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Big ‘Sota Appreciation Post

Mizzou News for Friday, March 6

By Karen Steger

It’s time to appreciate the big guy, Reed Nikko.

It’s not often, at least in these parts, for a basketball player to stick around all four years. Mizzou Hoops has been through a lot, and one really couldn’t blame someone for getting out when it was bad (hell, if you consult some of the “fan” base, you’d think we were still the absolute worst). But every so often, we get a few players who have spent their entire college careers at Mizzou. Last year, we had several— KP, The Wolf, and CVL (medically retired but still on the team). Before that, Rosburg. This year, we have Reed Nikko. Big ‘Sota. The Legend.

Courtesy of Mizzou Hoops twitter

When JT went down, Reed stepped right up and filled in admirably, playing more minutes than ever before, and really taking a big step forward in all areas. As you can see from the career stats chart below, he’s played more minutes and has better numbers across the board, with the exception of blocks, which he’s close on. Sure, he has more fouls and TO, but that’s to be expected with his expanded role, and I can’t see ANYONE being upset with him over anything he’s done this season. He’s been a big ol’ breath (gulp? gust?) of fresh air.

Career stats
Courtesy of ESPN.com

Reed has been a great leader for this young roster both on and off the court, he’s super smart, and who knew he was so funny?! For nostalgia’s sake, please rewatch this— Reed in his natural habitat, talking about the non-con schedule. It’s perfection.

He was named to the SEC Community Service Team today. Are you surprised? You can read more here in the release from the SEC on what he did to warrant his inclusion. Pretty awesome.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m gonna miss this guy so much.

To the links!

Yesterday at Rock M

More Links:

Football

  • Coach Drinkwitz introduced himself to Mizzou students Thursday at a press conference/Q&A session in the MU Student Center at lunch time. I happened to be there, and the students were into.it. Lots of photos and videos; he definitely had their attention. LOVE TO SEE IT.
  • A message from Coach himself:

Men’s Hoops

  • KC Star: Souichi wrote about Reed Nikko’s journey in a cool post. He also wrote that the team continues to hope for lessons learned.
  • Next up on the schedule— the LAST regular season game of the season— is home vs Alabama, Saturday at 1:30pm. I may be crazy, but I think in honor of Reed, we’ll get this one. We’ll need some help from other teams (cough-cough- Auburn- which honestly hurts to say, and A&M) to miss the dreaded Wednesday slot, but who knows what could happen?
  • Souichi tried to explain the situation in more detail here:
  • For your consideration, Dru Smith is deserving of some All-SEC praise. He’s playing with one leg, for God’s sakes.

Women’s Hoops

  • The Tigers took on the Lady Vols (I dislike that their team feels the need to put ‘lady’ in front of their name) in the second round of the SEC Tourney last night, and lost 64-51. That first half was great though. This effectively puts an end to Mizzou’s season, which is disappointing after making the tourney 4 straight years. It truly was a rebuilding year, despite what Coach Pingeton had hoped.
  • A cool stat was shared earlier today. Congrats, Aijha! The future is bright for you!
  • My mind is blown that Track coach Natasha Kaiser-Brown, Olympic silver medalist, is Elle Brown’s mother. I had no idea! She was honored as Mizzou’s SEC Legend during the opening round of Mizzou’s Wednesday game.

Other Mizzou Sports

  • PowerMizzou’s Gabe & Mitchell were back with some new predictions in their Blowing Smoke, Presented by Weston Tobacco post, where they talked MU-Bama scores, MU’s SEC Tourney win total and who wins the tourney, breakout Spring Football performers, and dove into the number of NCAA Tournament games that will be played with no fans (because of the virus).
  • Tiger Gymnastics is facing off against # 19 Nebraska! You can watch ‘em doing cool flips n stuff on the BTN+ on Saturday at 7pm (if you can get access). Mizzou currently ranks # 16 in the RoadtoNationals.com national rankings, which is computed by the top 6 overall team scores. The Tigers also rank 14th nationally on vault and beam, 16th on floor, and 20th on bars. Here’s a preview from MUTigers.com.
  • Here’s a look at freshman Sienna Schreiber’s awesomeness.
  • Track will be sending a trio of jumpers (one long and two high) to the NCAA Championships next week. More info on MUTigers.com

Diamond Sports

  • Softball did an in-depth feature on Cayla Kessinger, who has twice battled back from thoracic outlet syndrome (Former Cards pitcher Chris Carpenter had it, if I’m not mistaken – it is “a group of disorders that occur when blood vessels or nerves in the space between the collarbone and the first rib are compressed”). And according to Madi Norman, she’s still rakes even with a missing rib.
  • This photo essay of sorts about Kessinger is AMAZING. Definitely worth a click.
  • Speaking of softball, Larissa Anderson’s group starts SEC play this weekend. Here’s their schedule, along with promotions.

Mizzou in the Pros / Other #MizzouMade News

  • Come spend an evening with CHASE DANIEL and GP on April 10!
  • Oh, hey. We know him!

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