Mizzou Links, 5-28-08

The Trib has a nice story on how there will be lots of swings and misses this weekend in Miami.

All four pitching staffs rank in the top 25 in strikeouts per nine innings. The Hurricanes (8.38), Wildcats (8.63) and Rebels (8.73) are ranked in the top 25 in hits allowed per nine innings. Missouri’s staff allows 9.9 hits but gives up just 2.96 walks per game.

Missouri’s Aaron Crow (117) and Kyle Gibson (94), Miami’s Chris Hernandez (97) and Mississippi’s Scott Bittle (118) and Lance Lynn (103) all rank among the top 40 in the nation in strikeouts.

Crow, Hernandez and Bittle are semifinalists for the Roger Clemens Award, given to the nation’s top pitcher.

And, oh yeah, Bethune-Cookman’s Hiram Burgos leads the nation with a 1.20 ERA.

So the Tigers need to play more like the team that swept Nebraska on the final weekend of the regular season than the team that went 1-2 - with as many errors as runs - in the Big 12 Championship.

"For us to win down there, we’re going to have to get hot," Missouri Coach Tim Jamieson said. "We’re going to have to have some guys have some timely hitting. That’s been here and there this year. We’ll need really, really solid defense. And our starters are going to have to go deep in the games. We do that, we’ll have a chance."

Yeah...if we play defense like we did in Oklahoma City, the season will be over by Saturday.

Via trripleplay, I find this Ole Miss blogger account on the Rebels' ups and downs this season. It appears we're not the only team held back by its defense.

Happy day...it's another Random Tiger Ten. It does introduce a new name on Mizzou's radar screen: 4-star Texas RB Stepfan Taylor. Here's some sophomore film...dude's got a nice burst of speed. And he's apparently got his own YouTube profile, so...we can also see him dancing in a Wal Mart. (And for that matter, you can also see Mizzou signee Kenji Jackson dancing in one of the profile videos as well...guess they're good friends, huh? Sure can't be a bad thing.)

Dave Matter goes in-depth on Big 12 non-conference schedules for the coming football season. Nobody outside Boulder has what one would call a tough slate, though some are harder than others. And before you complain about Mizzou's non-con lineup...take a look at Texas Tech's. They play Nevada just like we do...only Nevada's probably their toughest opponent. (Though Matter does point out that they were supposed to play Tulsa before the Golden Hurricanes backed out a couple months ago.)

Steve Walentik takes a look at the invitees (and non-invitees) of the NBA's pre-draft camp in Orlando and determines that Demarre Carroll will likely be announcing his return to Mizzou soon. Strangely enough, it doesn't appear that Mario Chalmers is on that list either, which is a scary thought...would have been happy never to see him in a Kansas uniform again.

Finally, Sunday Morning QB takes a look at another contender for the #1 ranking...Florida. I'll say this: I don't think Florida is #1 by any means, but the dude makes a good case for why you should question the distance (in quality, not miles) between Georgia and Florida.