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Tanner Houck is a 1st-round draft pick, and Jim Sterk wants to play Kansas

Here are today’s Mizzou Links.

By Sam Snelling

Tanner Houck came prepared:

It only took 24 picks for the Boston Red Sox to jump on the Mizzou RHP:

The 24th pick has a value of $2.6 million, which is a lot of money. So congrats to Tanner and we’ll look forward watching him in the major leagues and hopefully soon. Feel free to venture over to SBN’s BoSox site Over The Monster for more analysis on the pick and Houck’s future home.

Jim Sterk lobbies publicly to play Kansas

Jim Sterk isn’t quite ready to give up on doing every thing he can publicly to entice Kansas to play:

“I’d like for that to happen,” said Sterk, who was hired after Mack Rhoades abruptly left for Baylor. “I think they made it a point when we left the (Big 12) that they weren’t going to play anymore, but we’re certainly open to that and I know (new men’s basketball coach) Cuonzo (Martin) will work on that behind the scenes and see if that can happen.”

Missouri bailed on the Big 12 5 1/2 years ago for the stability and financial security of the Southeastern Conference, but Kansas remains jilted by the breakup.

Several KU officials, including basketball coach Bill Self, and many prominent Jayhawks boosters have been adamant about refusing to play Mizzou, which remains the sticking point to resuming one of college sports’ best rivalries.

I hope you aren’t holding your breath. While there are plenty of people on Missouri’s side who want the games to resume, the big hurdle is getting KU past some hurt feelings over Mizzou’s exit from the Big 12. Probably the biggest hurdle is in the men’s basketball department. Bill Self and his boosters and thinkfluencers there are going to have to come around before any of that happens.

There may be some thawing in the other sports, however...

I’m sure most people would love to see KU basketball play MU basketball, but it would be just as great to make up some ground in some other sports if that can’t happen right away. Something about chipping away at the ice.

There’s also some notes on the Hearnes Center upgrades going on, including $1 million in AC updates. That’s a little more than I spent on an AC install last summer, but it felt about the same.

Recruiting, Recruiting, Recruiting:

Four-star Wing Montez Mathis narrowed his list to eight yesterday, Rutgers, Western Kentucky, Va Tech, Xavier, Uconn, Kansas, Texas A&M and Missouri all made the cut. Mathis talked to Scout’s Evan Daniels about it:

What's the next step in this process for Mathis?

"I’m going to just keep talking to them," he said. "I'll narrow it to five after the summer and see which schools I like the best."

Mathis is looking to take official visits in September, but has yet to schedule any dates. Mathis, a standout at Baltimore (Md.) John Carroll School, just took recent unofficial visits to Connecticut and Rutgers.

If Mizzou Hoops and Kansas Basketball can’t battle on the hardwood, they’ll battle off the court for recruits. Something tells me with a little more success under Cuonzo Martin than before.

More Links:

Your Mizzou Athletics Tweets of the Day

I mean, I don’t know what will get you pumped for football than watching big hefty guys lift big hefty weights in the latest video from Mizzou Football:

Stay focused on November 10 and the opening of the Mizzou basketball season:

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