Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

And finally, happy college basketball season as well. How about this hype video to get you ready for Mizzou hoops?

Yes, Mizzou actually did get to play last night! And that is just a win in of itself considering how things are going COVID-related concerning the sport.

Missouri rolled out their first starting lineup of the season with Xavier Pinson, Dru Smith, Mark Smith, Kobe Brown, and Jeremiah Tilmon (as expected).

The Tigers also won, starting the 2020-2021 campaign with a 91-64 victory over Oral Roberts, as Mark Smith led the team with 18 points. Missouri did what they needed to do, and you can mark it down as a solid win over a respectable mid-major opponent to start the year, as Oral Roberts was predicted to finish in second place in the Summit League preseason poll behind South Dakota State. The win was good enough to jump Mizzou from 59th to 54th in the KenPom rankings.

Whether you agree this season should be starting right now or not, it was just great to see some live college hoops action for the first time since March 11th.

Up next for Mizzou......well actually, we don’t really know yet. Maybe it’s Boston College at Mohegan Sun next Wednesday, maybe it’s at Wichita State on December 6th. I mean, who knows? Cuonzo said they are planning to be in Connecticut, but who they’re playing? That’s up in the air right now.

But, Mizzou is undefeated at the moment. Enjoy it! Plenty more coverage to come on the season opening win here at Rock M Nation.

Onto the links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Josh Matejka had the first Hoops Preview: Mizzou welcomes Oral Roberts to kick-off the 2020-2021 season
• From Matthew Harris: Picking and Choosing: Evaluating Mizzou’s offensive evolution
• Sam Snelling has the Auburn Tigers at No. 9 in his latest SEC Hoops Preview
• Nate Edwards has the preview of the Vanderbilt Commodores
• Game Thread: Mizzou Basketball opens season against Oral Roberts by Jacob Giancola
• Tigers Dominate Golden Eagles from Start to Finish, writes Kortay Vincent

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More Links:

(PowerMizzou)

• In his latest notebook, Mitchell Forde writes that the schedule change means a long week or the Mizzou staff
• ($$) Here’s the latest edition of Gabe DeArmond’s Macadoodle’s Mailbag
• From Gabe DeArmond: Live from courtside: Mizzou vs Oral Roberts
• WATCH: Tiger hoops post-game, from Gabe DeArmond
• Post-Game report: Tigers run by Oral Roberts, writes Gabe DeArmond

(STLToday)

• In the latest Tiger Talk, Dave Matter goes inside this week’s match up with Vanderbilt
• From Dave Matter, Mizzou’s Ryan Walters rejoins team after COVID quarantine
• Balanced attack leads Mizzou in season-opening win, writes Dave Matter

(KC Star)

• Dru Smith is Mizzou basketball’s old soul and leader as Tigers eye NCAA Tournament, writes Souichi Terada
• What we learned as Mizzou dominates Oral Roberts in season opener, writes Souichi Terada

(The Athletic)

• ($$) Peter Baugh did an exit interview with linebacker Aubery Miller, who recently entered the transfer portal
• ($$) CJ Moore gives us an idea of What to expect from Mizzou hoops ahead of their season opener

(Columbia Missourian)

• MU players in the pros: Lock starts for Broncos despite injury, writes Max Baker

(Columbia Daily Tribune)

• Eric Blum has five factors that could determine the Tigers’ women’s basketball season
• New nucleus hopes to restore Mizzou to winning ways, writes Eric Blum

(Miscellaneous/Tweets)

• Nick Bolton, man. Watch this.

• Great stuff here from Cannon York on being put on scholarship

• Here are the latest bowl projections for Mizzou: ($$) The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel has the Tigers in the Outback Bowl on January 2nd vs Wisconsin, Watch Stadium’s Brett McMurphy has Missouri vs Iowa in the Music City Bowl on December 30th, and ESPN has them in the Las Vegas Bowl against either Washington or California
• From Joe Lunardi, here is how the 2021 NCAA Tournament could look like when it’s all said and done, and it’s worth noting that Mizzou is just the third team left out.
• From Ben Arnet on KOMU, Mizzou tops Oral Roberts to open season
• In the midseason rankings, Adam Gorney and Mike Farrell from Rivals ranked all Power Five teams 1-65 and Mizzou comes in at No. 22.
• What a game Grant Mckinniss had on Saturday night at South Carolina. Punters are people, too!

• Happy Birthday to Jeremiah Tilmon!

• CJ Moore was impressed with Mizzou’s win.

• Dru Smith to Mark Smith!

• The latest newcome feature from Mizzou Women’s Basketball is freshman guard Mama Dembele. Here’s more on MUTigers.com

• How about this 2020 Mizzou Basketball team photo?

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