Mizzou Links, 10-2-07

We'll see how well I can do Links with a cat lying on my left arm...could be interesting...

• It must be Tuesday...we've got the official MU-NU release, and we've got Media Day quotes! Just about everybody's healthy (including Danario Alexander), the guys have been studying up, Mizzou's at its highest poll position since 1998, Carl Gettis has passed Hardy Ricks, a sellout is a given...it's all starting to come together. Dave Matter has more on Alexander's wrist and the Big 12's North Revival...and of course even more notes on his blog.
  
• If you're dying for even more quotes, here's a Pig Brown chat transcript.
• Like some Mizzou commentary? It's Like Father, Unlike Son! And Graham Watson's Tuesday Musings!
  
• The Missourian repeats what's already been said on here...it's probably for the best that we didn't play on Saturday...too many crazy things happened. It also has a nice story on Pinkel's cameo visit at the Columbia Youth Football League.
• Speaking of nice stories, here's probably the best read of the day: Mike Dearmond's "Pinkel is a Changed Man" feature. Graham Watson has a nice Chase Daniel feature as well.
  
• Next week's MU-OU game was apparently knocked out of the 2:30 time slot by...ATM-Tech? It's now got a quite strange 5:30 kickoff. I realize OU lost and all, but that's still a strange move. I mean, OU and MU are the two highest-ranked teams in the conference right now. And if I manage to get down to that game, that will prevent me from going to my favorite BBQ restaurant in the world after the game...BOO!
  
• Biggest non-football news: Mizzou Soccer has moved up to #15 in one poll, #16 in another...and #6 in another! It goes without saying that that's Mizzou's highest ever position in any poll.
• It appears that Mizzou's 2008 basketball recruiting class is now full, as JUCO forward Keith Ramsey has committed.
  
• And speaking of Mizzou basketball, I didn't realize that next Friday's (10/12) Mizzou Madness is both a Men's Basketball even and a Women's Basketball event. Pretty cool, I guess.
• Finally, Mizzou Softball opened its fall schedule by decimating Jefferson College and Butler County CC. Not exactly the roughest of competition, but hey...
  

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MU Softball 2007 Season Wrap-Up

Yes....so the season ended awhile ago and I am just getting to it....get over it....it's been a busy couple of months for me.

The 2006 season began with the Mizzou Tigers ranked 18th in the country, but ended for them on May 12, as they fell to OU 4-0 in the finals of the Big XII Championship game. The upstart Tigers put together a nice run to make the finals, but their regular season record would show them at a disappointing one game under .500 at 26-27.

About three months later, then-coach Ty Singleton bolted for the perceived (by him anyway) greener pastures of University of New Mexico (parlayed a 23-31 team into a 20-25 team there in his first year) A few days later, Mike Alden announced that Georgia Tech head coach and Missouri native Ehren Earleywine would become the new Tiger skipper. Earleywine, a Jeff City Jay and Westminster grad seemed very excited to be coming home, but would have his work cut out for him, as star and pretty much only returning pitcher Jen Bruck would be coming off of the most unique of post-season....well...um....condition. She just gave birth to her first child.

Jen Bruck was nothing short of inspirational in her comeback as the season got going, and the young Tigers under a new head coach had a couple of nice wins over ranked opponents in the non-conference to show for it. However, reaching the Big XII season at 22-17, not much was expected of Mizzou. After all, they had been pre-season ranked #8 in the league.

Once the league season picked up, so did Mizzou. Charting up win after win, Mizzou slowly began to gain some national recognition, cracking the polls on April 25 in 21st place. When all was said and done, Mizzou was playing for the regular season title on the last weekend, coming up just short in the race and finishing a wonderful 3rd overall. Mizzou finished disappointed in the Big XII Championship, and made a regional final game before falling to eventual CWS participant Depaul, finishing the season ranked 19th in the nation with a 40-24 record (which made for an amazing 18-7 run through the amazingly tough conference season and postseason) For his effort, Coach Earleywine was voted Big XII Coach of the Year.

So now....what does Mizzou lose going into next year?

Seniors:

• Leanne Bowers: Outfielder batted .299 on the year with 4 HR's. She played and started in every single game Mizzou played this season (one of only three to do that) She worked a good amount of walks on the season, and lead the team in stolen bases, but also in strikeouts. Only one error in the outfield means she was quite good out there, and will be missed next season.
• Kathy Masterson: Primarily the catcher for Mizzou this season, Kathy started 56 games and batted .277 for Mizzou. Very solid behind the plate with only 3 errors, Kathy brought good stability, and with her graduation, along with seniors Alyson Tobyne and A.J. White, Mizzou will only have one returning catcher to the roster next year in RS Soph Katie Miles (along with a true frosh)
• Sarah Stringer: 2B for Mizzou this season, starting in 57 games for the Tigers and batting a solid .270 with 4 HR's to her name. Decent in the field, but was third on the team in errors with nine (light hitting senior Ally Kennewell had 11 and Jen Bruck had...well...16)

So....Mizzou will lose three, pretty much everyday elements to their lineup, but let's take a look at what is returning in 2008.

Underclassmen:

• Jen Bruck: Everyday pitcher for Mizzou will be a senior next season, and one must believe she will have an even stronger season in 2008. Bruck got into a good groove during conference play, but I think ran out of gas a bit down the stretch as the Tigers really had to lean on her come tournament play. Bruck started 32 games on the season, going 21-10 with a 2.47 ERA and 193 hits in 190 innings. At the plate, Bruck put up the second most HR's on the team with 7, while batting .244. Hopefully her fielding woes will be examined in the off-season, as 16 errors, and some of them at REALLY bad times did hurt the Tigers down the stretch
• Micaela Minner: The senior-to-be leader in almost all offensive categories for Mizzou this season, Micaela batted a team high .367, but did see her power numbers fall off to only 6, down from 9 in 2006 and 17 in 2005. Minner worked 33 walks on the season with only 12 K's, showing clearly good patience given she likely does not see a lot of pitches these days. Benefiting from that would be....
• Amanda Renth: Another senior next season, the Tiger's first baseman put up a team leading 14 HR's while batting at a .324 clip. She lead the team in RBI's and slugging as well, and was solid in the field with only 4 errors at first base. Renth, along with Minner are the two Tigers returning who played and started in every single game on the season.
• Andee Allen: Allen will be a junior next year, and has played both second base and shortstop. Allen hit .276 and was speedy on the bases with 13 steals, likely needing to take over the roll from Bowers as some top of the lineup speed. She played in 61 games this season, and was solid with only 6 errors on the season in the infield.
• Julie Silver: Had a great first season a frosh on the squad, hitting .298 and stealing 10 bases while playing the outfield. Silver showed some good pop with the bat, hitting 3 HR's. Mizzou will need further development from her next season, but she certainly showed a tremendous start and potential with three more seasons to play.

Incoming Class

• The class features five signees, two of which are reported as catchers. The others are a left-handed pitcher, an outfielder with tremendous speed (stole seven bases in ONE GAME in high school) and a utility player/infielder. My guess is that the team will look for production from the pitcher, one of the catchers and the outfielder this season.

Thoughts for 2008

Coach Earleywine was quoted towards the end of the season when Mizzou was garnering all of it's attention that he was surprised how well and how quickly some of his players had picked up his batting instruction, stating his plan was really a two year plan for that instruction to come around. Well, 2008 looks like a perfect year for that plan to hit. With top batters and top power coming back, Mizzou should not be short on runs. Decent speed and defense will also be in abundance for the Tigers. We all know how good Bruck can be, but we really need for either junior to be Megan Dennis (9-3), soph to be Jana Hainey (7-5) or the true frosh to come along in a big way.

The secret will be out on Mizzou this year, and they will not be able to sneak up on anyone come conference season like they were able to this year. Next season will be a very important year with all the key seniors on the team, Mizzou's goals must be two-fold. They must keep the momentum of an NCAA tourney berth going on the field, as well as off while Earleywine gets his first full season of recruiting under his belt. The Tigers should again expect to contend in the usually loaded Big XII and should expect to return to the NCAA's come May 2008.

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Mizzou Links, 5-23-07

• Big XII baseball awards are out, and the Tigers are all over the board. First up, Tim Jamieson split Coach of the Year honors with Texas' Augie Garrido. There are really two ways to figure out coach of the year--either go with the coach of the best team or go with the coach of the most surprising team. Apparently half of the voters went one way, half the other. It's Jamieson's 2nd COTY award--he also won in 1996.
• As for the player awards, junior OF Jacob Priday (.301 BA, 9 HR's, .330 BA in league play) and sophomore SP Aaron Crow (8-2, 2.62 ERA) found their way to 1st team honors, junior OF Evan Frey (.347 BA, 5 triples) to 2nd team, and freshman P Kyle Gibson (7 wins, 7 saves), sophomore P Rick Zagone (6-2), and sophomore IF Kyle Mach (.308 BA)got honorable mention honors. LOTS of young talent here, eh? And speaking of young talent, freshman catcher Trevor Coleman (.295, 8 HR's) was named Freshman of the Year. Congrats to all!
• Meanwhile, it's getting harder to think of Mizzou Baseball as anything but a 1-seed in the NCAA regionals. Unless they bomb in the Big XII championships (knock on wood), the main question will be whether or not they get to host.
• And finally, Dave Matter (friend of Mizzou Sanity!) has a nice Mizzou Softball post-mortem.

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The Mizzou Exchange: Dave Matter (Part Two)

Let's continue with Part Two of my conversation with Dave Matter. In his last response, Dave mentioned Mizzou's lack of success against ball-control teams.

The Boy: The most frustrating game you mentioned was ATM. Iowa State moved the ball shockingly well, but that was a full-team collapse on Mizzou's part. With A&M, the Mizzou defense absolutely dominated in the box in the first half. Goodson and Lane had no room to run whatsoever. At halftime, Lane had 13 carries for 44 yards (19 of which came on 2 carries in the last minute when ATM was running out the clock...before that, 11 carries for 25 yards), Goodson 7 for 14. In other words, in the first 29 minutes of the game, ATM RB's combined for 18 carries, 39 yards. Mizzou got nailed by a couple ATM bombs in the 1st quarter (one play-action and one trick play), but that was fine. If ATM can't run the ball, they can't win.

The problem was, here was the time of possession for Mizzou's 1st half drives: 0:50 (ending in a fumble), 2:09, 1:31, 0:37 (fumble), 0:42 (fumble), 3:23. Three turnovers and a self-inflicted time of possession of less than 10 minutes in the first half pretty much spelled doom for the defense. Despite a strong defensive gameplan, Mizzou was gashed for 83 yards on 15 carries by Lane and 57 yards on 8 carries by Goodson. Yes, ATM was aided by curious Mizzou play-calling and the worst fake field goal attempt ever, but that game was decided in the first half, and it was in no way the defense's fault.

From that point on, though, the defense seemed gash itself just fine without help from the Mizzou offense (except against NU, anyway).

The way this discussion is headed, it really does sound like the most important Mizzou player in 2007 could be Ziggy Hood. He was unbelievable against Murray State and Ole Miss (that's not saying a lot), but after he came back from the foot injury he was pretty much invisible (though I believe he said he wasn't any better than about 70%). If he's an Okam-esque difference maker, the defense will have no choice to be solid. And if the defense is solid...well...

So let's wrap up the football talk with another quick pick. Quick—who are the most underrated and overrated players in the Big XII? Here are mine (sans Mizzou, since I can't contain my bias):

Underrated (offense): WR Adarius Bowman (OSU). I realize he was 1st-team All Big XII, making it hard for him to be underrated, but he so rarely gets mentioned among elite players, and his stats (60 catches, 1181 yards, 19.7 per catch, 12 TD's in 2006) are absolutely insane.

Underrated (defense): DB Reggie Smith (OU). He's gotten some recognition, but his impact on the OU defense has been beyond significant. In the two years before his arrival in Norman (2003 and 2004), opponents averaged 8.56 and 8.12 yards per pass. That's bad. In '05 and '06, opponents averaged 6.34 and 7.89. When he's healthy (not a given), he's a big-time difference maker.

Overrated (offense): TE Martellus Bennett (ATM). Got on the 2nd-team All Big XII list last year completely and totally because he was a 5-star recruit in high school. He had a nice year (38 catches, 3 TD's), but not as good as Martin Rucker or Chase Coffman. Really, though, this is just a) residual bitterness from his getting HM All Big XII in '05 over Coffman, and b) future bitterness from when he inevitably gets picked higher than Coffman in some preseason magazines.

Overrated (defense): LB Bo Ruud (NU). Really no better than Corey McKeon or Stewart Bradley last year. He had a fantastic game against MU (7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 FF, 1 FR, 1 INT), but that was his only standout game. He was a big-play guy like Marcus Bacon (2 other FR's, 2 other FF's), but he only had three games with more than 6 tackles...not all too hot for an LB. In all, he's got a nice nose for the ball, but not so much a nose for the ball-carrier.

Dave Matter: Good points on the A&M game. The Aggies won't be any easier to beat this year. They'll have one of the five best running games in the country this year. Rugged, experienced O-line. A pulverizing powerback in Lane. And I think Goodson has a chance to be the best back in the Big 12 this year, though playing with Lane will affect his stats, especially touchdowns. I've been guilty of riding the A&M bandwagon in the past, but I was considering picking the Aggies to win the South until they stunk up the Holiday Bowl against Cal.

As for underrated/overrated...

Underrated (offense): Colt McCoy, QB, Texas. Bring on the hate mail. I'm going to get blasted for this because so many people outside of Austin think McCoy is overrated, but take a look at his numbers from last year: 68 percent completion; 29 TDs to 7 INTs; 161.8 QB rating (13 points higher than any other Big 12 QB). True, he only threw for 197 yards per game, but he also attempted only 24.5 passes per game, just the sixth-most in the league. He did all of this as a redshirt freshman who succeeded one of the greatest college players of our generation in Vince Young. Missouri fans like to credit McCoy's superior stats to Texas' supporting cast, but I don't buy it. Texas had a better O-line in '06, but I'd take Temple, Franklin, Coffman, Rucker, Ek, Perry, Saunders, Alexander over Texas' 2006 backs and receivers. In my opinion, McCoy didn't get enough credit for 2006. I love the QB rating statistic, and McCoy's was better than that of Brian Brohm, Brady Quinn, Zac Taylor, Chris Leak, Chad Henne and Chase Daniel ... and only eight-hundredths of a point behind Heisman winner Troy Smith.

Underrated (defense): Chris Harrington, DE, A&M. Not a flashy player but holds up well against the run (ranked fourth among Big 12 linemen in tackles last year with 59) and can get after the quarterback (7.5 sacks in '06). He seemed to make a lot of big plays last year in games I watched and was one of the more productive and versatile linemen in the league. Only made honorable mention All-Big 12, though. Silly voters.

Overrated (offense): Bret Meyer, QB, Iowa State. I hate this pick. I really struggled coming up with someone, so we'll pick on the Cyclones. I've never been really wowed by Meyer. His best season was 2005 when he threw 19 TDs to 10 INTs and had two great games in wins over A&M and K-State. But he took a huge step backward last year. Not all of that was his fault. The talent around him was depleted, but he threw as many or more INTs than TDs in seven of eight Big 12 games last year. This won't come off sounding politically correct, but because he's a black quarterback foolish people assume he's a dangerous runner. That's not the case at all. He's averaged less than a yard per carry the last two years. Great pick on Bennett. Though he does have some value steering A&M's run game, he's given way too much credit as a receiver when there are much better receiving tight ends around the league.

Overrated (defense): Alvin Bowen, LB, Iowa State. I don't doubt that Bowen might be a fine linebacker, but I'm always amused when the leading tackler on a horrendous defense gets recognition based on nothing more than his number of tackles. Most of the time that's just an indictment on what's probably a terrible defense that never gets off the field. To his credit, Bowen actually led the country in tackles last year...and was honored with first-team All-Big 12 recognition thanks to voters who do nothing more than read the stat sheet. Do you know who Tim McGarigle is? He's a second-year Rams linebacker (scout team last year) and he's the NCAA Division I-A career leader in tackles. He played at Northwestern from 2002-05. His junior year, Northwestern ranked 119th in total defense. That's dead last. No team was worse. But he got lots of tackles and was a consensus first-team All-Big Ten pick. You can't tell me Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa didn't have five or six better linebackers but had fewer tackles because their defenses didn't stink. OK, I've turned this into a rant, but I've always said it'd be much more enlightening to track missed tackles rather than made tackles.

TB: Because I'm a gigantic nerd, one of my summer projects is entering 2006 play-by-play data for Big XII teams and figuring out different measures of quality and success. For instance, the writers of Football Prospectus (www.footballoutsiders.com) define a "successful play" as...

- Gaining 40% of needed first down yardage on 1st down
- Gaining 70% of needed first down yardage on 2nd down
- Gaining 100% of needed first down yardage on 3rd or 4th down

So as I enter the play-by-play data, I can start looking at what percentage of a defender's tackles prevented a 'successful' play for the opposing offense and what percentage of a QB's plays resulted in 'success' as defined. I'm also looking at the difference in success levels in close situations versus blowout situations. And again, because I'm gigantic nerd, I'm really looking forward to what this will all say. Unfortunately it takes about 45-60 minutes to enter one game, and last I checked, a lot of games were played last year. I'm through about half of Mizzou's season thus far, though, so I'm making some headway. And I'm always looking for suggestions regarding what else to look for in these stats...

Moving on to softball...Mizzou plays SIU at 4:30 Friday. These two teams played on March 21, and SIU scored a 1-0 no-hitter by Cassidy Scoggins to move Mizzou to a medicore 22-17 on the season. However, Mizzou got hot after that game, winning 15 of 20 to end the regular season. How different is this team than the one Scoggins (who I assume will start Friday's game) shut down eight weeks ago?

(Note: This message was sent a day or two before Friday’s NCAA Regionals. Dave’s response below was posted before Mizzou’s loss to DePaul on Saturday. My next response was made after Mizzou’s loss to DePaul on Sunday. Just thought I’d point that out in case there is any confusion in tenses here.)

DM: The biggest difference with the softball team has been the healthy return of junior pitcher Jen Bruck. After having a baby in January, she has remarkably played all season, but she's just now getting some pop back in her bat and building endurance to pitch with little rest. I've really been impressed with her poise and toughness this season. It's not like she's coming off an ankle injury. She carried a friggin' human being for nine months, gave birth in January, and a few weeks later was zinging fastballs and taking cuts at the plate. That's toughness. She's as intense a competitor and as I've covered at MU, and that includes a lot of football players over the years. She's turned what could be considered a tabboo subject into a blessing and hasn't let it affect her play. She slammed a home run to the deepest part of the park here in Carbondale yesterday. If she keeps that up and has enough strength to be effective on the mound (she's a finesse pitcher, doesn't overpower hitters with a lot of velocity and strikeouts) the Tigers should win this regional and could put a scare into Oklahoma at the Super Regionals.

Wow. That paragraph almost makes me sound like a softball writer.

TB: Looks like in the end, it appears the lack of K’s and easy outs cost the Tigers. Defense really seemed to hold Mizzou back in the last month of the season—for starters, Jen Bruck had 16 E’s! Mizzou gave up fewer unearned runs (53) than they scored (69), but most of their losses down the stretch were littered with unearned runs.

Softball is such a bang-bang sport that K’s and easy outs seem pretty vital. Luckily for Mizzou, they were very young this year. With another year of experience, Bruck means that she might be able to get a few more easy outs next season; plus, the likelihood of finding a strong #2 pitcher increases, as Jana Hainey (7-5, 3.25 ERA, 0.69 K/IP) was only a freshman and Megan Dennis (9-3, 3.55 ERA, 0.57 K/IP) was a sophomore; however, neither was much of a strikeout pitcher, so that leaves the door open for somebody else (no idea who...maybe incoming freshman Lisa Simmons?) to emerge.

Since we’ve crossed the 4,500-word threshold (!) at this point, I guess it’s about time we wrap this up. So I’ll hit you with three rapid-fire questions:

1) How far does Mizzou baseball go this year?

2) On a scale of 1-10, how much does Blaine Gabbert’s commitment to Nebraska hurt Mizzou?

3) I’m preparing for more “What If...” explorations this summer. I’m pulling together a “What If Mizzou Joined the Big Ten in 1996?” piece as we speak, and I’m sure I’ll be looking into Tony Van Zant as well (hopefully I can figure out how to pull box scores from that far back. Also, I stumbled across a recruiting article from 1996 saying that Sebastien Janikowski visited Mizzou that fall, so I’ll probably be exploring that one (glutton for punishment am I). Any ideas? Am I missing some obvious ones? I thought about the Fifth Down as well, but I’m not sure I’m mentally ready for that one just yet.

DM: 1. There's no reason to think Missouri baseball can't make it to Omaha for the CWS. Tigers will most likely host a regional and depending on the matchup in the super regional, they should have the pitching and defense to make a run. Before any of that business, they'll be hungry to capture that elusive Big 12 championship this week in Oklahoma City.

2. If 1 is pain-free and 10 is excruciating, then I'd put Gabbert's decision currently at a 6. Recruiting is way too unpredictable to accurately predict how this will affect the team, especially considering MU can still grab another highly ranked QB in this class. But MU would probably never had otherwise had a chance to sign the No. 1 QB in the nation except for the fact that he played in the state. Looking at it that way, it's a real blown opportunity.

3. Good question on the Big Ten scenario. Based on nothing more than budget and backyard talent-base, I'd say MU would be in the second of three tiers among the Big Ten's football pecking order. Right there along with Iowa, Michigan State, Purdue and maybe Illinois. A few steps ahead of Indiana, Northwestern and Minnesota, but nowhere near the power status of Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State. I think MU would tap into the Chicago recruiting market if it played in the Big Ten, maybe Michigan, too.

Across the board, there might be a little more parity in the Big Ten than the Big 12, and that fact could give MU a chance to make a splash there, especially with an offense that goes against the norms in that league. We've seen Northwestern and Minnesota put together some stunners over the years, and even Illinois assembled a contender or two the last 10 years. Over the same span, you haven't seen the bottom feeders in the Big 12 (Baylor, Kansas and to some degree Missouri) pull off those sorts of victories and special seasons.

This is way off topic of your question, but one thing the Big Ten has right now over the Big 12 is some exciting young coaching talent: Bret Bielema at Wisconsin, Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern, Tim Brewster at Minnesota and Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. Seems to be a little more energy in the Big Ten based on these younger coaches' arrivals.

TB: In a way, I think Big Ten Football is in a Big XII Basketball-esque state of flux. Lots of new blood (aside from Michigan and Ohio State, of course) and lots of uncertainty as to who’s going to end up where in the pecking order. Bielema took a perfect first step in replacing Barry Alvarez; Fitzgerald is going to go through some growing pains since not only is he super-young, but he was also thrown into the job with little preparation; the Brewster hire might have been a reach, but he seems to have gotten off on the right foot recruiting; and Dantonio was a relatively safe hire...and half the time, it seems like safe hires backfire.

And yes, I think we’d fit in pretty well there. Especially when you consider how the divisions would almost have to be broken up (if they did it geographically, anyway): Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Northwestern, and Wisconsin in the ‘West’ division and Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, and Purdue in the ‘East’. That doesn’t really seem too fair, but in the mid-‘90s, when they would have been creating the divisions, Northwestern and Wisconsin were almost on par with the UM/OSU/PSU troika, so it really might have happened that way.

Anyway, before I go too far down that road...here are my quick answers to my own questions above:

1) I still worry that Mizzou relies on too many freshmen to make it to Omaha, but still...hosting a regional as a #1 seed, there’s really no excuse not to make the Super Regional. And there, it will really depend on the matchup. Kudos to Tim Jamieson, though...a few years ago, a friend of mine from OSU told me that opposing schools loved Jamieson because a) he was an amazingly nice, thoughtful guy, and b) his Mizzou teams were always extremely beatable. He and his staff have really stepped it up a notch both in coaching and recruiting, and he deserves some serious commendation for the job he’s done this year.

2) I’d say Gabbert’s commitment elsewhere is a solid 8. He might be a total bust, just like he might have been had he come to Mizzou, but his biggest impact might have come with the 2008 recruiting class Mizzou could have compiled had he committed here. The way the dominoes were arranging themselves, this could have been a major seal-the-borders class. As it is, the class should be fine—especially if another solid QB comes Mizzou’s way and Mizzou does as well as they might do this year—but for now it’s another recruiting what-coulda-been.

Well, thanks for being the guinea pig on this experiment. I think it turned out pretty well! We’ll have to do this again sometime.

DM: No problem.

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Mizzou Links, 5-21-07

• The season ended yesterday for Mizzou Softball. DePaul bopped the Tigers, 3-0, in the first game on Sunday. Mizzou finishes the season at 40-24. Not bad considering they were 22-17 at one point. Jen Bruck, Amanda Renth, etc., all return next year, so the future's pretty bright.
• Meanwhile, Mizzou Baseball continues to impress. Sweeping an OSU team (in Stillwater) that had won seven in a row? Damn! Mizzou wraps up the regular season at 39-14 overall, 19-8 in conference. They only lost one conference series all season. That's insane. Way to go, Tim Jamieson! (Here's the Missourian recap.) The Tigers will start play in the Big XII Championships with a game against 7-seed Oklahoma on Wednesday at 5pm. Their pod play will continue with games against 6-seed Baylor (Friday, 4:30) and 3-seed OSU (Saturday, 5pm). Winner of that pod will play the winner of the Texas-Nebraska-ATM-KSU pod at 1:30 on Sunday. Here's the bracket (.pdf file). You have to figure at this point that if Mizzou makes the finals, they're getting a 1-seed in the NCAA's, and they're probably hosting a regional. If they can just manage to win 2 of 3 in podplay, they should still be good on the 1-seed. Awesome season so far.
• Let's see...what else do I have for you...Dave Matter interviews Big XII Commissioner Kevin Weiberg in his Sunday Q&A...
• Billy Gillispie gets his man at Kentucky...
• ...and ESPN previews Big Ten Football. Go Badgers! I really enjoy this series ESPN's been doing, by the way...SportsCenter's damn near unwatchable at this point (I'm angrily wagging my finger in your direction, Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless...), but ESPN.com continues to put together some good reading material.

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Mizzou Links, 5-20-07

It was an up-and-down Saturday for Mizzou...

• Down: In softball, DePaul scored two unearned runs in the 6th to break a scoreless tie (one error was a Jen Bruck throwing error...her 16th of the season) and held on to beat Mizzou, 2-0, sending the Tigers to an evening consolation game against SIU. There definitely seems to be a need to work on defense in the offseason...it's held Mizzou back the last few weeks.
• Up: In baseball, Mizzou defeated OSU, 8-5, clinching their first series win in Stillwater since (according to KOMU last night) 1981. The win was their 18th conference win of the season--their most since Big XII play began--and brought the Tigers to within 1.5 games of Texas. If Texas were to lose to ATM in the evening, the Tigers would be within one game with one to play.
• Up: Mizzou Softball defeated SIU in Carbondale for the second straight day, this time 7-4. Jana Hainey got the start and went 5 strong innings, but SIU scored 2 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th, prompting Ehren Earlywine to bring out Jen Bruck for a scoreless 7th to lock down the win. All-Big XIIer Amanda Renth had 3 RBI's. They play DePaul at noon today, and they need to win twice to make the Super Regional against Oklahoma.
• Down: For the second straight evening, Texas scored late to beat ATM, 3-2, clinching the Big XII baseball title. Win or lose today, Mizzou will finish 2nd in the conference. Stupid Aggies.

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Mizzou Links, 5-19-07 - UNLEASHED!!

Another fantastic Friday for the University of Missouri. Of course, every time I post about great Friday developments, Mizzou has a subpar Saturday...so forget I said anything.

• Mizzou Softball (who apparently was indeed the #2 seed in the region) CRUSHED #3 seed Southern Illinois in the first round of the NCAA's, 8-0. It was the best possible development for MU. They really only have one pitcher--Jen Bruck--but they run ruled SIU, and Bruck only had to pitch 5 innings. Bruck gave up 2 hits and 2 walks over 5, plus she went 2-for-3 with a HR at the plate. And needless to say, SIU's Cassidy Scoggins (0.2 IP, 3 ER) wasn't quite as effective as when she no-hit Mizzou in March. I assume Bruck will be ready to go again today at noon against #1 DePaul, who run-ruled Mississippi Valley State, 10-0 in 6 innings.
• Meanwhile, Mizzou Baseball outscored the all-bat-no-pitch OSU Cowboys, 9-6, in Stillwater last night. They are once again in sole possession of 2nd place in the Big XII. Aaron Crow was pretty decent, giving up 3 runs in 7 innings and striking out 9. Greg Folgia--0.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER--had a strange line in the 8th, but the Tigers held on. They couldn't make up ground on 1st-place Texas, however. They rallied for 2 runs in the 7th and 2 in the 9th to beat ATM, 6-4. Stupid Aggies. Texas has clinched a tie for 1st place but would have to lose the next two games (while Mizzou won two) to avoid sole possession of the championship. That's not altogether realistic...I'm just hoping for a strong start from Rick Zagone.
• Oh, and you're welcome for this vital piece of information: Mizzou is no longer "On the Move"...they're now "UNLEASHED!" Feel the excitement! Actually, anything's better than the "It's a Great Time to Be a Tiger" tagline of the late-'90s (which seemed to coincide with the temporary downfall of Mizzou Athletics).

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Mizzou Links, 5-18-07

How in the hell is it already 5/18???

• Loved the quotes in trrip's post yesterday...I don't know what happened, but the offense totally clicked halfway through the season. I thought this would be a good offensive team with shaky pitching at the beginning of the year, but the bats just weren't warming up...the pitching was having to do a little too much to keep Mizzou afloat...but most certainly changed. Quite the big series in Stillwater this weekend. First place is all but gone, but this will be an all-out battle for second. Since getting swept by Texas, OSU has won seven in a row against OU, Texas Tech (outscoring them 30-5 in three games), and Wichita State. Mizzou's bid to host a regional would be tremendously aided by a series win here.
• Here's a nice piece from the Trib's Dave Matter on Mizzou Softball's Julie Silver. The SIU game's at 4:30 this afternoon. Go Tigers! Mizzou really did get a decent draw...SIU's not terribly scary (as I wrote earlier this week, they beat Mizzou 1-0 in their only meeting this year), and DePaul's a pretty big unknown. I assume the Blue Demons are good, but I'd still rather face them than somebody like Tennessee.
• And I missed this KC Star piece from last week about our Bomber from Barbados, Mizzou Track's Shernelle Nicholls.

Bomber from Barbados? Really? Ugh...sorry...

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Mizzou Links, 5-15-07

• New Rivals NCAA Baseball projections are out, and they have as a 1-seed AND hosting a regional (against TCU, Minnesota, and Troy). I'll believe it when I see it, but that would be frickin' fantastic. For that to happen, I'd say they need to win 3 of 4 to end the year (against Illinois and Oklahoma State) and play well at the Big XII tourney.
• Tonight's baseball game against Illinois hasn't been rained out yet! 'Yet' being the operative word there. It's supposed to rain again tonight. Amazing. If the game does take place, Mizzou will face a pretty hot team. The Illini are coming off of a home sweep of Indiana and a 4-game split at 1st-place Michigan, and they've won 8 of 10 overall. In all, they're 14-12/28-22, good for a tie for 5th in the Big Ten.
• Mizzou Softball's NCAA tourney game against SIU will take place Friday at 4:30.
• And this is one heckuva "oh by the way", but...oh by the way, Mizzou Wrestling coach Brian Smith was named Dan Gable Coach of the Year yesterday. Congrats, coach. Oh, and Ben Askren won yet another national award. Ho hum.

And would the correct grammar there be "heckuva" or "heckuvan"? It preceded a word starting with a vowel sound, you know...I don't want to screw up the grammar on fake words...

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Mizzou Links, 5-14-07

• Mizzou Softball was eliminated from the Big XII championships with a 7-1 Saturday thumping at the hands of OU. As far as I can tell, I guess they earned a 3-seed in yesterday's NCAA selections. They will travel to Carbondale this weekend to play host SIU (the assumed 2-seed). The other matchup in the Carbondale region is DePaul (the overall #14 seed in the tournament) versus Mississippi Valley State. If the Tigers make it out of the region, it appears they'll play the winner of the Amherst regional...likely OU. Which sucks.
• Another freshman carried Mizzou Baseball yesterday. A week after freshman Trevor Coleman's 2 HR's helped take down Texas, Aaron Senne's 6 RBI's made the difference in a 10-8 victory over OU, giving Mizzou yet another conference series victory--their 10th in 11 tries this season. They're now 2 games behind Texas, meaning they need to win at least two of three in Stillwater next weekend while hoping Texas gets swept. That, or sweep OSU and hope Texas loses 2 of 3. Not likely. It's been fun, though, watching this team go from 'pitching carries offense' to 'offense shoulders its own load' throughout the season as Priday got his bat going and the freshmen grew in confidence. With Aaron Crow, a strong bullpen rolling along, and an offense not predicated on just 1-2 players, this team is built for the postseason. Here's to hoping they can duplicate last season's postseason success--and this time not as a 4-seed in the NCAA's.
• And finally, here's a fantastic team-by-team write-up of Big XII spring football...you know...if my own write-ups weren't good enough for you...

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Mizzou Links, 5-12-07

Another weekend links list! You're so lucky!

• First up: a nice KC Star article on the surprising Mizzou Baseball team. Speaking of baseball, they spanked OU, 13-3, last night to move to within 2 games of Texas for the Big XII lead. I'd really appreciate it if OU laid down a couple more times.
• Meanwhile, 3-seed (and #18) Mizzou Softball thumped 6-seed (and also #18?) Texas, 3-0, last night to move to the semis against 2-seed Oklahoma. The other semifinal pits 4-seed Texas A&M versus 8-seed Texas Tech, who took 1-seed Baylor to 12 innings then thumped 'em, 8-4.
• Also, the Big XII Track Championships started yesterday. The men are in 5th, and the women are tied for 2nd.

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Mizzou Links, 5-11-07

A quick one, as I'm running late today...

• This was a pretty obvious choice, really, but Ehren Earlywine was named Big XII Softball Coach of the Year. Congrats to him...he's done a helluva job so far. In other softball news, yesterday's Big XII tourney game against Texas was rained out and will be played today at 11:30. Oh, and juniors Jen Bruck and Amanda Renth were named 1st Team All-Big XII. Junior Micaela Minner and freshman Julie Silver got 2nd team nods. And they're all underclassmen! Woohoo!
• Baseball begins its final home series of the year tonight against OU. I told my OU buddy last night that we'd really appreciate if they let us sweep, but they're playing for their postseason lives at the moment, so it'll probably be quite a battle.

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Mizzou Links, 5-10-07

• It's postseason time! #18 Mizzou Softball takes on Texas in the first round of the Big XII tourney, while Mizzou Women's Golf heads to Ann Arbor for their fifth straight NCAA regional.
• Mizzou looks to host an NCAA Baseball regional, but their contract with the MSHSAA might keep that from going down. That, and pretty poor attendance.
• Finally, Dave Matter discusses the recent College Football Hall of Fame selections. No Tim Brown or Eric Dickerson? Really?

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Mizzou Links, 5-7-07

• Well, the dream died one game away for Mizzou Softball. Two Mizzou errors led to three runs in the 5th inning for Nebraska, and the Lady Tigers came up short, 3-1. A win would have given them the Big XII co-title, but they'll have to settle for a 3rd-place finish instead. Not bad for a team picked 8th in the preseason.
• The Trib's Dave Matter has a nice Q&A session with softball coach Ehren Earlywine.
  
  

  Q: Did you expect to contend for the conference title immediately like this team has?
  
  A: One of the big things in opening up opportunities to win the conference was Cat Osterman leaving. When she left Texas, it all of a sudden became an even playing field for everybody. I didn’t know for sure how good we were until I got to practice and got to watch for two or three weeks. At that point I said, ‘OK, the talent is here. If we can just get comfortable in the system, have fun and play motivated, then we will have a chance.’ I didn’t know we’d be in first place coming into the last weekend, but I knew we had a chance

• Some VERY encouraging news from the weekend was Mizzou Baseball going down to Austin and taking two of three from a smoking hot Longhorn team, their ninth series win in ten conference tries. Freshman Trevor Coleman has been an absolute godsend for this offense. The series win a) should bring the Tigers some national attention, being that their relatively weak schedule has been the excuse poll voters have used for not ranking them higher, b) brings Mizzou to within 2.5 games of Texas in the Big XII standings, and c) keeps Mizzou one game ahead of OSU, who swept OU this weekend. Can they catch Texas? Not likely. Texas would need to lose at least 2 of 3 against ATM, while Mizzou would basically need to sweep OU (in Columbia) and OSU (in Stillwater). Not impossible, but not likely.

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Mizzou Links, Cinco de Mayo

That's right...it's a weekend edition!

• HUGE win for Mizzou Baseball yesterday. Nothing better than snagging an extra-inning road win by nailing a runner at the plate to end the game. The win moves Mizzou (13-6) to within 2.5 games of Texas (17-5) for first place. Catching the 'Horns might be too much to ask, but Mizzou remains two games up on OSU (11-8), who won a tight Bedlam battle last night in front of 11,184. MAN that's a lot of fans for a college baseball game. They're also 2.5 games up on ATM (11-9), who's playing Dallas Baptist this weekend.
• For Mizzou Softball, it all comes down to this. Sweep Nebraska, and Mizzou (12-3) has its second ever Big XII title. Split the 2-game series (or get swept), and OU (14-4) wins the title. I love all this important baseball/softball Mizzou's playing, but...it can get a little nerve-wracking!!
• Finally, I intended to post link this yesterday, but forgot (I forget a lot of things at 5:45am). Bill Simmons wrote a nice column about how certain fans in certain arenas can truly will a home team to victory. It's pretty difficult for a Mizzou fan to read this and not think about Hearnes Center vs Mizzou Arena. It's super difficult for me because I've only been to a handful of games at Former Paige, and never for a huge game. As time goes by, my memory starts, I'm sure, to inflate the impact the Hearnes had on certain games, but...man, I just know the fans had an impact in that place. I knowingly think back to all those late-'90s Kansas games (especially the Corey Tate game in '97 and the 81-59 game in '00), I even more knowingly think of the '00 OSU game, which I documented here:
  
  

  ..."An inordinately long injury timeout followed, and the fans remaining in the half-full Hearnes Center began a “Let’s Go Tigers” chant that stretched throughout the entire timeout...and out of nowhere there was an unbelievable buzz in the Hearnes Center. Mizzou was down 13 after Alexander made 2 FT’s, but then...Jeff Hafer makes a 3...then Clarence stole the ball...then Rush made a 3...and after a Desmond Mason 3-point play, Gilbert made a 3...then Kareem Rush stole an inbounds pass and canned a 3 to make it a 4-point game with 50 seconds left. Even though Hearnes was half-full, the pop after that 3 went down was about the second-loudest I’ve ever heard (the loudest, of course, being the alley-oop to Paulding during the 2001 Mizzou-Iowa game...of course, there were roughly 35,000 people crammed into the Hearnes at that time, so that’s almost cheating)—all 7,000 people remaining in the building just knew Mizzou was going to win. Of course, then OSU broke the press, got a dunk, made FT’s, and coasted to a 12-point win...but that “Let’s Go Tigers” buzz was something I’ll never forget."

  So to all you readers out there who have been to a number of games at Mizzou Arena, what do you think. Have there been many "willed to victory" moments there, and if not...is that because of the arena, or just the years of mediocrity?

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Mizzou Links, 5-3-07

• Mizzou Baseball has had four of its last five mid-week games rained out. This is getting crazy.
• All these split series with highly-ranked teams has finally gotten Mizzou Softball some notice. They're up to #18 in the latest polls. If they can avoid a split with Nebraska (i.e. actually sweep them), they at least share the Big XII title. Games are in Columbia--2pm on Saturday, 1pm on Sunday. As far as I can tell, it's not supposed to rain then. It just rains Monday-Friday.
• ESPN has more coverage of Big XII Spring Football today. Here's a nice article about QB races in the conference. Graham Harrell vs Taylor Potts at Tech. Sam "Jesus" Keller vs Joe Ganz at Nebraska. Sam Bradford vs Joey Halzle at OU. Cody "Coach's Son" Hawkins vs Nick "Who?" Nelson at Colorado. Kerry Meier vs Todd Reesing at Kansas. Michael Machen vs Blake Szymanski at Baylor. Lots of good races. Those teams with settled QB situations (Missouri, Texas, ATM) are at an advantage in a league where almost everybody is looking for established pass rushers.
• And here's another team-by-team Spring Notebook. ESPN's had some pretty good spring coverage this year.

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Mizzou Links, 4-30-07

Seth already covered quite a bit of this yesterday, but I'll still jump in...fantastic week for Mizzou...

• Mizzou Softball did what they do best--take the first game of a series against a good team. Their 5-0 win over Baylor Saturday night set them up to split and maintain a tie for 1st in the conference with the Lady Bears. However, it's a bit weird at the top of the standings because Baylor and Missouri are tied at 12-3, but OU is in third at 14-4. They've had fewer games rained out, so they've played three more conference games...they're 10 games over .500, but they've lost more games than BU and MU. In the end, what's the final factor...win %? That's my guess...BU/MU are .800, while OU is .778. Interesting situation, though. The Lady Tigers have a slightly easier remaining schedule (two games against Nebraska, while BU plays UT and ATM), and if they can hold on (sweeping NU would clinch a tie), they would become Mizzou's second Big XII champion. The first one? Softball, a decade ago.
• Mizzou Baseball scored two in the bottom of the 9th Sunday to win 6-5 and sweep Texas Tech. They're now two games up on Oklahoma State for second in the conference. Texas has a comfortable 3.5-game lead overall, but this has still been a great showing by Tim Jamieson's crew considering they lost their two best starters and their closer from last year's squad. Lots of freshmen are contributing.
• Congrats to Brian Smith for being selected in the 4th round of the NFL Draft by Jacksonville. It makes sense that a defensive team like the Jags would draft him as a pass-rush specialist/OLB, though it did sprout a silly "I knew he should have played LB!" conversation at PowerMizzou. Smitty was our best DE for 3 years and would have set the conference's sack record had he not broken his hip. He was light, but he made more impact at DE than he would have at OLB. Maybe it hurt our run defense to have him out there (though maybe not...our run defense got worse the last half of last season when he wasn't there), but it would have hurt our pass defense (statistically the best in the conference in '04 and '06) to not have had him out there at DE.
• Unfortunately, Smith was the only Mizzou player drafted. Looks like teams passed on Xzavie Jackson because of the broad 'character concerns' category. In all, most of Mizzou's seniors were from Gary Pinkel's Class of 2002, the first class he was able to recruit for a full year. Considering the big names from Missouri that committed to Mizzou in that class (Mario Whitney, David Richard, Dedrick Harrington, Zach Zwilling), one would have expected more. Oh well. We'll have more next year, that's for sure.
• In all, the Big XII had 28 players drafted. The biggest surprise for me was Daniel Sepulveda going in the 4th round, but Mason Crosby not going until the 6th. I realize Crosby was aided a smidge by Boulder's thin air, but he was pretty much a badass on the road too. I think Green Bay got a steal.

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Sunday Thoughts

I figured I may not have too many more free Sundays for awhile, and anything to keep Bill and Doug off my ass about not posting enough

• Well, certainly an interesting series sweep for Mizzou over Texas Tech, their first of the Big XII season. I am hoping trrip will have more on them later this week, but a nice comeback in the 9th inning today to secure the sweep. Also great work by Greg Folgia and Kyle Gibson (both frosh) who went LONG to cover the so-so outing of Rick Zagone and the quick outing by Stephan Holst. Jacob Priday also seems to have finally turned it around, and Mizzou will need his bat with road series remaining against UT and OSU (with a home series against OU remaining in conference). Hopefully, we should find Mizzou in the Top 25 for this week.
• Cannot ask for much more from the softball team, they did what they needed to do this past weekend at Baylor. Winning yesterday assured them of at least a split, and while they could not sweep the series with a loss today, they are in very good position to contend for the regular season title, which is all you can ask for. It does not appear that either team will play their 2nd game against TTech (Mizzou's was rained out, Baylor's is not actually on the schedule but I assume it is there.
• Nice to see Christian Cantwell still getting it done on the national scene in the shotput. I dont know how disappointed it must have been for him to be recognized as the #1 shot putter in the world before the Olympics and then to not make it. Gotta believe he is really ramping up for China in 2008.
• And really...is there anything better than overtime playoff hockey? My Devils took a game last night in 2 OT, and I am sitting here watching the Rangers head to 2 OT at home against the Sabres. And as much as I dislike the Rangers, it is good for hockey for them to be around in the playoffs.
• Congrats to Brian Smith on his selection today. I am sure we will read in the coming couple of days about other players who are going to get the chance to extend their playing days though free agent tryouts.
• In case any of you were wondering (and I know some of you were), we did NOT make it through the entire first round yesterday. Poor execution by my friend on his pouring and consumption amount led to us calling it a day after the 25th pick. Whereas a 3-4 oz. glass would have made it possible to finish, we would usually end up drinking 6-8 oz, and therefore making it a little tough to do that 32 total times. We will take it back to the drawing board for next year and hopefully make the chances needed to complete our task next year.
• Four weeks until I get married.....

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NFL Draft vs. A-B Draft

So....as the Boy referenced below, I have a challenge in front of me for Saturday morning/afternoon/early evening.

As a great friend of mine works for A-B, he has (with some assistance from yours truly) amassed over 32 different types of product either produced or distributed by A-B. They range from the standards (Bud, Bud Light, etc...) to other beers you know but did not realize A-B had a stake in, to other beers you have never heard of.

There will be eight of us attending this shin-dig on Saturday.

32 picks in the 1st round of the draft.

32 picks in the 4 rounds of the beer draft.

The order of selection will be chosen by the old fashioned double blind method (two hats, 8 names in 1, 8 numbers in the other). For each selection in the draft, someone will make a selection of beer. At that time, everyone will enjoy a 4 oz (shell glass size) sampling of the beer. I believe the beer draft order will be the standard fantasy horseshoe.

Mind you, in 2004 I was the person who watched EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of coverage of the NFL Draft (that's what happens when you are at home 500 miles away from most of your friends). I will let everyone know how it works out.

And yes, so there is SOMETHING in here Mizzou related, Softball really needs a split this weekend to have a chance at a regular season title. A split (and they have split previously with highly ranked OU and aTm) will put both Baylor and Mizzou at 12-3. Mizzou finishes at home against a .500 in conference NU. Baylor finishes at home (gosh...last FOUR conference games are at home) against highly ranked aTm and not-as-highly ranked UT.

But once again, FANTASTIC job by Coach E on what had to be a tough situation to come into. There will be some turnover on the team next year, but a great effort this season and there is plenty left to go.

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Mizzou Links, 4-27-07

You can tell it's been a slow week when the last three posts have all been Mizzou Links posts...oh well...it happens...

• The big (and pretty much only) news from yesterday is that Mizzou Softball swept Iowa State (a putrid 1-13 in Big XII play now) to move into a tie with Baylor for the Big XII top spot. Very cool. They're now 11-2 in conference and 35-19 overall. Oh, and Jen Bruck? Really good.
• Sophomore Mizzou Gymnast Adrianne Perry finished 22nd overall at the NCAA's. Congrats, Adrianne. Here's a Trib profile of Perry.
• And finally, good luck to Xzavie Jackson, Brian Smith, and others in the NFL draft this weekend. And good luck to The Beef in his quest to drink a different Budweiser product (at least part of one) for each pick in the first round. Some people are just overachievers.

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