Mizzou Links, 9-13-07

• We've got basketball recruiting news! I'll let Atchison go more in-depth on this guy, but Laurence Bowers is on-board. Meanwhile, the pursuit of Notre Dame Prep's Kim English is on.
  
• Speaking of basketball, Mizzou will have a public workout at 10am this Saturday...I tend to avoid these due to the occasional outbreak of stupid optimism on my part.
• On to football. Martin Rucker has been disgustingly good so far this season, and Mike Dearmond takes note. Mike D. also says, "Hey MU fans: cheer up!"
  
• It's the latest "Cut to the Chase"! Love these things...Matter also has his latest Power Poll.
  
• Interesting stat from the Trib: "When leading by eight or more points, the defense has allowed 5.9 yards per carry. With a 7-point lead or less, the average shrinks to 3.1." Sounds about right. The Post-Dispatch looks into the defense's struggles as well.
  
• Graham Watson hands her keyboard to a WMU writer.
  
• It's a family conflict!!
• Despite the fact that I will be forever bitter about the phantom holding call and the 2006 loss to Iowa State (and trust me, I latch onto bitterness for long periods of time...ask me about the 1998 basketball loss at OU--the one where Brian Grawer got the tying 3-point play, only Johnnie Parker dunked the ball home and negated the basket--at your own risk...and yes, I just spent five minutes digging up that article...), I actually feel a bit sorry for Iowa State fans at this point. They're staring down "the suck" at the moment, and it's not going to be a pretty 3 months...
  
• What's the perfect remedy for a team that just got some horrible injury news? UMKC! Mizzou Volleyball smoked the always-horrid 'Roos, finishing a sweep with a 30-8 win in Game Three. OUCH. Mizzou had 5 errors the entire match. More on this one later.