Draft Day is finally here...go time for Mizzou's two star seniors. It's far from a coincidence that most of today's links involve them...
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The Trib: Lyons, Carroll hope to hear from the NBA
It’s been 20 years since the names of two Missouri basketball players have been called in the same NBA draft, but that could change tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Like Byron Irvin and Gary Leonard before them, forwards DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons are both hoping to be among the 60 players selected during the annual event, which begins at 6 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN. - KC Star: Wait is almost over for Missouri's Carroll and Lyons
- Post-Dispatch: Two Tigers are hoping to be picked in NBA draft
In his latest mock draft, ESPN's Chad Ford now has DeMarre going not in the early second round, but late in the first. That's exactly what I was hoping for: him going to an already good team where he could be a nice role player! Oh wait...Memphis has the #27 pick? And that's where Ford has him going? Oh. Nevermind.
Ford's really about the only one who has DeMarre still going in the first round, however. So we'll see. (NBAdraft.net has him going #36 to...Memphis. D'oh!) Of course, nobody's going to be able to reliably predict anything that happens outside of the Top 20 or so...which makes this a bit more interesting: the KC Star's Upon Further Review blog notices that there's a strangely close consensus among most mock drafts.
Alright, to football. First of all, PowerMizzou's waiting to report this until Gary PInkel returns from watching Bette Midler shows and 'accepts' the commitment, but it appears that Indepdendence DB E.J. Gaines is about to become a Tiger. That makes the Illinois commitment of Rockhurst DB Dexter McDonald a bit easier to swallow, I guess.
On Nevada Week, no less, Phil Steele takes a look at last year's top individual-game performances (his numbers end up looking a lot like S&P+ game scores...just saying) and determined that Mizzou's demolition of Nevada was #7 for the year...and OU's demolition of Mizzou was #5.
Finally, who knows what Brad Smith is truly capable of at wide receiver, or how his future shapes up with the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS, but impressing the crap out of your new coach is always a good place to start.
Coach Rex Ryan tried to pump up his wide receivers, amidst speculation the Jets are interested in Plaxico Burress.
"We don't have the pads on, but there's been times that guys have been impressive," Ryan said. "You guys saw Brad Smith. I don't know if I've ever seen that kind of catch before. This is an amazing athlete. ... He made an unbelievable one-handed catch. He made a great catch yesterday in the red zone running a route and he got both feet inbounds. I mean it was like, wow, all right, the kid's coming. I mean, he really is. He sees (Chansi) Stuckey. We all know he's hard to stop in the slot. Wayne Chrebet was the toughest guy I ever saw in the slot. The (Wes) Welker kid's that way in New England. But this kid, you better have two on him because he's got that special trait. He can make you miss. He's got that wiggle. He can shake you outside, inside, break your ankles. That's encouraging to me."