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Mizzou Links, 3-15-12

By Bill Connelly
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Mizzou Basketball Links

  • Get On The Bus
    The Missourian: Fans gather to support Missouri basketball team
    The Missourian: PHOTO GALLERY: Fans send-off Tigers to first NCAA game
    Mizzou Network: Basketball on the road to Omaha
  • One More Day
    MUtigers.com: Second-Seeded Tigers Open NCAA Tournament Friday
    KC Star: VIDEO: Blair Kerkhoff previews MU, KU, KSU games
  • Fhaith
    The Trib: In 11 months, Frank Haith has transformed his image and fixed a team

    The win and ensuing celebration meant even more to Haith. He had to step away from a postgame television interview with ESPN reporter Holly Rowe to collect himself.

    Like Alden, he had faced plenty of derision. It began immediately after his hiring when the first thing most everybody in Missouri learned about Haith was that he had a 43-69 record in Atlantic Coast Conference play during his seven seasons at Miami. It started again in August, when his name surfaced in a Yahoo! Sports report that alleged he knew about a payoff to a recruit while coaching the Hurricanes.

    Haith hadn't let any of it get to him as he went about his job, molding a senior-laden roster he'd inherited from Mike Anderson into the most surprising success story in college basketball. Under his calm and confident leadership, the Tigers overcame a potentially crippling injury to forward Laurence Bowers less than two weeks before the start of practice and the limitations of a short bench and shorter lineup. The Tigers emerged as one of the nation's best teams, setting a school record for regular-season victories.

    "This team and our staff, we just stayed true to the course and stayed focused on the task at hand," Haith said, "and I'm just proud to be a part of that."

  • NORRRRRRM
    Post-Dispatch: Stewart likes what he sees in this Mizzou team

    "I think a key for Missouri is stay loose and let it rip," said Stewart, whose 24.1 points a game in 1955-56 is still fourth in MU history. "Just shoot it."

    Stewart is unconcerned by MU's seven-man rotation, noting, "I think it's better. Everybody knows their role."

    And he also shrugged off the idea that Mizzou's average stature — 303rd in the nation according to Sports Illustrated — is problematic.

    "Height has always been overrated," he said, joking that the big men on teams usually were only popular because they had cars.

    Yes, being 6 foot 8 (or more) is helpful, but that in itself assures nothing.

    "The ring is 10 feet, so he's got a starting advantage," Stewart said. "But if he can't jump but 6 inches and it takes him a count or two to get there … It's the guy who's the first to get to that position.

    "Then there's the aggressiveness and the natural, the nose (for the ball)."

    Which he sees in this team.

  • Hell Of A Season
    The Missourian: INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Missouri basketball season in review
  • Flipadelphia
    The Missourian: Phil Pressey serves as starting point for Missouri's offense
  • Assistant Coach Party Starter
    KC Star: Laurence Bowers gives Tigers an assist from the bench
  • 'Cardo
    Piston Powered: #Draft Dreams: Ricardo Ratliffe

    What is the best thing Ricardo Ratliffe does for his team?

    Bill C. writes for Rock M. Nation, which is SB Nation’s Missouri site:

    Ricardo Ratliffe might have the best pair of hands in the country. Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel asked Ratliffe to try out for tight end next year because he loved his hands so much. (Ratliffe, I assume, declined because of that whole "pursuing pro basketball" thing). He has served as Phil Pressey’s pick-and-roll muse all season; all Pressey has to do is penetrate and flip a pass anywhere close to Ratliffe, and not only will Ratliffe field the pass, but he will also have a shot up before the defender realizes he has the ball. Ratliffe has been fairly labeled as a "below the rim" player, and it might hold him back in the NBA; his post moves are fine but less than elite, and even when he has the opportunity to dunk, he doesn’t necessarily take advantage of it. But his jumper is solid, and he has strong pick-and-roll potential, and with those hands he should continue to be both a decent offensive rebounder and a candidate for success with a strong penetrating point guard.

Mizzou Football Links

No program in the country uses "indefinitely" in a more mundane (and still frightening) way than Missouri. The prognosis on James Franklin's shoulder was pretty good -- he should be back before the end of spring practice -- but the headlines still read "Franklin out indefinitely." Technically, factually correct. And still frightening.

  • 2013 Recruiting
    PowerMizzou: Tiger Mailbag

    tommyjay25 asks: I have heard in interviews, Coach Pinkel saying that DGB's decision has led to more immediate successesin recruiting in-state kids for 2013. Is this something that these kids have said to you, and in your opinion, will the decision of DGB be the break-through moment that will allow Mizzou to "lock down the borders" (which I know is impossible) as much as ever before?

    DGB's decision definitely has not gone unnoticed by the 2013 crop of recruits. When the No. 1-recruit in the nation picks the in-state school, it validates that school as a "cool" choice, which is big in recruiting. His decision has already helped this year, and some of the top guys, like Nick Ramirez and Ezekiel Elliott, have mentioned it in the past.

    But, with recruiting, it's always the "what have you done for me lately" factor. DGB's decision will help this year. By next year, it will wear off a bit. Same for the year after that, and so on. Missouri needs to propel DGB's decision into a big class this year, and continue that momentum to really consider it a break-through movement.

  • QB No. 1
    KC Star: MU starting QB out indefinitely
    Post-Dispatch: James Franklin suffers shoulder injury
    KBIA Sports Extra: James Franklin "tweaks" shoulder
  • Defensive Tackles
    PowerMizzou: Matt Hoch makes the move inside
  • NERRRRRDS
    Football Study Hall: Adjusted Turnover Margin

Other Football Links

SEC

  • Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Gary Patterson's theory on why the Southeast wins national titles
  • Mr. SEC: The SEC Is About To Get Even Richer

    No wonder Mike Slive is currently holding discussions — or "look-ins" — with the SEC’s television partners. As he recently told The Birmingham News: "They know who we are and what we have. None of our schools will be hurt financially (in 2012-13). But that’s just today. It’s tomorrow that’s the real issue. The discussions are very important. They’re longterm. We’ll leave it at that."

    The SEC gets higher ratings for its television partners than any other conference. The league is synonymous with championships. It just added two new "name" brands to its roster of schools and tapped into the cable household-rich states of Missouri and Texas in the process.

    Whether the league simply squeezes more cash — a lot more cash — out of CBS and ESPN or creates its very own network — something that we were the first to discuss right here back in the spring of 2010 — the Southeastern Conference is about to set the standard for television revenue again.

    Bank on it.

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