Hi! It's been a while...I'm back from OKC, and it's time to do some catching up. Let's see how far behind I've fallen. Settle in--I've got five days of links to make up for...and so I don't get lost in all the links, I'm separating them out by subject...
Football
Holy CRAP are we thin at LB right now. Sean Weatherspoon suffered a slight tear in his labrum on Saturday, and now Van Alexander has at least a sprained knee. Good god...can we get some of these '09 recruits on campus now? (And if you're wanting something more positive from Matter's blog, check out the Maclin Q&A. I love that he's dissatisfied with the 4.32 40. Sucks to be J-Mac.)
So it sounds like Jared Perry's well on his way to bouncing back from a good old fashioned sophomore slump.
So I was watching a bit of ESPN's college football show last night, and they were talking about their online poll asking what's the most interesting storyline of the offseason--Michigan's QB battle, Joe Paterno's contract status, or Ryan Perrilloux's off-field problems. Umm....none of the above? While I enjoy the thought of Michigan having to start a walk-on, I can say I even remotely care about any of those things. But that's just me.
Football Recruiting
Lots of new recruiting names popping up on Rivals, many of whom have some pretty good-looking film up. First we've got Will Ebner's high school teammate (and apparent stud) QB Jacob Karam being pretty excited about getting a Mizzou offer. Mizzou's also hopped on the quickly-growing offer list of New Braunfels LB Tom Wort. The dude's film is unbelievable, and all the biggees (Florida, OU, USC) are after him, so I'm really just going to be impressed if we get a visit. Competition's also picking up for Rockhurst QB Nathan Scheelhaase. We're battling OU for a lot of kids these days...which is, I guess, to be expected. Let's just hope we win a couple of these battles.
Also, PowerMizzou has an interesting Tiger Ten piece up. I'm really not sure what the point of this piece is (it appears to be just a look at the recruiting of 10 random Tiger targets), but hey...I'm all for it...
Baseball
So can we just name the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week award the Aaron Crow Award? It might be easier.
Here's trripleplay's latest MU in the Minors post. And the Missourian has a quick blurb on Max Scherzer's AAA debut. The ranks of former Tigers in the minors certainly appears to be growing each year...and I know that, after a couple injuries knocked him from their top prospects list, the Pirates are pretty excited about how James Boone played this spring. Boone's not only a Tiger, but he also has the added bonus of having played for my Western Oklahoma high school's main rival...screw Clinton! Go Weatherford! (And speaking of Weatherford, I would just like the record to show that I really really really really tried to get Mizzou to recruit Trent Ratterree, the little brother of my high school best friend, as did The Beef. They're going to regret not listening to us!)
And I guess I should acknowledge that Mizzou Baseball is strug-a-ling at the moment. Baseball America's being very forgiving by only dropping them to 8th. Others aren't quite as forgiving.
Basketball
So uhh, I guess there was a game Monday night. All I can say is, I hate that it came down to free throws the way it did because it gave a bunch of lazy TV personalities an easy out. "I KNEW free throws would cost Memphis!" Yes, free throws cost Memphis, but honestly, it had nothing to do with an overall team FT percentage like folks said it would. It had to do with the fact that Memphis really hadn't taken any pressure free throws all year. Taking out the end-of-regulation free throws, Memphis was 11-for-14 from the FT line (and yes, I realize that's like saying "Taking out all of my shortcomings, I'd be a helluva basketball player myself"). It wasn't overall free throws that killed Memphis, it was the fact that when Chris Douglas-Roberts went to the line with 30 seconds left, he developed rigor mortis in his legs and arms. He froze up, like many good FT shooters have before. Memphis' struggles from the line throughout the year weren't much of a predictor because, well, Douglas-Roberts is a career 73% FT shooter. That's not 93%, but it's not 53% either. He was 4-for-4 in the game's first 39.5 minutes. I'm rambling here, but I just really felt like making that point. Just placate me. Or ignore me. Either way I'm happy.
In much happier news, '08 Mizzou signee Kimmie English continues to prove himself, putting up 18 points (3-for-5 on 3-pointers), 4 rebounds, and 3 steals in the Charm City Classic over the weekend. Not too shabby.
And I must say, this would be very strange. I wouldn't object, and I don't expect it to happen, but it would be strange.
Actually, I'll stop there...will save other links for other posts...