On the 18th day of December, the Mizzou Tigers gave to me— Braggin’ Rights anticipation and Early Signing Day!

Excitement is in the air for Braggin’ Rights, y’all! It’s time for my most favorite game of the year, the one I remember most throughout my years as a Mizzou fan. When I was a kid all the way up through college, my family was in attendance, no matter what. It was always quite the trip— we’d go to Union Station and walk around, visiting the Fudgery and a shop where we’d buy our yearly Christmas ornament. Then we’d head over to Houlihan’s for dinner and go to the game, whether it was at the arena, Kiel, or Savvis. I saw some great games back in the day, including the greatest one ever played. I’m talking about the 3-overtime game in 1993, of course. A game in which we almost left before it was over. A game in which my father wanted to leave, but my mom and I said no, absolutely not. We were staying. To this day, he will never live that down.

It was such a memorable game that in 2014, The Godfather of Rock M, Bill Connelly, wrote about it in a countdown of Mizzou’s Greatest, a series looking at teams, games, and players in Mizzou’s past worthy of the highest regard. From the post:

You want a huge game in the present tense? Mizzou was 5-1 and had yet to look even remotely impressive -- the Tigers had beaten Central Missouri, Jackson State, Coppin State, and SMU by a combined 13 points and lost to Arkansas by 52. They desperately needed a win. Illinois, meanwhile, was 6-1 and 19th in the country, a young team with grand ambition in a super-tough league.You want an incredible game? Try three overtimes, multiple comebacks, insane late drama, unlikely heroes, and two fate-changing missed free throws.

You want implications? Illinois went 11-9 the rest of the way, barely made the NCAA Tournament, and lost in the first round. Mizzou, meanwhile, won 18 of its next 19 games, went undefeated in Big 8 play, and reached the Elite Eight.

You can read Bill’s piece in all its glory here.

Nowadays, I still attend the game, but with one of my dear college friends, fellow Rock M writer, Ryan Faller (my fam lives in FL now), and I hope it will get back to those days when the game would sell out so quickly — I once waited in line at Hearnes through my first two classes just to make sure we’d get tickets. I anxiously await the day when Enterprise Center is so full of black & gold (and orange & blue) and so loud you can’t hear yourself think. Will that be this year? Doubtful.

Regardless of how many people are in attendance, I am PUMPED for Saturday, even if the game is at noon. Braggin’ Rights deserves more than a damn 12pm start time, y’all. But I’ll be there. And I can’t wait.

Today marks an important day for Mizzou’s future— Early Signing Day!

And just in time, Pete Thamel reports that Mizzou is retaining Ryan Walters as Defensive Coordinator! I know he’s been out recruiting, so this shouldn’t come as a shock, but it’s nice to see anyways.

Coach Drinkwitz shared this super cool graphic on his twitter late Tuesday morning. Love it. That pen is really sharp looking.

Peter Baugh from The Athletic had a great primer piece on where Missouri’s 2020 class stands on Signing Day Eve. There’s a really nice quote from JJ Hester’s mom in the story regarding their official visit. When asked about Coach Drinkwitz, she said, “I just feel like he’s going to take care of my son on and off the field. I believed that when he said that.” If you’re a subscriber, I suggest you check it out. Non-subscribers! Yeah, I’m talking to YOU! Follow this link to get 40% off right now!

Additionally, it looks like Coach Drink was able to get Elijah Young back on board, and he’s coming to campus early! Welcome, Elijah!

Onto the links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Josh said a Braggin’ Rights win would put Missouri right back on track for the season.
• Tim published Part 3 of his Film Room on Coach Eli Drinkwitz’s offense. There’s the fancy football terms in there, but Tim makes it super interesting to read and understand with all the gifs. So many gifs.

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More Links:

Football

• KC Star: Souichi Terada updated us on the hiring of Coach Drink’s assistants and also updated us on the status on where Mizzou’s recruiting class stands.
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Matter published a really interesting piece on QB commit Brady Cook, and how he’s looking to prove he belongs at Mizzou. I highly recommend it.
• PowerMizzou/Rivals.com ($$): Sean Williams posted a signing day preview on how Mizzou’s 2020 class could shake out, as well as a schedule of known signing ceremony times.
• Gary Pinkel made an appearance on KTRS 550am’s Big Sports Show, talking about Coach Drink. Give it a listen!
• The Athletic (subscribers only): Peter is still taking questions for his Mizzou mailbag to be answered later this week. You can submit your question now! Here’s the link to for 40% OFF again, and no, I don’t get a kickback!
• Jay Maclin is so excited to get to the Zou that he’s already got his roommates picked out. Looks like Brady Cook and Elijah Young are the chosen ones.

Hoops

• Adam Reckamp of the Columbia Missourian examined where SEC men’s hoops teams are, heading into conference play after the first of the year.
• Women’s hoops is back in action TONIGHT against Princeton. You can check them out at 7pm on SEC Network + if you can’t make it to the game. The primer can be read on MUTigers.com.
• Briley Eilers of the Missourian said the Tigers will face a tough test in Alarie and Princeton.
• Look at you, women’s hoops! Doing good work for the community!

• Men’s hoops is also doing some great work in the community, delivering the teddy bears from Sunday’s ‘Teddy Bear Toss’ to Rainbow House! You can also check out pics on their twitter here.

Other Mizzou Sports

• The Mizzou Network sat down with Jim Sterk for their monthly interview on Inside the Huddle.

• The men’s and women’s diving teams are currently taking part in the Auburn Diving Invitational. After the first day of action, sophomore Sarah Rousseau earned a fourth-place finish. More information about the results and meet can be found on MUTigers.com.
• Congrats to Sarah Luebbert, Mizzou soccer player, for earning United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women’s Scholar All-North/Central Region first team honors. She currently has a 3.72 GPA, while majoring in mathematics and minoring in business. More information can be found on MUTigers.com.
• Openmat.com’s Earl Smith named Wyatt Koelling, the 197-pounder, one of his Top Ten College Wrestlers of the Week.
• In case you’re missing the diamond Tigers... Love those lids.

Former Mizzou Player News (AKA- Denver sports beat)

• 1043.com The Fan says that Drew Lock was the least of the Bronco’s problems on Sunday.
• SI.com’s Mile High Huddle looked at what Drew has shown in his first three games leading the Broncos. They also looked at what Drew needs to show in his final games, and talked about Drew’s gunslinger mentality will ‘never change.’
• The Denver Post’s Mark Kiszla said that if this is Drew Lock’s team, Von Miller has no place with these ‘baby Broncos.’
• The Ringer.com (a great website)’s Danny Heifetz examined the Denver Broncos in their exit interview series, going through each NFL team and looking at what has gone right, wrong, and where the franchise goes from here. He asked if Elway has found his (tall) quarterback of the future, or is it back to the drawing board?
• Mile High Sports’ TJ McBride said MPJ is beginning to earn the trust of the coaching staff and other teammates.
• Cade Walker of Fansided said Mike is an “untouchable asset.” Dan Feldman of NBC Sports echoed that same statement in this piece.
• J’den Cox was the commencement speaker for A&S this past weekend!

• There are only two days left to vote for the WNBA’s kicks contest. #2 seed Soph’s Nike LeBron 16 ‘Heritage’ is facing off against #8 seed Elena Delle Donne’s Nike KD 12 Custom Lion King, and is currently winning! Go vote! You can see the whole bracket on WNBA.com.

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