Football can’t bring me down, y’all, cuz guess what?!? (Exhibition) Basketball is back!!!!!!

Hello, Links friends. Dancing Glad Max is a wholly accurate representation of my feelings about the triumphant return of Mizzou hoops into our lives. Blah-blah-blah... it’s non-con, it doesn’t count, it’s football season (my manager at my PT job told me all this just the other night— whatever, CLARENCE), but oh well— I’m HERE FOR THIS.

Thursday’s Mizzou news fell a bit on the light side with it being a bye week and me avoiding football-related content (besides the wonderful things I read by all my colleagues here) like the plague, so I searched high and low for ANY bit of basketball news I could find for you fine folks.

Rock M’s very own basketball savant (I’m such a suck up), Sam Snelling, appeared on KTRS 550’s “Big Sports Show” this week to discuss all things Mizzou Hoops. Y’all, there’s a reason why, allllll the way back in late August when RMN conducted its roll call that I chose Sam as one of the people I would like to have a drink with, and why I wanted to work for Rock M. It’s the hoops content— I want to absorb his basketball knowledge like a sponge. Anyway, I encourage you all to give this a listen.

The guys look locked in and ready for tomorrow. (see the links below for an article about the new way Cuonzo is ending practices)

Mark Smith’s shot is looking good.. in case there was any lingering concern about one of the shotmakers of Smith & Smith’s health.

In other Mizzou Hoops news, the team is holding an open practice for Mizzou students on Monday, with food! I must say, I’m a bit hurt that Mizzou employees are not invited, because I could have foreseen taking a long lunch in my future.

And, on to the links we go. I searched far and wide to come up with this list...

---

Yesterday at Rock M

• Ryan wrote about how, even as Missouri struggles, Nick Bolton is a bright spot.
• Site Manager Sam continued his SEC basketball previews with the #3 team, Tennessee. It’s going to be weird watching a Vols team without the dynamic duo of Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams, but awesome to see Mizzou great Kim English trolling the sidelines (he’s an assistant coach).
• Sam informed us all that SB Nation will be conducting a Fan Pulse for hoops as well! Weirdly, there will be no Top 25 aspect to it, but there will be questions about the national scene and fan confidence to answer.
• Nate did another Bye Week Breakdown, this time on the defense. (Hint- it’s better than the offense)
• Sammy reminded us that despite the issues, the football team is ultimately in control of its own destiny.

---

More Links:

Football

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Matter wrote about how Illinois (and soon, Missouri) aren’t waiting on the NCAA reform to compensate athletes for their name and likeness. Both state officials site the Olympic model as how it can work, as well as how it’s unfair that athletes can’t sign endorsement deals, but non-athletes can.
• STL Today: Dave also held his weekly chat on STL Today. According to the chat, the beat writers over there have some hoops content coming up in the next day or so, so keep your eyes peeled.
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch archives- They went WAY BACK into the archives for this one, looking at the program on October 31, 1900. Mizzou was in a frenzy as the football team was preparing to go on strike. And you all thought what’s going on now was bad...
• KC Star: Vahe Gregorian took at look at how Barry Odom compares to Gary Pinkel in the heat of the moment. Vahe is top-notch, and I highly recommend anything he writes.
• The Athletic ($$): Peter Baugh addressed 5 burning questions contributing to the freefall of Tiger football. If you haven’t tried out The Athletic yet, here’s a link to a seven day free trial— http://theathletic.com/freetrial. I highly recommend it, and NO, I don’t get a kickback. If I wanted that, I’d give you my subscriber link ;).
• 610 Sports Radio: Rock M’s favorite radio personality, BK, talked with former Mizzou WR, TJ Moe, about his thoughts on Mizzou’s struggles and his defense of Barry Odom. Give it a listen.

Hoops

• PowerMizzou (free): Gabe and Mitchell’s new episode of the PowerMizzou podcast showcased an interview with Robin Pingeton! Stop calling it a rebuild! I have seen this team live and it is NOT that.
• The Athletic ($$): Last week in links, I posted a pic from Seth Davis’ twitter that he took at practice, and turns out, he was there to write an excellent (lengthy) piece on Coach Martin as he goes into his third year. They talked about the end of the Porter era, the new freshmen’s intensity, switching up some routines, and much, much more. It’s fantastic. I think I have given you info on how you can get the free trial, right? (haha)

Other Mizzou Sports

• Cross Country news: Anderson Kimball of the Columbia Missourian talked about Mizzou XC’s preparation for the SEC Championships.
• Wrestling news: #7 Missouri Wrestling will travel to #18 ranked Virginia Tech for a dual on Saturday. Details are available here on MUTigers.com. Additionally, Mizzou will also have 15 wrestlers competing in the Southeast Open in Roanoke, VA, beginning Sunday morning.
• Women’s Tennis news: The tennis team will participate in the FIU Invitational in Miami starting today, according to MUTigers.com. They will face off against USF, Iowa and FIU in singles and doubles matches throughout the weekend.
• Volleyball news: Despite the team losing in a heartbreaker in 5 sets to #13 Florida the other night, there’s still some good to be mentioned! Like this:

• Softball news: Looks like the softball team took part in a good ol’ fashioned dodgeball game!

Former Mizzou Player News

• Today, in “Where in the World is MPJ?” News: The Denver Stiffs (SB Nation Nuggets site) put MPJ’s disappearance in their post about 5 surprises to start the season. The Denver Post’s Mike Singer wondered if Will Barton’s injury could open up minutes for Michael Porter, Jr . TJ McBridge of Mile High Sports had similar thoughts. ESPN’s The Jump also posted a video with Rachel Nichols, Dave McMenamin and Richard Jefferson, talking about the Michael Porter Jr situation (starts at 2:02).
• **Update to “Where in the World is MPJ” News: We found him! Playing in an actual game! And playing well— are you surprised? In 21 minutes of action, he shot 5-8 with a 3-pointer, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and had 15 total points. The TNT announcers (much like myself), were impressed. (btw- thanks, Dad, for telling me he was actually playing so I could turn it on)

• Mile High Sports had a quick story about his debut, though it was soured by the loss to the Zion-less Pelicans.
• Today, in “Why not Drew Lock?” News: Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post asked why the Broncos are afraid of playing Drew Lock. This was Kiszla’s actual tweet leading to the article: “The Broncos’ depth chart at quarterback has become a three-ring circus, with John Elway driving the clown car and Drew Lock locked in the trunk.” Chad Jensen of SI.com’s Mile High Huddle also covered the weirdness here.
• Ryan Dunleavy of the NY Post wrote about Markus Golden emerging as a “Sackmaster.”
• Sheldon Richardson chatted about the Browns’ defense to the Canton Repository’s Steve Doerscxhuk.
• MUTigers.com: This is super cool. Former 1979 NCAA Track & Field National Champion in the high jump, Nat Page, was named an assistant coach for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
• And, it was a damn fine week for Mizzou Baseball! Former Mizzou OF, Jayce Tingler, was announced as the new manager of the San Diego Padres, and Mighty (decidedly not Mad) Mizzou Max Scherzer added World Series champion to his already phenomenal resume!

• If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now!