Mizzou Links: Wrestling heads to St. Louis to take a title, Baseball's bats are smoking hot

Led by ambitious, charismatic J'Den Cox, Mizzou Wrestling heads to St. Louis to try to win Missouri's first team national title in any sport in 50 years. Plus: Basketball's offense was awful, and Baseball's bats are awake.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Mar 18, 2015, 5:00am CDT

What's On

Wrestling send-off!

MUTIGERS.COM: Tiger Style St. Louis Bound For 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships
The Trib: MU wrestling team's ascent has been more than a decade in the making

These Tigers share some similarities with that 2007 squad, but they seem to have a bit more firepower.

In ’07, the Askren brothers had No. 1 seeds. This year, three Tigers are seeded No. 1: Cox, 125-pounder Alan Waters and 149-pounder Drake Houdashelt.

The ’07 squad had two others, in addition to Askren, who’d previously attained All-American status in Matt Pell and Tyler McCormick. This year’s team has Waters and Houdashelt who have All-American status in addition to Cox.

Missouri had five top-10 seeds in 2007. The Tigers have six this year, with No. 3 Lavion Mayes (141), No. 4 Johnny Eblen (174) and No. 9 Joey Lavallee (157) joining the three No. 1 seeds.

MU qualified a wrestler for nationals at eight of 10 weights in ’07. The Tigers qualified all 10 this year.

Plus, there’s an intangible difference.

Smith said the 2007 squad had the goal to "storm the stage," meaning a top-four finish.

"That hasn’t been the goal of this team," he said. "The goal of this team has been to win the national title."

Post-Dispatch: Mizzou's Cox is focused on becoming the best

Cox, who recently celebrated his 20th birthday, created a bit of stir in wrestling circles when he said his goal was to be a four-time NCAA champion and an Olympian.

"It’s a dream — my dream. But I guess some people are going to find a flaw in any diamond, right?

"Maybe they thought I was being disrespectful to (four-timers) John Smith, Cael Sanderson and Kyle Dake, but nothing could be further from the truth. I have complete respect for the guys who’ve gone before me — I always will — but I feel I’d be disrespecting them more if I didn’t work to try and surpass them.

"What’s wrong with shooting for the stars? In my mind, that’s how we evolve as athletes and as people. When I’m old, I want to be able to sit back and watch the NCAAs and see somebody floating and gliding and doing things I never dreamed of. I think that’d be awesome."