Mizzou Football Links

There are approximately 9.5 days until the DGB sweepstakes come to an end at Springfield Hillcrest High School next Wednesday afternoon. Arkansas had their say this weekend, as he left a basketball tournament in St. Louis to head down for his official visit in Fayetteville. Evidently, Bobby Petrino has his in-home visit this week, as well. Mizzou will get the final word, however, when, barring any future changes of plans, DGB visits Columbia this coming weekend. I assume the "MIZ-DGB" chant will be pretty loud at the Texas Tech game on Saturday, huh?

Early indications are that DGB very much enjoyed his trip to Fayetteville, but ... of course he did. Recruits almost always enjoy visits, and when you are lavished with as much attention and love as he probably was (and will be next weekend), all the better. As long as we don't suddenly find out today that he committed (and we almost certainly won't), then you have to feel at least cautiously optimistic about Missouri's chances. I don't know if they'll land him, but I have absolutely loved the way Mizzou has recruited him to date, and I'll almost certainly be saying the same thing after next weekend. Cross your fingers. Well, not yet. Crossing your fingers for 9.5 straight days would probably start to hurt after a while. And it would be hard to type.

• DGB
  KSDK.com: Dorial Green-Beckham sits down with Frank Cusumano
  Post-Dispatch: Top recruit turns from hoops to Arkansas football visit
  Post-Dispatch (Bryan Burwell): Mizzou fans greet prized recruit

  I came here for a very good reason. My columnist instincts said this was a situation ripe for potential commentary about the process of the recruitment of gifted 18-year-old student-athletes. I had no idea what to expect, but I had my suspicions that it would be one of two scenarios:
  
  1. I would walk into a gymnasium full of screaming, fanatical idiots who would embarrass themselves with some sort of outlandish over-the-top display of everything that is wrong with the recruiting process.
  
  2. Or I would see a gymnasium full of curious, but well-behaved adults.
  
  I have to admit that I wasn't sure which scene I was hoping for, because either one would provide me with ample ammunition. But allow young Mr. Green-Beckham to end the suspense with how the evening transpired.
  
  "I'd say they all acted like adults," he said, smiling. "It was all pretty cool."
  
  Thank you Mizzou fans for restoring my faith in the sanity of sports fans. […]
  
  "I kind of like that they didn't get too fired up," Green-Beckham said. "They weren't trying to distract me from what I had to do in the game. Wherever they came from, whether it was Columbia or St. Louis or back home, I thought they did pretty good. That gives me comfort in knowing, ‘OK, they're cool. They're not going to bother me while I'm in a game, trying make me float out mentally from what I should be doing to pay attention to what they're doing.'"

• Other Recruiting
  PowerMizzou: Missouri moves ahead for Onuoha
  PowerMizzou: Update on Damien Lawry
  We Are Mizzou: Wide Receiver Darius White Joins the Mizzou Family
• Dom
  The Draft Season: Dominique Hamilton Shrine Game Photo Album
• Gabs
  USA Today: Hangin' with MJD: The NFL playoffs, fantasy sports and more
  CBS Sports (Rapid Reports): Bratkowski: Blaine Gabbert's pocket presence is coachable
  CBS Sports (Rapid Reports): Olson will be key in Gabbert development
  CBS Sports (Rapid Reports): Development of Gabbert up to ... Gabbert

Meanwhile ... though the Giants won last night, we still have this.

As RPT said last night, Eli Manning and Carson Coffman now have something in common.

Other Football Links

• A Couple More Paterno Links
  SB Nation (Bomani Jones): Joe Paterno's Death Leaves LaVar Arrington And Others With Lots Left To Say
  Smart Football: Joe Paterno's Penn State Defense

Mizzou Basketball Links

• Mizzou Still Won!
  The Missourian: Win over Baylor big boost for Missouri

  Missouri also grabbed six more rebounds than Baylor, a pleasant surprise for a Tigers squad that regularly uses only two players taller than 6-6.

  "We understand we are vertically challenged; we’re not a tall team," Missouri coach Frank Haith said. "We do have quickness and guys who can run down loose balls. This team has learned to not watch the ball when shots go up. ... We know that if we aren’t in the ballpark from a rebounding standpoint, we are going to struggle."

  Even Missouri's two smallest players contributed. At 5-10, Phil Pressey had five rebounds, and 6-1 Michael Dixon collected four. The Tigers had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half and scored 14 second-chance points in the opening 20 minutes.

Other Basketball Links

• KU > Texas
  Rock Chalk Talk: Kansas Fends Off A Pesky Texas Team In Austin
  KC Star: No. 7 KU survives scare from Texas 69-66
  Lawrence Journal-World: Emotional rescue: KU, Thomas Robinson hold it together, edge Texas
  Austin American-Statesman: Kansas men beat Texas, 69-66
  ESPN.com: In a rare tight game, KU holds on in Austin
• KSU > OSU
  KC Star: Kansas State ends skid at Oklahoma State with 66-58 win
  Daily Oklahoman: Cowboys coach Travis Ford says K-State 'allowed to just whip us'
• A&M > Oklahoma
  Crimson & Cream Machine: OU snatches defeat from the jaws of victory on the road against Texas A&M
• ISU > Tech
  Dallas Morning News: Texas Tech falls to 0-6 in Big 12 with 76-52 loss to ISU

SEC (And Big 12)

• SEC Scheduling
  Mr. SEC: The SEC's Mr. Transition Talks Scheduling
  Senator Blutarsky: There's only one meaningful tradition in today's SEC
• Dallas Morning News: A&M getting closer to settlement with Big 12
• Next Year's Big 12
  Big East Coast Bias: Lawyers Expect The Big East And West Virginia To Settle
  Dallas Morning News: Texas Tech president is optimistic W. Virginia will be in Big 12 for 2012 football season
  Daily Oklahoman (Berry Tramel): The Big 12 is wide open next season

Other Mizzou Links

So ... our incredibly young gymnastics team might be awfully good.

• Mizzou Gymnastics
  MUtigers.com: Tigers Upset No. 16 Denver at Pink Out
  The Trib: Tigers keep cool on difficult night
  The Missourian: 'Super fan' brought his spirit to Missouri gymnastics meet
  The Missourian: PHOTO GALLERY: Missouri competes against University of Denver
  KBIA Sports Extra: Pingeton disappointed with Mizzou's sixth loss
• Mizzou Women's Basketball
  MUtigers.com: Tigers Drop Close Battle to Oklahoma State, 62-58
  The Trib: MU women fall flat in disheartening defeat
  The Missourian: Oklahoma State tries to move on after tragedy
  The Missourian: Best friends reunited in Missouri loss to Oklahoma State
  The Missourian: PHOTO GALLERY: Missouri falls to Oklahoma State
• Mizzou Tennis
  MUtigers.com: Mizzou Falls Against No. 20 Notre Dame
• Mizzou Track & Field
  MUtigers.com: Tigers Wrap Up Illini Classic
• Mizzou Soccer
  MUtigers.com: Tigers Begin Offseason Helping the Community
  

Other

• The Balotelliest Game That Ever Balotelli'd
  Dirty Tackle: Mario Balotelli's eventful half hour against Spurs
• Oh, Ed Hochuli
  Joe Posnanski: Hochuli in Verse