Mizzou Hoops is right around the corner!

While I don’t have much to report on the men’s side, Bennett Durando of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote a nice article about the women’s team, what they’ve had to deal with quarantine-wise, their schedule, and what to expect this season from the team. Let’s look at some highlights!

According to Durando, sophomore Aijha Blackwell was the only player to remain on campus throughout the summer to train and work on her shortcomings. Shortcomings which she identified as 1) giving defenders too much time to set their feet, and 2) too many offensive fouls. Said Blackwell:

“I really focused on my pace within my game,” Blackwell said. “Just working on not getting as many charge-foul calls as I did last year, so I worked on playing with pace this summer.”

Blackwell knew she needed to improve in some areas, as she (as well as fellow sophomore Hayley Frank), will be the team’s nucleus. The rest, Durando said in his piece, will be up to Pingeton to piece together like a puzzle.

As for their schedule, they are hoping to have the SEC schedule solidified by the end of this week, and there are a few dates known for the non-con so far— North Alabama on Nov. 27, the season opener, TCU on Dec. 6, and Texas Tech on Dec. 10. (One question, does this mean we will be getting a men’s schedule soon, too? Sam is champing at the bit on these previews over here, which are very hard to write when you DON’T HAVE A DAMN SCHEDULE)

As previously reported by other outlets, Pingeton’s Tigers have had several weeks less of practice than other teams due quarantine. Literally everyone on the roster had to sit out two weeks due to contact tracing, so they were forced to look over film via Zoom and learn the offense via Powerpoint... WOW.

Check out Durando’s piece for more information; he crammed a lot in there, and it made me very excited about my favorite sport coming back SO SOON.

Also, love to see the smiles! Can’t wait to write about this group! I have a good feeling about this season for both men’s and women’s teams.

On to the Links! Happy Friday!

Special Note: Many thanks to both Sammy and Manager Josh for filling in for me on the links while I filled my election judge duties and worked on some other stuff. Teamwork makes the dream work... or so a former boss used to say.

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Kortay attended Drinkwitz’s newest MIZ-ZOOM press conference and wrote a recap. The more I hear from Drink, the more I like him. Great personality.
• Aaron reminded us to enjoy Ryan Walters while we can, because he’s not going to be around forever.
• I published Part 2 of my mental health and athletic performance series, where I interviewed former Mizzou Hoops grad assistant, Nafis Ricks. Please check it out if you haven’t already. Nafis was an amazing person to talk to!
• COMING UP: Nate (the Great) has got some SCHOLARSHIP MATH, BK talks second half games, and Josh leads the football guys in a nice roundtable

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More Links:

Football

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Dave held his weekly chat and wrote about how Mizzou’s building block season has taken a breather during the bye.
• KC Star: Souichi wrote about the continual negative COVID tests (yay!) and how they seek to mend from injuries during the bye week.
• Columbia Tribune: Eric Blum wrote about Mizzou looking ahead to the second half of the season.
• The Athletic ($$): Peter Baugh compiled the mailbag, sharing his thoughts on momentum, dropped passes, and the second half of the season
• PowerMizzou (free): Gabe put out a video of the newest press conference. Gabe & Mitchell were back with new hot football taeks in their Blowing Smoke Presented by Weston Tobacco series. A new episode of the 573 Report came out as well, and Mitchell wrote about how the OL will be shorthanded in his new notebook.
• This was... something. Sports Illustrated’s Michael McKnight put out a lengthy article on how Mizzou’s 2015 football protests changed college football forever. It is well worth a read. Strangely, out of the tons of people they interviewed for the post, President Choi wouldn’t take part in the story.
• Drew Lock’s response to sports talk hosts not liking his dancing?

Other Mizzou Sports News

• KC Star: Souichi told us how many fans to expect at Mizzou Arena this year... it’s not many.
• PowerMizzou ($$): Mitchell Forde took a look at the 2022 Men’s Hoops recruiting hot board.
• This is interesting. Mizzou Athletics is working with a company called Opendorse, which was started by two former Nebraska football players, that will guide their athletes through personal branding and provide resources they can use as name, image and likeness takes effect. Here’s a link to the company website’s info about the partnership and another link to the MUTigers.com info about it.

• In disappointing, though not surprising news, there will be no Braggin Rights at Enterprise Center this December. I get it, believe me, but that is my favorite game of the year, and has been since I was a kid, so it just... sucks.

• According to MUTigers.com, the Tigers’ soccer game is canceled this weekend on account of Covid concerns with Georgia.

• Congrats to Coach Taylor’s Volleyball squad, who swept Arkansas on Thursday night. MUTigers.com also recapped the Wednesday night win vs. Arkansas. Check out the highlights!

• Fall Ball has concluded for Mizzou Baseball! Can’t wait to watch them play this season!

• Cuonzo... miked up! OOOOOOOOOOOOH-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

• SIGH. What great memories. Thanks, Jarrett Sutton.

• The newest episode of Inside Mizzou Athletics caught up with the one and only Sophie Cunningham! Have a listen!

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