Bye-bye, Bye Week! We’ve made it through, y’all! Congrats.

Sorry about that... perhaps the wrong audience? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We’ve put out so much content at Rock M during the bye week that our fine Leader of Men (and me), Sam Snelling, even tweeted about it, basically doing my job for me this morning. But before we get back to all-football-all-the-time next week to prep for Troy, let’s switch our focus back to my favorite topic— basketball!

Anderson Kimball of the Columbia Missourian wrote a great story about Dru Smith, comparing his teammates’ opinions about him when he first arrived on campus — Tilmon, for example, took one look at his curly mane and thought, ‘Why are we recruiting this guy?’” — to how they feel about him now, a far different story. While Smith has been an enigmatic figure to those outside of the program the last year, inside was markedly different. Tilmon continued, “People don’t know who Dru is. He’s one of the best finishers through contact that I’ve ever played with.” Javon Pickett even went as far to say that he doesn’t see a weakness in Dru’s game.

And then there was this from Torrence Watson:

“Dru is one of those guys who can just go one-on-five,” Watson said. “He can go a whole possession by himself and then get a layup.”

You can read the full story here- it’s really a great read, and I can’t wait to see Dru officially suit up.

I ask again, is it November 6 yet?

On to the links!

Yesterday at Rock M

• BK proclaimed that Barry Odom is, indeed, ready to conquer the bye week.
• Coach Terry was back with another In The Huddle, with this edition focusing on the team’s schedule and prep for, you guessed it— a bye week!
• The reigning “King of Pregamin”, Ryan, wrote about Cale Garrett, who - of course - when asked, was quick to credit his supporting cast of teammates for their role in the team’s success.
• Nate wrote his By the Numbers piece on the defense this time around, and patted himself on the back in the process for his prognostications. Way to go, bud! (round of weak applause)
• Sammy stated that no matter what happens in the Caleb Love sweepstakes, Cuonzo Martin deserves some credit.
• Sean posted a Media Day Notebook from the first day of men’s basketball practice.

More Links:

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Matter held his weekly chat yesterday on STL Today and wrote a piece about the new hoops freshman tandem.
• Matter also teamed up with BenFred for the Eye on The Tigers pod, looking at just what that SC win meant to the team.
• Rock M’s own, Brandon Kiley (BK), also put out a new episode of his True Son Podcast for 610 Sports Radio. In it, he chatted with Alex Schiffer of the KC Star about the season thus far, the bye week, and Caleb Love.
• KC Star: Schiff wrote about how, two season-ending injuries later, Mizzou basketball is back with its deepest team yet.
• PowerMizzou (free): Mitchell Forde wrote about Mizzou Hoops’ backcourt depth, and how that leaves Cuonzo Martin feeling optimistic.
• More PowerMizzou (free): Former Rock M’er and (still) talented columnist, Pete Scantlebury, published another piece in his “Voice of Fantlebury,” series, this time looking at the key stretch of games coming up for the football Tigers.
• The Maneater: Ian Laird wrote about Mizzou soccer preserving their SEC-opener win streak in an OT victory over Ole Miss.
• The Athletic- Peter Baugh wrote a great story (part of a series about SEC eateries) about Booches, who slings up to 1200 burgers every Game Day. If you’re not subscribing to The Athletic and you’d like to take advantage of a free 7-day trial, you can go to this link, http://theathletic.com/freetrial.
• If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now!