Hochman: With college football money and transfers, what’s the end game here, guys?
Listen now and subscribe: |
Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz wipes his face as he paces the sideline in a game against Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in Columbia, Mo.
L.G. Patterson, Associated Press
I briefly stepped outside of the hurricane to get some fresh air.
Man, modern college athletics are swirling out of control, as if ESPN content was more suited for The Weather Channel.
It’s chaos. Money! Transfers! Even more money! Even more transfers! Everything is awful, yet everything is … awesome? After all, fan passion is gargantuan these days with the growth of the College Football Playoff and the growth of social media, as well as more overall games to watch than ever before — and more ways to bet on said games.
Still. With the way this thing is spinning, what’s the end game here, guys?
It dawned on me the other day, during a quiet moment following football’s latest transfer portal period. I thought back to a December ago, 2023, when the high school seniors signed. Mizzou’s recruiting class was heralded. A big deal in Columbia. The Tigers nabbed Williams Nwaneri, the eighth-best player in the nation and No. 1 defensive end, per Rivals. And Mizzou wooed four-star running back Kewan Lacy and four-star receiver Courtney Crutchfield.
Well, after the 2024 Mizzou regular season, Nwaneri, Lacy and Crutchfield all transferred. Just like that, they’re gone. In previous seasons or generations, this would have been enormous news. But in 2024, it just kind of was what it was. You win some, you lose some. You load up, you reload. It’s the modern constant churn of college sports rosters.
Without having to sit out a year upon transferring, players are leapfrogging from school to school with an allegiance only to playing time, money and NFL possibilities.
NIL stands for name, image and likeness, but as it’s been said for a few years now, NIL essentially means: “now it’s legal.”
Student-athletes are professional athletes.
Growing a team’s culture has given way to growing a pool of money for a team.
Coaches, such as Mizzou’s Eli Drinkwitz, speak freely about economics of paying players, though not in a positive way. Drinkwitz recently publicly said: “What good does it do me to complain? I mean, I don’t know who’s in charge.”
Coaches are quitting. Tony Bennett, the college hoops national champion at Virginia, departed just as this season was starting. And Miami hoops coach Jim Larranaga just quit, only 12 games into this season. He cited that the new college sports hurricane has left him “exhausted.”
“I just didn’t feel that I could successfully navigate this whole new world that I was dealing with,” Larranaga said at a . “Because my conversations were ridiculous with an agent saying to me, ‘Well, you can get involved if you’re willing to go to $1.1 million’ and that (being) the norm. …
“Now, you have to have a pro mentality, and you have to have a pro system in place to deal with all of it, if we’re going to have agents, if we’re going to be paying substantial amounts of money, then there needs to be some accountability for that. …
“After we went to the 2023 Final Four, eight players wanted to transfer or seek better NIL deals. They told me they loved it at Miami — but wanted to seek a better deal.”
Miami men’s basketball coach Jim Larranaga speaks at a news conference announcing his retirement on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in Coral Gables, Fla.
But as pointed out by my pal Dan Wolken, a columnist for USA Today, Miami’s Final Four team had numerous guys who had transferred in because of enticing NIL deals. So, yeah, Larranaga’s success was fueled, in part, by the same system that made him leave the game. Also, like so many other coaches, he left a job at a smaller school (George Mason) to take the gig with the Hurricanes.
As for the hurricane that is college sports, this thing is pushing toward the preposterous, possibly Category 6. Without guardrails (or someone in charge), wealthy boosters simply are financing their favorite college programs — essentially paying the salary for top players or coaches. Money always has been the most powerful thing in college sports, even in the so-called halcyon days, but now it’s just become a brazen business.
Who’s in charge?
The NCAA seems to be a passenger in all of this.
The hope is a group of coaches, players, administrators and executives can put together a plan of action. Possibly a salary cap? More transparency on payments? Restriction on times a player can transfer — heck, maybe even for a coach, too.
Because the fear is that the “awesome” will give way to the “awful.”
In the meantime, we as fans are clinging to ideals of college sports that we grew up with — yet they are shedding and shrinking.
As Jerry Seinfeld once joked, fans really are just rooting “for clothes.”
It’s not about who is wearing the jersey. It’s simply that your favorite city or school’s jersey is being worn in the first place. And with the transfer portal, the idea of latching on to a guy or following a player’s career is antiquated. Now, if a guy isn’t playing, he’s likely looking to play elsewhere. And even if a guy is playing, he’s perhaps looking to get paid more elsewhere.
I am, let it be clear, all for college athletes getting compensated. But there must be some sort of checks and balances. Because right now, college sports seem unchecked and imbalanced.
Mizzou signs offensive tackle via transfer portal while practicing in Nashville
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Missouri football settled in for a weekend of Music City Bowl practice on Vanderbilt's campus on Saturday, but the Tigers also added to their growing class of incoming transfers.
Former West Virginia offensive lineman Johnny Williams IV signed with Mizzou, giving the program three portal additions along the O-line for 2025.
Williams played 80 snaps for the Mountaineers this season as a redshirt freshman, meaning he's expected to have three years of eligibility to use at Missouri. He was a depth lineman at WVU but will likely enter the competition for the Tigers' open tackle jobs next season.
Williams has played exclusively left tackle at the college level, which is a position of need for Mizzou with 2024 starter Marcus Bryant out of eligibility. Armand Membou and Cam'Ron Johnson will also be moving on after the season, making MU's offensive line a priority for re-tooling.
At 6-7, 315, Williams has the build for a Southeastern Conference tackle. He hails from Macon, Georgia.
The Tigers have signed two other offensive linemen through the portal: former Michigan interior blocker Dominick Giudice and former Wake Forest tackle Keagen Trost.
They've also already added a player from West Virginia this cycle, too, in linebacker Josiah Trotter.
Missouri opened less than 15 minutes of its Saturday practice, held in Vanderbilt's indoor facility, to media. And unlike Iowa, its Music City Bowl opponent, Mizzou did not make any of its players available for interviews. Coach Eli Drinkwitz, offensive coordinator Kirby Moore and defensive coordinator Corey Batoon are scheduled to meet with media on Sunday in Nashville ahead of the Monday game.
‘Two people missing’: Mizzou punter Luke Bauer is finishing football career through grief
Luke Bauer’s family measures time in Missouri football games.
This is not a new development for a family that for years has loaded up a sprinter van headed from 51 County to Columbia each gameday for an esteemed tailgate outside Memorial Stadium. But MU games have taken on new meanings over the last couple of years.
Games are milestones to celebrate Luke, Mizzou’s punter. Such as when he finally earned playing time at the start of the 2023 season, holding for field-goal and extra-point attempts. Or when he punted for the first time in a college game, at the Dome in 51 for a game against Memphis last season.
Games are chronological markers in a fog of grief for Luke and his family, too. Luke’s cousin and role model, Spencer Stapf, died unexpectedly last year. The date was Nov. 5, 2023, but it’s remembered with the frame of football: one day after the Georgia game.
Games are special, maybe even sacred memories that Luke holds onto. The South Carolina game was when Spencer lived out a dream with pregame field access before his cousin played a game. The Kentucky game was when Luke’s fake punt touchdown sent his dad, Jeff Bauer, shouting “That’s my boy!” in the corner of the Wildcats’ stadium despite his grueling battle with kidney cancer.
Games are distractions. In the days after Spencer’s death, Luke’s family relished a few hours spent watching the Tigers demolish Tennessee. Later that season, they made the trip to the Cotton Bowl to watch Missouri’s victory over Ohio State. That was the last time Jeff watched one of his son’s games. He died in July, just a few weeks before the start of the 2024 season’s fall camp.
Games are different now, and that’s why.
“There’s two people missing,” said Jill Stapf, Luke’s aunt and Spencer’s mom.
Monday’s Music City Bowl will be the final game of Luke’s time in a Mizzou uniform, a career in which he has played through the losses of two close family members. He hasn’t talked about it publicly much.
Most people probably don’t know what the punter is going through off the field. Luke, through all of it, has been quietly resilient. He has leaned into football at times.
“With everything I’ve been going through, football, with how busy we are, it keeps my mind off things back home and outside of here,” Luke said. “I think that helps me, mentally, whenever I come to practice and go to workouts.”
Amid their shared losses, Luke is providing his family with football games — something to rally around. He’s learning to understand why his dad, during a three-year battle with cancer, preached about believing in good in the world. And he’s doing this without two of his most ardent supporters — the rare kind of fans who go to a game hoping for a nice punt or two — in the stands.
Luke has kept punting, kept playing.
“I know it’s meant a lot to my family,” he said. “Any time after a game when I see a big smile on them, it makes my day just to know that my family is happy.”
‘The one thing that was really hard to think about’
Luke’s spot on the Missouri roster is a byproduct of his genes.
First, there’s his height. Punters tend to be lanky, and Luke checks that box: At 6 feet 5, he’s one of the Tigers’ tallest players at any position. It runs in his family. Spencer was the same height. Jeff stood 6-3, the same height as Jake, Luke’s younger brother. There’s an athleticism that comes with these frames, too.
That’s the second gene: football. One of his cousins on Jeff’s side of the family, Andy Bauer, was a high school All-American at De Smet Jesuit High before playing for Mizzou. Jeff’s brother played briefly for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. Bauer boys gravitated toward the gridiron.
Luke didn’t — at first. He grew up playing soccer, basketball and baseball and is a solid golfer.
“I told myself, ‘I’m going to start playing football’ at some point,” he said.
Initially, that was as a tight end on a freshman-level team at De Smet. That didn’t really stick. But the Spartans needed a kicker, and Luke had the leg for it. On the soccer pitch, he’d been the player to take corner kicks, aiming and arcing the ball from the sideline to the middle of the box.
Jeff pushed Luke to give football kicking a try. He was on the quieter end of sports dads but wasn’t afraid to push his kids to try things.
Kicking and punting for the Spartans wound up going well for Luke. De Smet won a state title during his senior season and he signed with Mizzou in 2020 as a preferred walk-on right after Eli Drinkwitz was hired as the Tigers’ head coach.
There was really only one school that Luke would go to, and that’s the third gene: Missouri fandom.
Kathy Bauer, Luke’s mom and Jill’s sister, had played soccer at MU. Their brother worked as a sportswriter, and they were an avid sports family.
Jeff had been a season ticket holder since graduating from the university. Jeff and Kathy worked together before dating, and it was his prudent decision to offer an extra Braggin’ Rights ticket to the 1999 Missouri-Illinois men’s basketball game to Jill that sold him to her family.
“I was like, ‘You should really date this guy,’” Jill told her sister.
“I think he knew what he was doing,” Kathy said.
She and Jeff were married soon after. Kathy, perhaps only half-joking, suggested their wedding vows include a promise that Jeff would take her to sporting events around the country.
After graduating from MU in 1987, Jeff watched a lot of disappointing Missouri seasons. He saw the Fifth Down and the Flea Kicker. But he still went to games, tailgated and brought family with. There’s a cherished family photo of elementary-aged Spencer and a baby Luke wearing Mizzou gear during a 2002 tailgate outside of the Hearnes Center.
Luke Bauer (gray cap) and his cousin Spencer Stapf (blue jacket) at a Missouri football tailgate in 2002.
Courtesy Jill Stapf
Around the time the Tigers joined the Southeastern Conference, Jeff went in on a sprinter van, complete with a TV, that now marks the family tailgates. They acquired a spot in Lot L on the northwest side of the stadium. It’s right by the pedestrian tunnel connecting Greek Town and the university campus to the stadium gates, perfectly placed for foot traffic.
Luke’s family was, of course, thrilled when he walked on with Missouri. He didn’t play at all in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons, but that never dulled their excitement.
Going into the 2023 season, things changed. Luke lost the punting competition during camp but began the year as the Tigers’ holder.
So when kicker Harrison Mevis drilled a 61-yard field goal to beat Kansas State, Luke was on the field. He could tell the kick was good by the sound of Mevis’ cleat smashing into the pigskin.
Jeff, in the stands, was in tears.
“He made a comment once: ‘I’m more emotional than what people think,’” Kathy said. “And that 61-yard field goal: I think he’s just so passionate about Mizzou. I mean, you kind of have to be to be a Mizzou fan for as long as Jeff has been.
“He had been a fan for so long, and he got to see those plays stand out last year, where, he knew, he stuck with it because one day, it was gonna make him proud. To have a son part of it, it was all the better.”
Luke took over the punting job ahead of MU’s next game, which was the matchup with Memphis held in the Dome.
By that time, Jeff was two years into his fight with kidney cancer. He’d had surgery and was taking chemotherapy pills. There were good days and there were bad days. As Luke’s family tailgated before kickoff against Memphis, Jeff sat in the car to muster the strength to get inside the Dome and watch.
“He didn’t feel 100% for the last three years, with the treatment that he was going through,” Kathy said. “He struggled to go to those games. He wanted to be there. He wanted to be at every game, which he was, the last five years with Luke being there. He was at every single game no matter how he felt.”
Such as against Kentucky, when Luke flipped the game’s trajectory by throwing for a touchdown on a fake punt.
The Tigers trailed 14-0 early when they brought Luke on the field to boot the ball away to the Wildcats — or so it seemed. Instead, he pulled back the ball and tossed it down the left sideline to wide receiver Marquis Johnson, who caught it and ran it into the end zone.
That trick play was one of the defining moments of Mizzou’s breakout 2023 season. Jeff saw it live, but he never saw it coming.
“The moment that I saw my dad after the Kentucky game, that was one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen on his face,” Luke said. “He asked me why I didn’t tell him that we were practicing it. … I don’t know, somehow, Kentucky probably would have found out.”
Spencer was part of these memories, too. He received pregame field access for Mizzou’s 2023 game against South Carolina, taking a picture with Luke — and basketball coach Dennis Gates — on the field.
“Today was unreal,” Spencer wrote in a text message to his family.
“I just remember how happy he was,” Luke said.
Missouri punter Luke Bauer (center, smiling) shakes hands with his cousin Spencer Stapf (left) before the Tigers’ 2023 game against South Carolina.
Courtesy Jill Stapf
Spencer died of asymptomatic cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that didn’t show any symptoms, just two weeks later. He was 26.
Spencer had grown up an Illinois fan after watching the Illini’s run to the 2005 Final Four at an impressionable age. But with Jeff’s coaxing, he’d enrolled at MU and became a Mizzou football fan — especially once his younger cousin was on the team.
Luke lost a role model. After Mizzou beat Tennessee, he headed back home to Glendale for Spencer’s services.
“Obviously, when anyone loses a family member, it’s tough,” Luke said. “But being so close with my cousin …”
Sitting in a Mizzou team meeting room with the Post-Dispatch for his first interview about the losses of the last year, Luke trailed off.
As last season was peaking on the field, with another signature play against Florida, the 10th win of the year against Arkansas and a Cotton Bowl berth secured, Luke was grappling with grief and worry off the field. Spencer was gone, and Jeff still was battling cancer.
“The fact that I knew that at some point, he may not be able to be watching me play would hit my mind,” Luke said. “That’s the one thing that was really hard to think about.”
‘Just believe’
Jeff, who died July 11 at 59, is survived by Kathy and their three children: Luke, Jake and Audrey. He wanted to teach them work ethic, perseverance and belief in the positive.
Even during his cancer treatment, Jeff would be relentless in his belief that something good could come of it.
“Whenever I would be back home, he’d start talking about the word ‘believe’ because he preached about how you can always believe in something better,” Luke said. “Having negative thoughts is never going to help.”
“He always said that,” Kathy said. “Believe.”
Mizzou holder Luke Bauer celebrates with kicker Harrison Mevis after a field goal to end the first half against Tennessee on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023, on Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Mo.
David Carson, Post-Dispatch
Jeff got Luke to believe that three years of being a backup punter would lead to something. Jeff believed that the Tigers’ luck would turn around and they could win like they did in 2023.
Since his passing, the 2024 season has been different. Mizzou has had a good campaign, but it has lacked the magic of last year. And Jeff isn’t around like he was before.
There’s still a Bauer family tailgate in Lot L, complete with the sprinter van. Now, the setup includes a photo of Jeff.
Playing this season has been difficult for Luke. He can’t help but notice who’s missing at times.
“The first couple games was really tough because every game (during) Tiger Walk, I would go give my dad a hug,” Luke said. “The first time going out there was really tough, mentally, to go out there and know that he’s watching from above. I know that, but him physically not being there, it was tough.”
Luke’s family is religious, and that’s what they believe: that Jeff and Spencer have spiritual season tickets, having greeted St. Peter with an M-I-Z and a tailgate invitation — just like he did for so many people.
“We definitely believe that he is in a good place now,” Kathy said. “He’s watching us. My heart breaks for my kids that they have to go on without their dad around. But I want them to know that he’s up there believing in them, because that’s what he wanted to instill in them: just believe.”
Luke has kept playing in part because he believes. He believes that his dad and Spencer are watching, and he believes in what Jeff taught him.
“One thing my dad told me was to never stop,” Luke said. “Don’t quit.”
Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz speaks with the media on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (Video by Mizzou Network, used with permission of Mizzou Athletics)
Reacting to Mizzou's Beau Pribula signing, Music City Bowl preview and more: Eye on the Tigers
Listen now and subscribe: |
On this episode of the Eye on the Tigers Podcast, Eli Hoff and Benjamin Hochman discuss Missouri's splashy transfer portal pickup of Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula. Eli ponders how the Tigers will approach the QB room in 2025, while Hochman shares stories from Pribula's high school coach. Eli and Benjamin then preview Mizzou's Music City Bowl showdown with Iowa before a quick look back at Braggin' Rights.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Mizzou 'can't underestimate' Iowa team without star running back in Music City Bowl
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Get ready for some old-school, run-first football.
When Missouri (9-3, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) faces the Big Ten’s Iowa Hawkeyes (8-4, 6-3) in Monday’s Music City Bowl, it’ll be going up against a team centered around playing stout defense and emphasizing the run.
And what else would a matchup with a Big Ten program be good for?
Iowa is led by longtime coach Kirk Ferentz, as it has been for each of the last 26 seasons. He has amassed a 204-123 record with the Hawkeyes, repeatedly building solid rosters.
MU coach Eli Drinkwitz called Ferentz the “model of consistency and development.” The Iowa coach “does an excellent job with player identification and development,” Drinkwitz said.
Phil Parker, the Hawkeyes’ defensive coordinator, has been with the program since 1999 — “that’s older than most of our team,” Drinkwitz joked — and in his role for well over a decade. Tim Lester, Iowa’s offensive coordinator, is in his first season after stints as Western Michigan’s head coach and an analyst with the Green Bay Packers.
Iowa will be missing a few key contributors in the bowl game. Quarterback Cade McNamara, running back Kaleb Johnson and cornerback Jermari Harris are among the more well-known Hawkeyes who won’t be in action.
McNamara, who started his career at Michigan before transferring to Iowa ahead of the 2023 season, was the Hawkeyes’ starter before a concussion in his last game of the year, on Oct. 26. He’s back in the transfer portal now.
Without him, two other quarterbacks have appeared for Iowa. Brendan Sullivan, a Northwestern transfer, is the projected starter for Monday’s bowl game. He completed 24 of 35 passes this season, racking up 344 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He has also picked up 144 yards and four scores on the ground.
But Sullivan missed time with a high ankle sprain, prompting the Hawkeyes to turn to walk-on Jackson Stratton down the stretch. Sullivan seems to be healthy and in line to return to action.
His rushing ability complements Iowa’s overall emphasis on the run — more on that in a moment — though he does seem to be rather turnover-prone. Sullivan’s two interceptions came during his last outing, a Nov. 8 loss to UCLA that put two of his nine passes into the hands of the other team.
Jacob Gill, Iowa’s leading receiver, has only 32 catches and 382 receiving yards this season. Just six Hawkeyes have recorded 100 or more receiving yards in 2024.
That sets up for Iowa’s national standing in overall passing offense: 130th out of 134 Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
In rushing, however, Iowa sits 21st in the country. Johnson was a big part of why this season.
He posted 1,537 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns, both of which led the Big Ten. Johnson has already declared for the NFL Draft, though, and expectedly sees more to be lost than gained in the Music City Bowl, so he won’t be playing.
Iowa running back Kamari Moulton tries to break a tackle by Wisconsin linebacker Jake Chaney during the second half Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Iowa City, Iowa. Iowa won 42-10.
Charlie Neibergall, Associated Press
Without their workhorse tailback, the Hawkeyes will likely turn to a tandem of at least two running backs. Kamari Moulton earned a fair share of work as Iowa’s No. 2, taking 70 carries for 377 yards and two touchdowns. Jaziun Patterson got 54 attempts and two scores in the third spot.
Moulton’s style seems to be more speed based while Patterson is more of a bruiser — one bowl game takeaway from the Iowa end of things will be how their styles complement each other. The running game will also benefit from a steady offensive line.
“I’d probably, in my opinion, say that’s the most disciplined O-line that we’ll go up against this year,” Mizzou defensive tackle Kristian Williams said. “They play in unison: tight hands, low pad level.”
Perhaps the Hawkeyes’ best player who is actually lined up to play in the bowl game will be linebacker Jay Higgins, a unanimous All-American this season. He made 118 tackles, three for loss, a sack, four interceptions and forced two fumbles — the kind of statistical production that makes for a tremendous anchor to any defense.
Quinn Shulte, a defensive back, was tied for second on the team with three interceptions. Ethan Hurkett, Aaron Graves and Max Llewellyn were all productive pass rushers, with 6.5, 6 and 5.5 sacks, respectively.
“Super sound defense — they don’t mess up a lot,” Missouri wideout Theo Wease Jr. said. “There’s a lot of experience on their defense — a lot of guys that’s been in the system, know the system really well. It’s just high effort, high energy guys, so it’ll be a good test for us.”
On special teams, Iowa produced one punt return touchdown through return man Kaden Wetjen.
Kicker Drew Stevens was perfect on his 37 extra points and made 19 of 22 field goals. Punter Rhys Dakin — stereotypically an important job at Iowa — averaged 44.2 yards per punt.
As a team, the Hawkeyes are remarkably disciplined: Across all phases of the game, they were called for the fewest penalties of any team in the nation.
“Going into Iowa, man, it’s a great team,” Williams said. “Physical team, Big Ten team. You can’t underestimate no guys like that.”
Where 51-area college basketball teams stand entering league play
Nearly two months after it began, the 2024-25 men's college basketball season is nearing an important waypoint.
Teams are wrapping up their non-conference slates and preparing to fully dive into conference play, where road games become common and deficiencies can no longer be masked by shrewd scheduling.
Below is a look at where 51-area Division I teams stand.
Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis, left, passes the ball as he is challenged by Missouri guard Trent Pierce in the second half of the Braggin’ Rights rivalry game on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, at Enterprise Center.
Zachary Linhares, Post-Dispatch
Illinois
Record: 8-3 (1-1 in Big Ten)
KenPom ranking: 23rd (6th of 18 in Big Ten)
NET ranking: 14th (2nd of 18 in Big Ten)
Verdict to date: As expected
Skinny: Illinois, a mostly new group after last year's Elite Eight run, has been thrown into the fire with a tough non-conference schedule. Two of Illinois' three losses have come to teams in the top nine of KenPom rankings. Freshman Kasparas Jakucionis, as he settles in, is looking more and more like a top NBA Draft pick. There are too many good teams at the top to really get an idea of where Illinois may finish, but the Illini certainly look capable of achieving fourth place, which is where they were picked in the preseason poll.
Missouri guard Marques Warrick surveys the defense in the first half against Illinois on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, at Enterprise Center in 51, Mo.
Zachary Linhares, Post-Dispatch
Mizzou
Record: 10-2
KenPom ranking: 52nd (12th of 16 in SEC)
NET ranking: 45th (13th of 16 in SEC)
Verdict to date: As expected
Skinny: Though Mizzou is still ranked toward the bottom of the Southeastern Conference, the Tigers are one of the nation's most improved teams from last season, nearly 100 spots better than their final KenPom ranking last season. The Tigers' effective field goal percentage is 11th-best in the country. Mizzou will have numerous chances to prove itself and rack up Quad 1 wins. Every road game in the SEC, the top-ranked league, will as of now be categorized as a Quad 1 game for Mizzou. Illinois coach Brad Underwood said after Sunday's Braggin' Rights game that he expects the Tigers to be playing in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers are in the field (barely) in Joe Lunardi's .
51 University’s Robbie Avila is fouled by Jalen Forrest, rear, as he drives to the basket in a game against Chicago State on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, at Chaifetz Arena.
Laurie Skrivan, Post-Dispatch
51 U.
Record: 6-6
KenPom ranking: 151st (10th of 15 in A-10)
NET ranking: 181st (11th of 15 in A-10)
Verdict to date: Worse than expected
Skinny: The Billikens, losers of three straight by a total of eight points, have been ravaged by injuries. Thus far, they haven't looked capable of meeting their fourth-place pick in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll. Only two of their wins have been against teams in the top half of Division I, per KenPom rankings. They haven't won away from Chaifetz. SLU's defense, ranked No. 259, is far and away the worst in the league. The positive for SLU is that if the Billikens play as well as they did Sunday in a narrow loss at Grand Canyon, a top-half league finish could be possible as players learn the intricacies of new coach Josh Schertz's system.
Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin gestures to his players during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Vanderbilt, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)
Mark Zaleski
Missouri State
Record: 7-5 (0-1 in Missouri Valley)
KenPom ranking: 172nd (7th of 12 in MVC)
NET ranking: 164th (7th of 12 in MVC)
Verdict to date: Better than expected
Skinny: Given ultra-low expectations, Cuonzo Martin's return to the sidelines after two years away has been a success so far. Sophomore Dez White has fulfilled the Bears' scoring needs, leading the league with 18.3 points per game. Big guard Jalen Hampton (University City High) is second in the league in rebounding. The Bears attack the glass and draw fouls. One of the issues Martin has not been able to improve: the Bears' .
Florida center Rueben Chinyelu (9) gets grabbed by Southern Illinois guard Kennard Davis Jr. (30) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/Alan Youngblood)
Alan Youngblood
SIU Carbondale
Record: 5-7 (0-1 in Missouri Valley)
KenPom ranking: 196th (9th of 12 in MVC)
NET ranking: 219 (11th of 12 in MVC)
Verdict to date: Worse than expected
Skinny: The Salukis, with only three Division I wins to date, have been playing like a lock for the Missouri Valley cellar under first-year coach Scott Nagy. An early season-ending injury to leading scorer Elijah Elliott certainly didn't help matters. Nagy recently lamented some of his players' forgetting scouting reports and not having memorized plays. The Salukis have played the league's toughest non-conference schedule, and most of the better teams they've played have lit up a lackluster defense, including Bradley's win in Carbondale by 23 points, tying the record for the biggest Braves margin in Carbondale. SIU was picked to finish seventh in the league.
Southeast Missouri State head coach Brad Korn argues a call during the second half of a First Four college basketball game against Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, Tuesday, March 14, 2023, in Dayton, Ohio. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Darron Cummings
Southeast Missouri
Record: 6-6 (2-0 in OVC)
KenPom ranking: 268th (2nd of 11 in OVC)
NET ranking: 236th (1st of 11 in OVC)
Verdict to date: Better than expected
Skinny: Head coach Brad Korn's Redhawks are off to a solid start in their first two league games, something that may prove important in a league in which little separates first from last. Leading scorer Teddy Washington Jr. (17 points per game) has been a surprise after averaging just six points per game last year at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
SIU-Edwardsville’s Ray’Sean Taylor, a Collinsville High product, drives to the basket against Indiana’s Myles Rice during the first half of a game Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in Bloomington, Ind.
Darron Cummings, Associated Press
SIU Edwardsville
Record: 7-6 (0-2 in OVC)
KenPom ranking: 269th (3rd of 11 in OVC)
NET ranking: 255th (3rd of 11 in OVC)
Verdict to date: As expected
Skinny: Picked to finish third in the Ohio Valley, that's right where the computer rankings have the Cougars. But it will be tough to get separation in one of the most bunched-up conferences, and SIUE is already on the wrong side of what may end up being a scrum with its 0-2 start to league play after a close defeat at preseason favorite Little Rock then a blowout defeat at SEMO. Collinsville's Ray'Sean Taylor, a volume shooter, leads the nation in 3-point attempts (123), and the Cougars' 3-point percentage has been a big deciding factor in games thus far.
Lindenwood coach Kyle Gerdeman talks to his team during a timeout during a menÕs basketball game at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo. Paul Halfacre, 51
Paul Halfacre
Lindenwood
Record: 6-7 (1-1 in OVC)
KenPom ranking: 339th (11th of 11 in OVC)
NET ranking: 310th (8th of 11 in OVC)
Verdict to date: As expected
Skinny: Three of the Lions' six wins are against non-Division I teams. It looks like another long season is in store in St. Charles for the Lions as they continue their transition to Division I. Lindenwood is one of the nation's worst-shooting teams (361st of 365 teams in 3-point percentage).
View life in 51 through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
Read the full transcript of Mizzou beat writer Eli Hoff's sports chat
Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Eli Hoff in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Transcript
Eli Ǵڴ:Hi all! Thanks for coming by the Boxing Day edition of our Mizzou chats. Hopefully everyone's holiday seasons have been peaceful and pleasant. Drop any questions or thoughts about the Tigers that you have in here and we'll talk about them for the next couple of hours!
Larry M:So the new QB is rumored to cost $ 1M+ in NIL. Where does that leave Pine in NIL for next year. Does he take a cut from what he was paid this year? Is it accurate to say that a budget is set by Drink et al for each position group and money is given or taken depending on performance. And is there such a thing as multi-year deals.
Ǵڴ:Yes, there was a report from On3 that Beau Pribula will get a $1.5 million NIL package from Mizzou. I'll be honest, I'm always skeptical when I see that kind of number — whether here or anywhere else, like with BYU and its top basketball prospect have $7 million thrown around. It's difficult bordering on impossible to get anybody to tell you a number of what a player is making, and even rarer to get that on the record. It's also hard for it to boil down to a single, simple number. These deals can give athletes compensation from multiple sources, especially with revenue-sharing expected to come into play. Sometimes there's a car thrown in — is that part of the value or on top? Who knows what else appears in the deals. It can be a helpful ballpark, but I wouldn't get too set on any figure being the exact/full snapshot of how a given athlete is being paid.
I suppose Pyne's level of compensation probably sticks around what it was last season. Mizzou is paying him to be one of the more experienced backups in the SEC, so that's probably what his market value is. Maybe it declines from '24, but I don't know. It's tough for Drinkwitz (and any coach) to declare a job is up for grabs but award salaries based on how he expects the competition to shake out.
Drinkwitz has referred to a salary cap recently when talking about roster building for next season and beyond: "You have to try to retain your roster based on the salary cap that you have, based on your perceived needs," he said a couple of weeks ago. I imagine he has a big say in how that money gets divvied up, but it's probably a braintrust process in which a few people in different roles weigh in on how to allocate funds responsibly.
I don't know if multi-year deals are in circulation or even permissable. I've asked around at various times about contracts that could have transfer portal-related clauses and the sense seemed to be that the sport wasn't in a place for that yet. There are so many legal and regulatory questions right now — and very few rules are holding up in court these days. It certainly seems like the sport is headed for something like multi-year contracts, but I don't know what has to happen for that to become a reality.
Fly Man:Good morning Eli, what are your best SEC football destinations and also general D1 road trip sites?
Hoff:Ooh, that's fun. This is also where me still being new to this job will show a little bit. The only spots (besides Mizzou) where I've covered a football game so far are: Kentucky, Georgia, Arkansas, Arlington (the Cotton Bowl), Texas A&M, UMass, Alabama, South Carolina and Mississippi State. So there's some I just haven't experienced.
Alabama was really cool to see. If you're thinking of making a trip to see an SEC environment, I'd certainly back that one — even without Mizzou playing. It happened to be the Tide's homecoming, so seeing the parade and campus and pageantry was something. The stadium is also beautiful and feels classy.
South Carolina's environment was a lot cooler than I was expecting it to be. That trip wasn't very fun for me since airport delays led to me landing in Columbia, SC at 6 a.m. on gameday, but the crowd was electric. I could see that being fun as an away fan.
My favorite, though, was UMass this year. I hadn't been to New England before, so getting to soak in the fall colors on my first trip up there was beautiful. The stadium ain't much, but it was scenic and unique — and nothing like Kyle Field, where I'd been the weekend prior.
Dz:Happy Holidays Eli, what is the status of Caleb Grill, when will he be able to play again?
Ǵڴ:Dennis Gates didn't share any updates on Grill at the Braggin' Rights game, though Grill did go through practice and warm-ups and wasn't wearing the neck brace. That leads me to believe he'll be back fairly soon.
My hypothesis — and I have to stress, it's a hypothesis since nobody is confirming or denying that this is the plan — is that Mizzou wanted Grill to go through the pregame routine against Illinois to see how that went and allow him to get back in that rhythm. He could then get some minutes against Alabama State on Monday since that's the last of the buy games, and if all goes well, be back for SEC play. Otherwise, it's asking him to come back for an SEC game, which could be a lot to ask. We'll see what the timeline ultimately ends up being — they're not rushing it, that's for certain — but that would make some sense to me.
Ѿdz/ԳDZ:Are there any other starters opting out of the bowl besides Burden and Membou?
Hoff:I love when y'all give me the perfect opportunities to promote stories. Just wrote about this for the paper/website today, actually. No other starters, really, but Brett Norfleet is out after undergoing surgery following the regular season and Chuck Hicks (a starter at one point this season) opted out to spend time with his family.
Ա:If “production, not potential” is the standard (and who can really disagree with that):why should a player stick around when the coaching staff brings in a presumptive starter from the portal? This looks like what happened with Crutchfield, (assuming no tampering), doesn’t it?
Ǵڴ:Yeah. That's a key question for a lot of players. I think "production over potential" — a line Drinkwitz had recently — also translates to compensation structure, too. While it does seem like there's a lot of money going to college football players right now, there is to some degree only so much. It seems like Mizzou is realizing that it has to prioritize paying for players who will produce versus those with the potential to do so — that's a balance that a lot of programs will have to figure out.
And players have to navigate that, too. Salaries and spots on the depth chart change from year to year and portal window to portal window. The freshmen who've left the program (Crutchfield, Lacy, Nwaneri, Brown primarily) had paths to bigger roles next year, but they weren't locked in as starters or anything like that. If they no longer felt like they were in the best situation — whether that's defined by playing time, compensation or something else — they have a free pass to depart, and that's what happened.
Ա:The bigger question to me is if the staff thinks it’s necessary to bring in a starter from the portal, who should be held accountable for the current roster’s failure to produce? I’m thinking of a couple of names at the OL and RB position in particular, guys who were highly touted with a lot of fanfare when they signed, but haven’t found a way on to the two-deep. Sure, some of it is on the player and some of it is better players ahead of them. But don’t the coaches who evaluated them as HS prospects, and the position coaches who were unable to coach them up deserve a lot of scrutiny as well?
Ǵڴ:Sure, but some of that is just the nature of scouting 16/17/18 year-olds. They're not developed in terms of physique or personality. You could watch a kid in practice and in games and talk to him all you want but there's only a degree to which you know what you're getting.
Look at the , for example (since they've all had time to complete their college careers). The top guy is in the CFL. The Heisman winner wasn't even a five-star. Some top recruits pan out. Some don't. That's kind of how it goes.
Are some teams better at doing that than others? Yes, there's definitely a knack for it. But I don't think Mizzou has been overly bad or anything. That said, this season starts to become "prove it" time for some players, especially four-star-type prospects who've been around for a couple years. If they can't crack the depth chart, then when?
ٴǴǻ岹:Happy holidays Eli, keep up the good work! Wondering about Boateng, as MU's highest rated recruit I believe since MPJ in 2017 ... he's hardly seen the floor, and I fear, like others, he'll hit the portal after this season. What gives with him, and also, where is 7-5 Trent Burns? Did they redshirt him, or ... ? Thanks for your reply?
Ǵڴ:There's now always the chance of any player hitting the portal after one season. It's not always a bad thing. Sometimes the fit/opportunity just isn't what both parties thought it would be.
Part of the challenge with Boateng is that there are only so many opportunities to get him low stakes minutes, particularly moving forward. In the minutes he has gotten, he hasn't done enough to really make the case for him playing over someone like Marques Warrick, for example. That doesn't mean he's a bust, it just means he's not immediately contributing for any number of reasons. This team has the talent and the potential to make an NCAA Tournament run. It'd be great if they can get there while playing the kids to let them develop, but at the end of the day, the tournament is what you're trying to make it to. You don't sacrifice that for your prospects to get playing time.
Every player's path is different, but look at Ant Robinson's: He didn't have an especially inspiring freshman season. There were some ugly moments. Now he's on NBA scouts' radar after his start to this season. There's time with Boateng yet — he's just got more talent ahead of him than a guy like Ant did last year.
Burns has suffered the unfortunate combo of a pretty gnarly illness followed by a foot injury — he's been in a boot. I could see the team just taking this year to get him a redshirt (medical or traditional) and get healthy, but we'll see.
Ա:The Grill status seems mysterious.He appeared to be suited up for the ILL ga,r so I am curious as to why he didn’t play, at least a little.
Ǵڴ:I think you submitted this question before I posted my answer to the Grill question above, so I'll point you to that. I don't think it's all that mysterious, or at least not any more than injuries usually are with Gates. He's not a very forthcoming guy with injury statuses/information. I don't get the sense that there have been any unexpected setbacks or anything like that. They went into this recovery process prepared for it to need a bit and not wanting to rush. If Sunday's game wasn't so tight, maybe there would've been minutes for him. That would've been a very intense environment for somebody to play his first minutes in a month.
Ա:By the way, did you notice that one of the referees ejected a Mizzou fan from the arena?
Ǵڴ:I did. Media actually gets to sit courtside (nice!) for Braggin' Rights and the Post-Dispatch table was in that corner. I didn't hear what the fan said but he did get promptly tossed, so it must have been some sort of magic word. It didn't look like he actually had to leave the arena, though. I saw him watching from up near the concourse entrance and then I didn't think about it any more. That ref, Jeffrey Anderson, was chatting with the fans around our table during TV timeouts, so I don't think he felt any hostility to the Mizzou fans in that area.
Big Tortilla:After last years successful (and surprising?) football season, some thought that Drink would depart for a more "prominent" program. With a good season this, it seems as if his name is not being floated out there as much. Thoughts on Drink leaving or staying? Is he still considered a "hot" coach?
Hoff:A few thoughts here. First, there just haven't been all that many coaching jobs opening up this cycle. That was the industry's expectation given that the cost of being competitive is about to go up in a big way before next season due to revenue sharing and there weren't a lot of universities willing to greenlight expensive buyouts. Because Florida never opened, there weren't really any jobs that could've been pitched as an upgrade from Mizzou — and I was never fully convinced that that gig would be automatically better than what Drinkwitz has built in Columbia.
I'd imagine his name isn't as buzzy this year as it was last year, but I could see it still having some appeal. He's showing that he can build a program. Next year will be interesting on many fronts. Drinkwitz's first generation of recruiting/portal wins will be almost entirely gone. Can he sustain it? What schools will make "overdue" personnel changes next year? Impossible to predict what it will look like, but the portrait of a lot of things could shift.
That's a wrap on today's chat. Thanks for stopping by during this holiday week. Benjamin Hochman and I will bring you Music City Bowl coverage from Nashville this weekend, and we'll chat again next week — our first of 2025!
Mizzou will have at least 10 players miss Music City Bowl due to opt-outs, transfer portal
's Music City Bowl depth chart is out. No surprises, but the spots of note:
RT: W/o Membou, Walters moves into starting spot
WR: W/o Burden, Cooper, Crutchfield, only 6 listed
DE & LB: Also lighter on depth
CB: Couple of depth guys taken off
— Eli Hoff (@byEliHoff)
COLUMBIA, Mo. — There are a couple questions that face a college football program when it comes to bowl games.
First: Who will they be playing? The answer for Missouri, of course, is the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Music City Bowl at 1:30 p.m. Monday in Nashville, Tennessee.
And second, now that the game is less than a week away: Who will be playing?
Bowl game opt-outs are common these days, and Mizzou will be dealing with some of them this year. The Tigers dodged that bullet at last year’s Cotton Bowl — opt-out attention was instead focused on Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. in the run-up to that game — but won’t have quite as much talent sticking around for the Music City Bowl.
Missouri will have three opt-outs who aren’t related to the transfer portal: wide receiver Luther Burden III, right tackle Armand Membou and middle linebacker Chuck Hicks.
Most players who have entered the transfer portal also won’t play, according to MU’s bowl week depth chart, including the Tigers’ group of freshmen who departed the program after just one season.
As of last week, MU expected to have only one player out due to injury: starting tight end Brett Norfleet. He underwent surgery “that needed to be done,” coach Eli Drinkwitz said, as soon as the regular season ended and will miss the bowl.
Norfleet battled through a surgery early in the season, so his absence won’t be entirely foreign to Missouri. Tight ends Jordon Harris and Tyler Stephens — the latter in his final collegiate game — will be the primary fill-ins.
Two Mizzou players have opted out after declaring early for the NFL Draft: Burden and Membou.
Once those two prospects announced that they’d be forgoing their senior seasons to enter the draft pool as early as possible, MU assumed they would not be participating in the bowl game. There’s a significant chance Burden and Membou wind up as first-round picks, so they have little to gain and a fair amount to lose in injury risk by playing in the bowl.
Mizzou will be getting used to life without Burden by turning to some of its younger receivers for the bowl game. Mookie Cooper, a wideout whose collegiate career is over after a season-ending surgery roughly a month ago, will also be out. Mekhi Miller and Courtney Crutchfield, who have entered the transfer portal, are not expected to play in the bowl.
Missouri receiver Theo Wease Jr., left, pushes his way past Buffalo cornerback Eddie Pleasant III after catching a pass for a first down Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Columbia, Mo. Wease looks to play a key role for the Tigers in the Music City Bowl against Iowa after wideout Luther Burden III opted out after declaring early for the NFL Draft.
Colin E. Braley, Associated Press
That sets up Theo Wease Jr. to play a leading role in his final college game — something he never considered skipping.
“I don’t think opting out really crossed my mind,” Wease said. “I just think my love for the game, I get another opportunity to play football and I don’t take that for granted at all, you know?”
Wease, Joshua Manning, Marquis Johnson, Daniel Blood, James Madison II and Logan Muckey could wind up being the Tigers’ only available scholarship wideouts.
With Membou out, Missouri will likely give Mitchell Walters the start in his final game, though it could also turn to a younger lineman.
Hicks, who wrote on X that he opted out to spend more time with his wife and children, had seen his role decline near the end of the regular season, so his absence won’t create an especially drastic hole for the Tigers. Corey Flagg Jr. and Triston Newson will still be the starting linebackers, with more opportunities for the young returning core of Nicholas Rodriguez, Jeremiah Beasley and Brian Huff.
“We wish them well in their careers,” Drinkwitz said of Burden, Hicks and Membou. “They left the right way. We will definitely miss them, but it is an opportunity for other people to step up and play.”
Missouri wide receiver Marquis Johnson blows kisses to the Oklahoma bench as the final seconds tick off Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in Columbia, Mo. Missouri won 30-23.
L.G. Patterson, Associated Press
An unofficial depth chart provided to media on Tuesday did not include the Mizzou players who have entered the transfer portal. Because of the exodus of freshmen who left the team after just one season, that means a handful of young players who might have been in line for action will instead not be playing in the bowl.
Having entered the portal, Crutchfield, Miller, running back Kewan Lacy, defensive end Williams Nwaneri, defensive end Jaylen Brown, linebacker Brayshawn Littlejohn and punter Orion Phillips were all removed from the depth chart.
“Some of the guys who have announced that they’re entering the transfer portal have decided to move on early and have left,” Drinkwitz said.
Iowa, for its part, won’t be immune to opt-outs either.
The Hawkeyes won’t have quarterback Cade McNamara available, though that had been the case near the end of the regular season following a concussion he suffered. Two of their better players — running back Kaleb Johnson and cornerback Jermari Harris — have declared for the NFL Draft and won’t play.
Hochman: Why Tony Perkins (the Iowa transfer) can be Mizzou basketball's X-factor
As the Mizzou guard knifed through the defense and the ball, it dawned on me that we haven’t seen a Tony Perkins slash like that since “Psycho.”
This was just part of a brilliant performance by Perkins, who shares a name with the late, great actor. Against Illinois in the recent Braggin’ Rights Game, the Mizzou guard scored a season-high 18 points, along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Yes, yes, the Tigers lost the game. But this was still a pivotal moment in the season — the Tigers played tough in the three-point loss … and Perkins showed how high his ceiling is (and how high he can get up! Didn’t know the guard had that in him.).
Missouri guard Tony Perkins dunks in the first half as he is defended by Illinois forward Ben Humrichous during the Braggin’ Rights rivalry game on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, at Enterprise Center.
Zachary Linhares, Post-Dispatch
Gosh, he was fun to watch in that game. The 6-foot-4 graduate transfer got to the hoop and got to the foul line with confidence. And he sure upped my confidence in the Tigers’ overall backcourt play — here’s thinking he’ll nicely complement Anthony Robinson II and Tamar Bates during Southeastern Conference play.
After Braggin’ Rights, Perkins was asked if he made a conscious effort to be more aggressive. Perkins said: “I would say, just being myself.”
He is, after all, a fifth-year standout who was named second-team Big Ten Conference last season for Iowa.
But we really hadn’t seen his self.
Now, Perkins has been recovering from a leg injury this season, but he entered the Illinois game with just one game in double-digit scoring (18 against Lindenwood). Last year, Perkins averaged 14 points per game for that other black-and-gold school (and upcoming Mizzou bowl opponent).
But against the Illini, well, Perkins looked like he did last year against the Illini, when the Big Ten player poured in the same 18-point total in a game last February.
For Mizzou, Perkins started alongside Robinson and Bates — I just realized, regarding “Psycho,” Mizzou has both a “Tony Perkins” and a “Bates” — and Perkins started off the offense with a steal and nifty bounce pass for an assist. He was brought to Columbia to help direct the offense and, sure enough, he tallied the three assists against Illinois (with only one turnover), including a pinpoint heave downcourt to a streaking Peyton Marshall for a slam.
And Perkins himself actually unleashed two dunks in the game, a second via an offensive rebound.
Actually, it was Perkins’ second standout game in a row. Against Jacksonville State, he scored eight points in 18 minutes — and more specifically, he was a life preserver. Mizzou didn’t score until the 16:44 mark in the first half — that’s when Perkins hit a 3. He scored eight straight Mizzou points — and a teammate didn’t make a field goal until the 9:41 mark.
The Tigers, up one point at the half, won that one, 83-72.
Mizzou (10-2) has scored 75 points in all 12 games this year — the longest streak of such since a 14-game one in 2011-12 (the Tigers next play on Monday against Alabama State, followed by a Jan. 4 matchup against a slightly better team from Alabama — the No. 2 Auburn Tigers).
And it’s going to be in big-time matchups like that in which Mizzou will lean on Perkins … defensively.
That’s the thing. The guy can also lock down dudes. When Perkins signed with the Tigers, coach Dennis Gates said Perkins plays “exceptional defense. … What separates him is his toughness ... .”
Missouri guard Tony Perkins puts back a rebound for a dunk in the second half against Illinois on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, at Enterprise Center in 51, Mo.
Zachary Linhares, Post-Dispatch
Perkins is a disrupter. He rattles ballhandlers early in possessions (and often). And he also reads passes like a cornerback. He’s a savvy veteran. And there he was late in the first half against the Illini, while defending one of college basketball’s great guards, Kasparas Jakucionis (and if you have yet seen Illinois’ Jakucionis play this year, you must make a point to do so … especially since the freshman will likely be in the NBA next year).
So on this play, Jakucionis cut to the hoop, but Perkins picked his pocket. His third steal of the game.
Mizzou entered the Braggin’ Rights Game as America’s No. 5 team in steals per game (10.5). The Tigers tallied a dozen against the Illini — it was the seventh game out of 12 that Mizzou finished with double-digit steals.
Mizzou’s backcourt trio has proven proficient at thievery. Should make for a winter of discontent for SEC ballhandlers.
And a year after some transfers proved ineffective, the Tigers nabbed the likes of the dynamic Perkins (and Mark Mitchell and others).
Here’s thinking they take a stab at making the NCAA Tournament.
