Things have been a little crazy of late, and that has led me to get away from writing as much here. It is what it is. After running through the dual meet between Mizzou and Cornell in wrestling, this will be a pretty quick edition of the Musings. Winter season is in full blast and there is plenty to cover as it is.
Men's Basketball:
I dont really recall if I got it down on a keyboard, but after seeing us beat ISU in person, my next goal for the season was to go 3-1 in our next four, starting with the Okie State game. I figured this would (obviously) give us at least one road win, as well as some decent home wins. Well, 2-0 after the first two is the best we could have done. Certainly it is worth speaking about and thinking about our inability to close out either game (though in different ways), but wins are wins at this point. I doubt Mizzou will jump into the top 25 this week, but will be right on the doorstep going this week.
kSU was taken to OT at CU to get their first win of the season, so I am of the opinion that winning in Stillwater means we SHOULD win in Manhatten. Do I expect it at this point? I really do. Get past that one, and give me a really exciting game against Baylor at home next Saturday afternoon. Baylor has six really solid players...but will they be able to run with the 10-11 we will run at them? I don't know, but I expect the scoreboard to be busy that day.
Women's Basketball:
Real tough week for the ladies, as they have not scored very well the past week and went 0-2 in conference. They travelled up to Ames mid-week and only mustered 42 points in a 23 point loss to the Clones. Bekah Mills lead the way on the night with...um...nine points. Mizzou shot 30 percent from the floor.
On Saturday, they returned home and upped their shooting percentage to almost 32 percent. Raeshara Brown scored a career high 17 points, but a late Mizzou comeback attempt would be too little-too late as the Tigers would fall 61-56. They now sit 10-8 and 1-4 in conference. This week, they will be home again mid-week against the Lady Pokes of Okie State before hitting the road on the weekend to take on the Sooners down in Norman.
Wrestling:
Not going to recap this today or later on, but you can read all about what went down as the Tigers upset the #2 Big Red of Cornell by accessing the Live Thread. Next up for the Tigers will be a Saturday night dual against the Huskers of Nebraska at 7:30 in the Hearnes.
Gymnastics:
The #12 Tigers dropped their first home meet to the #13 Huskers on Friday night by the score of 195.750 to 194.750. That is a BIG score put up by the Huskers for the early season, and likely a score that puts them into the top 10 nationally. As for the Tigers, they have yet to improve on their first score of the season and should look to slip again a little in the rankings.
Senior Adrienne Perry earned her first all-around title of the season, tying a Husker with a score 39.350. Freshman Mary Burke impressed as well in getting her first all-around score above 39. A great crowd of about 3,500 was on hand for the Pink-Out which saw the Tigers get down early and never able to dig out. Mizzou is now 8-64 all time against the Huskers in gymnastics. They will next take to the mat on the road in Columbus, OH next weekend to take on #15 Ohio State, Michigan State and #14 Illinois in a very competitive multi-team meet.
Women's Swimming:
Senior day for the Tiger program, as the ladies swam against conference foe Iowa State. The Tigers came out and dominated, winning the dual 178-117. Plenty of senior winners for the Tigers in their last home action, as Lori Halvorson and Erin Yeager won in the pool and Kendra Melnychuk won in the diving well. But, lots of young winners as well, with junior Colleen Granger, sophomores Francie Szostak, Morgan McCleery, Melissa Jamerson and freshmen Lisa Nathanson, Stephanie Rovig and Jordon Morcum in the diving well were all winners as well
Next up, both the men and the women will head up to Iowa to swim against the Hawkeyes next Saturday.
Tennis:
A weekend featuring two Big 10 matches for the ladies this past weekend. Against Purdue, they lost the doubles point, and could not get back, as they end up losing to the Boilers 4-3 on the afternoon. Winning for the Tigers was Danielle Day (winning both singles and in doubles with Sofie Ayala), Mallory Weber and freshman Jamie Mera.
Coming back later in the weekend, they took on the #32 Buckeyes, and came up short, falling 6-1. Winning for Mizzou were Ayala and Day again in doubles (though Ohio State would win the other two matches to earn the doubles point), and Jamie Mera continued her impressive freshman season with another win.
Up next for the Tigers will be, as far as I can tell, a home match on Saturday morning against SEMO, before they travel to St. Louis to take on SLU later that evening.
Indoor Track:
Unique event this past weekend, as the Tigers travelled out to Lincoln to TEAM UP with fellow Big XII teams in NU and kU to take on Air Force, Colorado State and Wyoming from the Mountain West. The Big XII would dominate the action, winning 249-118, with the Tigers accounting for 62 points. Leading the way as usual for the team were throwers Chris Rohr and Krishna Lee. Rohr took first in the weight throw with an NCAA provisional qualifying throw, while also taking 2nd in the shot. Lee would one-up him, taking first in both events and throwing a provisional throw in shot and coming very close in the weight throw.
Also winning on the afternoon for the Tigers would be sophomore Layne Moore in the ladies 800meters, RS Soph Lana Mims in the 200 meters, freshman Leslie Farmer in the 600 meters and sophomore Chris Davis in the 600 meter for the men. Farmer and Moore would join with junior Shannon Leinart and senior Kaela Rorvig to win the 4x400 meter relay. On the day, the ladies won 6 events and the men won 3.
Next up for the Tigers will be Big XII-SEC Challenge down in College Station. This is the first season (I believe) for this event, but the competion level should take a nice step up for the teams.
Random Thoughts:
- The NHL All-Star game, or otherwise known as punishment for the top goalies in the league, was this past weekend.
- Cannot believe Al Iafrate's hardest shot finally fell to Zdeno Chara....over 105 mph. Chara is 6'9...or about 7 feet tall on skates.
- It was enjoyable to have a player in each period mic'ed up and the announcers being able to talk to them whenever. They asked Martin St. Louis in the 2nd period if his shot was tipped or hit the post...pretty funny stuff.
- UCONN had two big wins this week in the ridiculous Big East, knocking off two ranked teams. They will get a bit of a breather with Depaul and a decent Providence team before what I am sure will be another Game of the Year in the Big East when they head to L'ville for Big Monday on 2/2.
- I suppose if I had to choose a winner of the Super Bowl, it would be Pittsburgh, though I am kinda hoping the Cardinals win, though I am not looking forward to the slurping of Warner this week in St. Louis.
- Got no real issue with the hiring of Rex Ryan for the Jets. Of course, my issue still is with the letting go of Mangini. I also think the Rams did fine in their hire, and it will be interesting to see where the Chiefs fall after letting Herm go, though I thought Tampa Bay had been really late to change...I guess I was wrong.
- Big news for the New Jersey Devils. Not only did they finish the 1st half in first place without their star goalie, but they picked up an already contributing Brendan Shanahan and the news came out that Brodeur is skating now and on pace to return by March 1st.
- The Mets, after missing out on Derek Lowe appear to be taking a cheap, incentive-laden flier on Freddy Garcia, as they seem to inch closer and closer to NOT resigning Oliver Perez.
- Goddamn these links take a long time to put all together.
- I think someone just scored again at the NHL All-star game...