Hey, you. Yeah, you over there. Start spreading the news, if you haven’t already.

Mizzou Basketball is BACK, baby.

It’s been a non-stop love fest from the national media ever since Mizzou’s 81-78 win over Illinois on Saturday night, with the Tigers getting shout outs from Jeff Goodman, Seth Davis, and more college basketball talking heads.

Cuonzo Martin and the Tigers, however, haven’t been shy about what they want — a spot in the Top 25. After about 36 hours of waiting, the AP obliged, debuting the Tigers not only in the Top 25... but at No. 16.

Missouri slots in three spots behind Illinois (boooooooooooo) and one spot behind Florida State, while ranking ahead of powerhouses like Virginia, Duke and North Carolina. Crazy, right? As Sam noted yesterday, it’s the first time since January 2014 — almost 7 years, y’all — that the Tigers have been ranked.

Before the ranking was officially announced, NCAA reporter Andy Katz also gave the Tigers some love, ranking them as his team of the week. That’s what happens when you beat your Top 10 rival (and an ASUN powerhouse) all in one week.

Not to be cast aside, the Tigers also picked up their second consecutive player of the week award. After Mark Smith snatched up the SEC Player of the Week last Monday, his partner in law, Dru, followed in his footsteps.

Smith averaged 16 points per game last week and picked up the defensive assignment against Ayo Dosunmu — a potential National Player of the Year candidate — down the stretch of Braggin’ Rights.

Yep, everything’s coming up Mizzou Hoops right now. Let’s not stop, shall we?

Yesterday at Rock M

• The Good, Bad and Ugly: Georgia
• PODCAST: Mizzou Football is in the early stages of a bright future
• Mizzou Basketball ranked #16 in AP Poll for first time since January 2014
• MV3: In a game of negatives, only a few players stood out

More Links:

• It’s been a season to remember for Nick Bolton, and now he’s almost got the hardware to prove it.

Let’s hope a big game against Mississippi State will put our man over the top.

• It was a tough return to the floor for Robin Pingeton’s squad after several weeks of COVID-related shutdown. The Tigers fell in their match up with No. 20 Missouri State.

• We’re about a day away from National Signing Day, and Missouri is still in the running for several recruits, including a high 3-star defensive end out of Colorado.

• Dave Matter scribed some parting thoughts (and grades) from Saturday’s football game, while columnist Jeff Gordon ranked the hoops team as the best in the region following their Braggin’ Rights victory.
• At the KC Star, Souichi Terada looks ahead to Mizzou’s final football game of the regular season in Starkville, with some preview thoughts and game info.
• PowerMizzou had all the regular Monday features for subscribers, including Gabe’s Monday thoughts, Sean Williams’ work covering Tiger commits and the Pro Football Focus insights from the Georgia loss.
• KSDK in St. Louis ran a short feature on recent Mizzou commit Isaac Thompson.
• Mizzou Baseball picked up another commit yesterday. Welcome, Peyton!

• In case you were wondering, former Tiger QB Taylor Powell will play out his final eligibility year(s?) at Troy.

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• If you’re looking to sign up for a new streaming service, you can try FuboTV: click HERE for FuboTV access — FuboTV now has ESPN, CBS, FS1 and more sports channels.
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