So the lingering effects of the "Wedding Reception, Open Bar, Keg of NewCastle" kept me from doing normal amount of work on this column on Sunday, so even though this was a pretty darn good weekend for Mizzou, this may be a shorter entry than others. Besides, I will be too busy counting my new wad of 5 dollar bills from my office pool :-) Anyway, let's get to it.
Click 'Full Story' for the musings...
Men's Basketball:
I think this paragraph is going to get shorter and shorter every single week, because I have less and less to say about this team. There are things I want to say after efforts they give on Wednesday, but then the team will pull out an effort like they did on Saturday, and I have to just throw it out the window. So, the quick and dirty wrap up goes on follows.
We lost on Wednesday at home to a pretty bad Nebraska team even though we kept Maric off of the floor for most of the game (even though he went double-double in 24 minutes). The Lawrence brothers shot terribly for the game, and even though we should have won a game like this, regardless of who was suspended, we did not. Then we turned around, overcame multiple 10+ deficits and beat a kSU team which will be in the tournament and likely win a couple of games because they have one of the best pairs of players in the entire country. The team played inspired (though I did not see much of it because I was at the wedding in the 2nd half) and gave the 12,000+ (and probably more importantly the high school junior football players Mizzou was hosting) something to cheer about.
Tonight, they play kU at home. Looking past that, they play aTm at home next Saturday. Your guess is as good as mine.
Women's Basketball:
The women played too games this past week, losing at aTm during the week 62-43, then coming home yesteday and losing to Nebraska 73-67. Not much to talk about from the game, Shakara Jones had 15 points on the night. Not much MORE to talk about against Nebraska, as Mizzou led by 10 with about 5:30 to go in the game, and lost by 6...quite the swing. Alyssa Hollings had 20 points on 8-14 shooting. Hollings is the only player on the team to start every game, and through the aTm game, was shooting about 35 percent from the field. In fact, she was about 2 percent better from 3 point range than from 2 point range, averagaing 16 points per game.....that is a LOT of shots.
Mizzou moves to 1-7 in conference now, good enough for dead ass last. Sitting at 8-13 overall, Mizzou will take on OU during the week at home on Wednesday, then heads up to Ames for a Saturday game against the Clones.
Women's Tennis:
Yep...it is that time of year where the regular season for women's tennis comes in. Mizzou had a busy week, but a successful one, going 3-0 on the week after starting their season with a loss against Arkansas last week. In fact, Mizzou tennis players lost only 2 matches on the week, beating SLU 6-1, UMKC 7-0 and then Syracuse 6-1. A standard match has 6 singles matches and 1 doubles match which count towards the 7 points (though I guess it is common to play additional doubles matches...for practice I guess). Singles matches are standard matches, best 2 of 3, the doubles match is a "pro-set" (I think that is what it is called), which is one to 8
Going 3-0 on the week were Freshman Mallory Weber, who holds the #1 singles spot, Junior transfer Jessica Giuggioli (um...no guess on how to say THAT name), senior Chrissy Svetlic, who went 3-0 and also 3-0 in doubles teaming with Weber (currently ranked 43rd in the nation), and Freshman Kaitlyn Richie. Freshman Maureen Modesto, who leads the team in wins, went 2-1.
Next up for the ladies will be two matches on Saturday at home, first against Xavier at 9am, and then Chicago State later that afternoon at 3pm. I am told tennis matches are free....get on out there!
Gymnastics:
The squad competed Friday evening against the University of Illinois-Chicago, and came out with a big win, by almost 5 full points. More importantly, while the women moved to 3-1 on the season, their score went up for the 4th straight week. At 195.400, they continue to move the meter from week to week, which can only help their national standing, which is currently 15th.
Sophomore Sarah Shire took her turn as all-around champion, putting up an impressive 39.375. Adrianne Perry came in 2nd in the all-around, also topping 39 at 39.175, and Ashley Khederian was 3rd at 38.825. Shire also took two event titles, hitting a 9.875 on the bars and 9.850 on the floor. Hatcher checked in with an impressive 9.9 on the beam (with Shire taking 2nd at 9.875) and freshman Lauren Stephenson hit a 9.8 on the vault to take that event. Mizzou was able to put up a 49.000 on the beam (49 is a nice minimum score to aim for on each event, putting you at 196 minimum for the event, this is where the big teams usually sit at).
Next up for the women will be their annual Beauty and the Beast event on Friday evening. The gymnastics team will take on Centennary College while the wrestling team will compete at the same time, wrestling OU. Plenty of fun for the entire family, come on out to the Hearnes at 6:30 p.m.
Wrestling:
More on how the men did can be found here!
Indoor Track:
Coach Dr. Rick McGuire has been around Mizzou for a long time, but I dont imagine he has had many weekends like this past one. Travelling (as best they could) out to Happy Valley in State College, PA, the men's and women's track teams competed in the Sykes-Sabock Cup. Meeting many travel-related dificulties, the teams made it finally and competed in a scored meet, which I guess have become increasingly rare in the indoor season. The women took 2nd place, a good bit behind host Penn State, but the men beat the host and everyone else, winning the title.
Big wins over the two days for the men were gained by junior Dan Hedgecock in the 3000 m, the 4x400 meter relay team and junior Chris Rohr in the weight throw. Winning for the women was senior Shernelle Nichols in the shot put and senior Elisha Hunt in the weight throw, with junior Krishna Lee coming in 2nd in both.
Next up for the team will be the Meyo Classic in South Bend, IN next weekend.
Softball:
Yes folks, that's right...the spring sports are starting already. The Softball team played a Black and Gold game this past weekend (at the Devine Pavilion....yes...it is possible), with the Black team coming out on top 12-0. Senior Jen Bruck led the way both pitching and hitting well. The Softball team also had some big pub this past week with senior Amanda Renth earning top 50 in America status.
The team will start their regular season this weekend down in Miami, FL (there are worse places to start the season, but not many) and will take on Va Tech at 2pm on Friday, then Fl. International at 7pm. The #21 Tigers will then take on Xavier at 9am, UT-Arlington at 11:30am and Pittsburgh at 2:00pm in the rare triple-header. They will finish Sunday with an 8am get-away game against Va Tech.
Random Thoughts:
- The commercials were really pretty bad last night. Was not terribly impressed by any of them, I dont know where or when we went wrong with them, but it has been a bad couple of years I think.
- Typically I am fine with Bill Simmons and his teams, but seeing the byline on a column last week where he was comparing the Giants to the 85 Patriots. That right there (and the fact I had money to be won on the Giants) pushed me over the top. That 85 Patriot team was NOT very good and a product of an awful AFC. The Giants team had a very strong defense and a far better offense than that Pats team.
- With that being said, while I certainly see the upset factor here, I NEVER understood how this spread was at 2 TD's (especially since the Pats of late only win SB's by 3 points) and thus I do not see this as near the upset some will.
- If you asked people how many SB's the Patriots have been in, do you think most people know the correct answer?
- Tiger Woods did it again...holing out some 25 footer or something to win the Dubai by one since he came from 4 back, shooting a 7-under 65 on the final day. Just sick.
- Still on golf, next year this weekend, spend a little time watching the FBR (formally Scottsdale) Open. The 16th hole is something I think everyone may need to do in sports before they die. The famous hole which Tiger hit a hole-in-one on about 10 years ago....yes...ten years ago, is now a STADIUM hole. If you have never seen it, about 85,000 people sit on that hole and in the stands constructed and just cheer and BOO everyone...no matter what. Phil Mickleson is the local hero, AZ St. guy...gets cheered like mad there. Hits his shot, people go nuts. Ball lands off the green...booed mercilessly. Just hilarious to watch, no control is kept or even attempted.
UPDATE, 8:56: This is The Boy. I Googlemapped TPC Scottsdale to get a nice image of hole #16...seriously...there's just no way I wouldn't hit somebody if I ever played that...I'd be so intimidated, I'd have equal odds of hitting the stands on the left and the road on the right.
And yes, 'googlemapped' is now a word.