Late Christmas Gifts for the Tigers Continue

While Missouri (sadly) will not be playing in the Music City Bowl today, fans and the team got some good news with Rutgers grad transfer announcing he will be returning for the blanket extra year of extra eligibility given by the NCAA to Fall/Winter sports athletes. The soon to be “super senior” played in all 10 games for the Tigers, logging a team-high 732 snaps, according to stats provided in Dave Matter’s STL Today article.

I’m sure Drink is ecstatic, as he has not been shy with the media about his wishes for Maietti to return. From the article:

“I love Michael Maietti,” Drinkwitz said earlier this month. “Just a unbelievable young man who wanted an opportunity to win football games and try something different. (He had) never been to the Midwest before and. ...The leadership and toughness and just the consistency of performance that he’s provided has been unbelievable. I’m begging that guy every single day and now I’m doing it publicly for him to come back.

He joins Grant McKinniss, the Kentucky transfer who yesterday dropped the news that he too was returning. His quarterback is certainly excited.

Another late Christmas gift came in the form of a VERY sizable donation — a cool $10 mil, no big deal (!!) — to help with construction of the new indoor practice facility, according to MUTigers.com. From the release:

“We are grateful for the generous support that this family continues to provide to Mizzou Athletics, and believe it demonstrates a strong commitment to Mizzou Football and Coach Drinkwitz’s leadership of our program. This is a project that has been a part of the athletics facilities master plan for several years, and it is something that is definitely needed.”

On to the links! Big game tonight!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• BK continued his end of season reports cards, this time focusing on the coaching staff.
• Matthew J Harris dove into Mizzou’s shooting woes in Off the Mark: What’s Behind Mizzou’s Poor Shooting. It’s a MUST READ.
• Jacob recapped the newest MIZ-ZOOM, featuring Coach Martin, JT, and Dru.
• COMING UP: Tennessee Preview, and I’ll have a women’s hoops primer of sorts for you tomorrow leading up to Thursday’s opener

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More Links:

Football

• KC Star: On the new SportsBeat KC podcast, Blair Kerkhoff and Souichi Terada discussed the ‘day the Music (City Bowl) died.’
• Columbia Tribune: Kevin Graeler covered the sizable donation to Mizzou Athletics.
• PowerMizzou: For subscribers, Josh Helmholdt reported that Mizzou is pursuing 2022 Baylor early commit Kaian Roberts-Day.
• Saturday Down South: Michael Wayne Bratton wrote about how Missouri’s momentum continues to build as senior Michael Maietti commits to returning in 2021
• CBS Sports has handed down their postseason grades and Mizzou gets an A-, which is the best grade in the SEC!

Hoops

• KC Star: Souchi told us that expectations have been reset ahead of its opener against Tennessee. He also shared on twitter that Tennessee is currently a 4 point favorite, per Vegas Insider.
• Power Mizzou: Gabe provided a video update of Cuonzo Martin’s press conference as they prepare to face Tennessee.
• Head Coach Cuonzo Martin was a guest on Jon Rothstein’s podcast, Hoops Today. Do check it out.
• KOMU’s Sports Director, Ben Arnet, previewed the Tigers-Vols matchup,

• Congrats, graduates!

• Kind words by UT head coach, Rick Barnes, about our Fearless Leader.

• Time for another issue of Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology! Mizzou is a 4 seed here.
• In other SEC Hoops news, Tampa Bay Times’ Matt Baker wrote a great piece about how Florida forward and Preseason SEC Player of the Year, Keyontae Johnson, is back with the team, currently serving as a coach, helping with opponent scouts and motivating the team, which hasn’t played in 15 days. So glad to see him back.

Other Mizzou Sports / Mizzou in the Pros

• 10 days til Mizzou Gymnastics returns!

• Damn. Mike was H-O-T in Tuesday night’s game against the Kings. While the Nuggets ended up losing the game 125-115 after being outscored in the 4th quarter, MPJ had a double-double, with 30 points, 10 rebounds (6 defensive), and 2 blocks in 40 mins of playing time. The negative? 4 turnovers, and when combined with those of his teammates, it led to 37 SAC points off TO.

Various Sports News

• Welp. Another SEC bowl game gone.

• Arizona Men’s Basketball, who currently sits at 7-1 (1-1 in PAC-12), is self-imposing a postseason ban as a result of the ongoing NCAA/FBI investigation into their illegal recruiting activities according to Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today.
• In Joan Niesen’s newest From the (Press) Box, she blogged about how in 2021, she’d like to love sports again. Worth a read. She’s fantastic.
• Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports looked at how the broken college football system can be fixed.

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