Mizzou Links, 7-16-10

If Tony Mitchell (who IS on the list) does indeed a) play for Mizzou next year and b) do pretty well, he probably still won’t put up numbers better than what Bowers did last year. The “unknown quantity over known quantity” thing gets taken too far sometimes, and this is one example.

He’s also had a hand in losses to Colorado State/Iowa State/Toledo in that same time frame.

…why individual wins and losses don’t really mean jack. Ron Prince beat Texas twice, and I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure Gary Pinkel’s a better coach than Prince. Lofty words, I know.

And while Hawkins has indeed beaten OU, I’m not really sure why Nebraska is part of that example…Smith and Daniel went a combined 4-3 versus them…

. . . Hawkins has defeated these teams, IMO, is because his team was so weak the other team took them for granted and did not properly prepare. Good teams do not look past Mizzou – they prepare their very best, and we just have to do the same.

But frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if any, some, or all of the three – Denmon, Dixon, English – really step up. I do think people are making the right call picking Kimmie as the most likely to make a huge impact, though. If his mental game catches up with his physical skills, then he’s going to be a terror, especially if he can unlock his inner Chievous and really start drawing fouls driving the basket.

All that being said, I think the cogs that are really going to make Mizzou click this year are Ratliffe and Moore (and maybe Mitchell, although I don’t know as much about his game). One thing about Mizzou last season is that they had to have guards crashing to get rebounds. If we have big men that can really dominate on rebounding and get the ball out to streaking guards (beautiful outlet passes being something Big Steve has shown a talent for), then we’re really going to blow some people up. Color me excited.