Mizzou Links, 12-7-12

Mizzou Football Links

• Yost
  The Trib: Pinkel's job just got tougher

  Last year, Pinkel knew what Missouri was getting into when he supported the move to the SEC. Unless the school and its boosters were committed financially to the idea of being competitive in the country's richest neighborhood, he wanted no part of changing conferences.

  "The playing field's not the same," he said of the SEC back in March.

  And Arkansas proved that. The Razorbacks were blindsided last spring by Bobby Petrino's mistress-on-a-motorcycle scandal and forced to hit the reset button on one of the country's rising programs. After a miserable 4-8 season under interim Coach John L. Smith, Arkansas opened the bank and hired a coach who could restore the Hogs into a top-10 team. […]

  Pinkel can't match the splash Arkansas made this week. But he can make a ripple with a new quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator to replace David Yost, who resigned Monday. Pinkel spent the offseason challenging Missouri fans to support the SEC move with their checkbooks.

  "This is our moment," he said repeatedly.

  After a 5-7 season, now it's his.

  PowerMizzou: OC Hot Board, v2.0
• Baggett
  MUtigers.com: Richardson, Baggett Earn SEC Football Honors
  The Trib (Dave Matter): Here's the kicker: Andrew Baggett makes All-SEC Freshman team

Mizzou Basketball Links

Not going to lie: I still have trouble wrapping my head around the "You can't control your opponent's 3P%" thing. KenPom's post below (particularly a small data table I didn't copy-paste below) is pretty impressively conclusive, but ... my brain just refuses to buy into this idea no matter what.

• Tennessee State
  MUtigers.com: Mizzou Basketball Back in Action Saturday
  Post-Dispatch: Mizzou has promise but remains work in progress
• Party Starter
  The Missourian: Laurence Bowers gives Missouri early-season boost
• Mizzou vs. Ken Pomeroy
  KenPom.com: "3-point defense" should not be defined by opponents' 3P%

  So on average over the rest of the season, there will be a roughly a 1-2 percent difference between the teams currently in the top and bottom 20 of opponents’ 3-point percentage. We’re talking about a difference of one make every two or three games between the best and worst groups. Without more analysis, one can’t say precisely how much skill a team has at influencing its opponents’ three-point percentage, but there’s a fair amount of evidence it’s not much, and even end-of-season figures are the result of significantly more noise than skill.

  With few exceptions, the best measure of three-point defense is a team’s ability to keep the opponents from taking 3’s. This is what the Majerus defense did, and fortunately for Billiken fans, Jim Crews is carrying on that tradition as SLU is currently allowing the nation’s second-fewest 3PA%.

  When people say that advanced-stats users are a bunch of nerds, I can only think the people that don’t use them are the real dorks. Nobody with any knowledge of the game would talk about free throw defense using opponents’ FT% as if it was a real thing, yet we’ll hear plenty of references to three-point defense in that way from famous and respected people. Of course, both free-throw defense and three-point defense exist, but it’s much better measured in the amount of shots taken and not in the noisy world of the percentage of shots an opponent makes.

EXPANSIONAPALOOZA™ 2012

• The Future
  Frank the Tank: The Case for Florida State to the Big Ten
• Have At It
  CBS Sports: The Big Ten Network is running an expansion survey

Mizzou Diamond Sports Links

• The Pros
  SimmonsField.com: Mizzou Baseball in the Minors: Giant steps

Other Mizzou Links

"Rival Missouri State" ... cough...

• Mizzou Women's Basketball
  MUtigers.com: Tigers Scorch Missouri State Bears, 91-77
  MUtigers.com: Post Game Quotes
  The Trib (Ross Dellenger): Missouri beats rival Missouri State
  The Missourian: Strong second half leads Missouri to victory
  KBIA Sports: Eye comes up big as Mizzou downs Missouri State, 91-77
  The Trib: Early-season run has Tigers anticipating SEC slate
• Mizzou Swimming & Diving
  MUtigers.com: Men's Swimming and Diving Ranked 14th Nationally
  MUtigers.com: Women's Swimming and Diving Ranked 20th Nationally

Other

• NERRRRRRDS
  Grantland: The Kobe Assist
  US News & World Report: Business Schools Divided on How to Approach Analytics Training
• SBN! SBN! SBN! SBN!
  Forbes: Meet The Digital Upstart That Thinks Millions Of Rowdy Fans Are The Future Of The Web
• Interesting...
  A Bachelor and His Grill: Grilled Flourless Dark Chocolate & Cayenne Cake