pinkel’s staff came to MU after the 2000 season. "Coach Pinkel and Cornell Ford do it by the rules. They’re honest. They tell you where things stand. And sometimes, that’s an unusual quality, unfortunately. But they don’t pull any punches, and they’ve done a great job not only with Robert, but every recruit we’ve had."
  
  Mahoney said he’s heard similar comments from most of his coaching peers in St. Louis.
  
  "Now, there are some hard heads out there that are never going to change," he said. "Even if Vince Lombardi were coaching" at Missouri "some of the hard heads would say, ‘Well, I don’t know about them.’ But anyone who’s been open to" Pinkel’s staff "has said the same thing I am."

  And then from Danny Heitert...

  "Missouri has been victimized by their fast start in Gary’s first year. It gave the perception that they were the hare and not the tortoise," said Heitert, a veteran recruiting analyst from St. Louis who publishes the annual recruiting guide, the STC Grid Report. "These guys are not quick-change artists. It’s very rare that you find these turnaround coaches, like" Nick Saban "at Alabama. When you find one, you cherish them because they’re precious. And that’s why they make the big seven-figure dollars.
  
  "Gary’s group is not that. That’s not bad because those are very few. Early on, he gave the impression that he may be a turnaround artist. But he’s not. He’s an incrementalist. That is where they’re at in St. Louis. They’ve got a good foundation. They’re very rarely, with a few exceptions, out of the game altogether with a single recruit."
  
  ...
  
  "Missouri just can’t seem to make any headway there, and I’m not sure why that is," Heitert said. "Coaches from schools like that will deny under oath that they steer anyone away or have any bias toward Missouri. But I kind of go on behavior and by what I see, not what people say. What I see is there are pockets where Missouri just can’t get into the recruiting game. Why that is? I’m not certain."

  Nobody seems to have any answers, which is the weirdest part. A lot of StL folks view Mizzou as bass-ackwards, and it doesn't seem there's anything in the world Mizzou can do to change that...other than go 11-1 this season.


• Ben Askren: Big 12 Male Athlete of the Year and Mizzou Wrestling Volunteer Assistant. A man for all seasons.
• Now that Mizzou Basketball is back in the headlines (and for the record, what the hell is Club Tropicana? Never heard of the place...), mutigers.com thought it would be a good time to look back on the 2006-07 season and look ahead to 07-08.
• And finally, Summer League didn't exactly start too well for the Portland Trail Blazers...10 fouls, Greg? Really?