So I don't think I knew this award existed, but...Sean Weatherspoon: Lott Trophy IMPACT Player of the Week.
Iowa State Links!
- Dave Matter: Cut to the Chase(s)! (“You look at the depth at receiver and the talent coming back, and you’re going to have a rookie guy in Blaine” Gabbert “or Blaine” Dalton “… or Ashton Glaser. And you have a talented tailback. They’re still going to throw the football around 30-35 times a game, but I think they’re going to lean on” Derrick Washington “at the beginning of the year, obviously, at the beginning of the year to try and get some yards out of him and protect Blaine a little bit so he can get his feet wet a little bit more. But they’re not going to change drastically by any means. It’s what got us here and what got us this far. You look at 2006, we didn’t dramatically run the ball, still threw it 400 times a year.”)
- KC Star: Legend of MU's Daniel was born against Cyclones
- The Missourian: Iowa State eyes potential spoiler role
- Post-Dispatch: MU wins big in its final exhibition game
Chase Coffman: bad spectator.
Here's a nice article about two Mizzou targets for the 2010 football class: DeSmet's DT Ryan Isom and QB Steve Kaiser. From what I've read, Isom could be a pretty decent recruit...not sure about Kaiser yet.
On to basketball...Missouri Southern Links!
- Mutigers.com: Mizzou handles Mo. Southern, 87-58.
- KC Star: Mizzou trounces Missouri Southern
- The Missourian: Carroll adds range in exhibition win
Here's the Mo. Southern box score. Some thoughts...
I'll say this much: we've got a lot of "energy" guys now. I don't think you can run an organized offense through Demarre Carroll, JT Tiller, Keith Ramsey, Justin Safford, or Laurence Bowers just yet, but they can throw their bodies around and create chaos...which, I guess, is part of the plan with this system. However...this offense HAS to run through Leo Lyons, else we'll be in a massive slog anytime we attempt a half-court offense. Leo's 19 points on just 9 shots (in all of 13 minutes) were very encouraging, and his shot is looking as good as ever, but as we know, the biggest problem with Leo is that we simply don't know when he's going to decide to disappear for a while.
Major kudos to Bowers for managing 3 blocks in 13 minutes. In all, I can't remember the last time Mizzou had 8 blocks in a game, but it was nice to see. We have to be able to score in a half-court set to be a tourney contender, but you can certainly tell that this team fits Anderson's system much better than previous teams. Lots of hustle guys making hustle plays.
Man, are the freshmen fun to watch...and MAN, ARE THE FRESHMEN TURNOVER-PRONE. Miguel Paul, Marcus Denmon and Kimmie English combined for 3 assists and 9 turnovers in 41 minutes. But they also combined for 25 points on 16 shots, which is quite a nice total for guards. With all the "energy" guys out there, though, we're going to have to rely on Paul and Denmon more than we probably should at times (i.e. anytime Bad Leo makes an appearance instead of Good Leo).
Zaire Taylor. Hmm. Not sure what to think about him yet. I thought he looked more-or-less in control, but then I saw the box score, and he had 4 assists and 5 turnovers. His shot looks better than I thought it would, but...against Missouri Southern, your starting point guard needs to show more assists than turnovers. Long-term, it would benefit us if Denmon and Paul overtook Taylor and Tiller in the starting lineup, but short-term, I don't know what's best. All I know is, we have a great "Mizzou's down 10 with 2 minutes left--time to make some steals and take some 3's" lineup of Tiller, Denmon, Matt Lawrence, Bowers/Ramsey, and Lyons. Hopefully we don't have to use that lineup too many times.
Finally, the Trib takes a look at Mizzou Soccer's first-round NCAA matchup...