This just in: Missouri’s women’s sports teams are killing it in the classroom

Three women’s programs were honored Tuesday by the NCAA for their APR (academic progress rates) for the 2018-19 season. Each registered perfect APR marks of 1000. Teams scoring in the top 10 percent of their respective sports receive public academic excellence recognition. WOOOOOOOOO HOOO!

From Jim Sterk, lest you forget these are student-athletes:

“Academic success is a critical component of Mizzou Athletics’ Win it Right mission, and these awards demonstrate a commitment to classroom excellence by our student-athletes, coaches and Mizzou Made staff,” said Mizzou Director of Athletics Jim Sterk. “We are incredibly grateful for the critical role Mizzou’s faculty plays in the education of our 550 student-athletes and appreciate the positive learning environments they provide to all Mizzou students.”

According to the MUTigers.com release, this is the 5th straight year tennis has received an award, and the second straight (6th overall) for women’s hoops. This is cross country’s first honor since the 2005-06 academic year (4th overall). Mizzou Athletics has earned 51 APR awards by the NCAA in 13 different sports in the program’s 15-year history.

In case you’re uninformed or need a refresher course, let’s take a look at the sometimes DARK world of APR scores, shall we? (shudders)

The academic progress rate is used by the NCAA in an effort to improve graduation rates, while also holding schools accountable for their academic.. missteps. Each scholarship strudent-athlete can earn two points each semester- one for staying in school and one for being academically eligible. **

If an athlete leaves your team in good academic standing, you’re fine. Get on outta here. Spread your wings and fly. Good academic standing, by the way, is at least a 2.6 cumulative GPA according to the NCAA.

Have an off-year? That’s okay, the NCAA says, but you’d better not let your four-year rolling APR hit below 930, or you’re cannot participate in championships. Wanna read more about it? You can consult this article on the NCAA website.

**side note: I think there’s something else in there about transferring to an institution on the same level, but I can’t find it. Like, you are dinged if you leave Mizzou to go play for... Drury, which is not a D-1 school

Story time! Once, not that long ago, you may remember a certain low, low, low, low point in men’s basketball academia... In Frank Haith’s final year (ick), both Jordan Clarkson & Jabari Brown went pro, Zach Price (hey, that’s the dude that hit another player with his car and was arrested twice... in one day. AAAAH, memories) was dismissed, Torren Jones was dismissed, and both Stefan Jankovic and Shane Rector transferred (shout out to an old CDT article for the facts on this). This disaster of a season KILLED the rolling 4-year APR— they scored 851 (!!!!!!!!) that year, and it wasn’t until last year that that fateful year (2013-14) came off the multi-year rate.

Thank God that’s all behind us now... (wipes brow) Back to the newly-released results...

• 16/18 Mizzou athletic programs registered with an equal or improved multi-year APR score. Baseball and women’s cross-country increased by double-digits.
• Top 5 Women’s APR: Hoops/XC/Tennis (1000), Swimming & Diving (998), and Track & Field (996)
• Top 5 Men’s APR: Golf (994), Swimming & Diving (992), Wrestling (989), Cross Country (986) and Baseball (974).
• Football scored 973 (up 4 from previous year) and Basketball scored 958 (up 5 from previous year), in case you’re wondering...

Moving on!

While we’re celebrating some smart kids, let’s congratulate Mizzou Football’s Taylor Powell, who is graduating in 3 years and starting grad school in the fall!

Onto the links we go! I’m using my new Wednesday format again... and remember, student-athletes:

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Yesterday at Rock M

• WHAT IF WEEK continues, and Tuesday’s revisit was Bill C’s “What if... Pig Brown had caught that ball at Oklahoma?”
• IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: I wrote about the state of women’s hoops and what to expect in 2020-21 after taking in a YouTube Live event with Robin Pingeton, and Nate the Great conducted a recruiting investigation into Chicago.
• COMING UP!!! In the draft that never ends, we’ve got ROUND SIXTEEN of the Mizzou Tiger Legends Draft! And there maybe be a new Dive Cuts Cocktail Hour pod ‘round the corner featuring our very own drink connoisseurs, Sam T Snelling and Matthew J Harris (the middle initials make them sound fancy, don’t you think?)

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More Links:

Football & Hoops

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Dave (welcome back from furlough!) wrote about Alabama moving in on Mizzou commit, Ryan Hoerstkamp. Dave also wrote about Cuonzo Martin’s NBA ‘last dance’ against the Bulls... specifically, Michael Jordan’s Bulls.
• POWERMIZZOU/RIVALS RECRUITING NEWS! Mike Farrell, Recruiting Director of Rivals put out a updated Rivals 250 ($$). On this list you will find Mizzou commit, Travion Ford, at #229. Sean Williams wrote about upcoming decision day for Kentucky safety target Jordan Lovett. Gabe chatted with hoops target David Joplin as attention picks up.
• PowerMizzou: Mitchell Forde conducted a Q&A with Turnover King, coach David Gibbs in the newest Meet the Staff piece (that was sarcasm, y’all).
• Columbia Missourian: Owen Krucoff wrote about Coach P’s newest recruit, Izzy Higginbottom from Batesville, Arkansas. This is a big pickup— she’s ranked no. 57 overall in 2021, and had multiple 40-point games (!!).
• The562.org, a nonprofit media outlet that covers sports & education in Long Beach, did a feature on new hoops signee, Drew Buggs, who talks about the hardships he’s faced after the loss of his mother (his mother passed away in March after a battle with cancer). Definitely worth a read.
• Get paid, Yasir Durant! (Thanks, Producer Mitch, for finding this gem)

Other Mizzou Sports News

• In two new First Pitches stories in the Missourian, Jen Langosch of MLB.com wrote about “A death, a life and the healing power of poorly played softball.” It is VERY, VERY good. Additionally, St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Jeff Gordon wrote about his claim to fame... co-founding The Antlers!
• Souichi Terada of the KC Star wrote about two Mizzou teams that were championships-bound, but then their sports were shut down and their dreams faded.
• Joshua Taylor’s roster gained a new edition in the form of UAB transfer, Anna D’Cruz, according to the Missourian staff.
• According to MUTigers.com, the university will be canceling all in-person camps, clinics, and coaches clinics through July 31 due to obvious COVID-19 concerns.

Mizzou Sports Social Media News & Notes

• Oh, hey Mark. Please stay healthy all next season, k?

• Women’s hoops transfer, Shannon Dufficy shared her #SHOWMEwhyMIZZOU moment, as did LaDazhia Williams.

Interesting/Non-Mizzou News

These are a few of the best sports stories & tidbits I found regarding some goings-on in sports and the world— Enjoy!

• In Mizzou-adjacent/we hate kU sports news, Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports talked about the situation with Duke, Coach K and kansas in his college hoops podcast.
• For Chiefs fans, here’s some proof that Pat Mahomes has always been insanely talented (or lucky?). Damn...

• To be a little birdie within earshot of this convo! Apparently, LeBron, CP3, Dame, the Greek Freak, Westbrook, KD, Kawhi & Steph held a private conference call on Monday and established united front in favor of resuming season, according to this article in Yahoo! sports by Chris Haynes.
• From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Gary Sinise/Elijah Wood/Robin Williams lookalike (if you look at his Twitter, he’s actively trying to emulate them at certain points) Benjamin Hochman, in his latest about what he misses about sports: a Cardinal’s extra-base hit with runners on. (cue sad trombones)
• Out of respect for Kobe’s legacy, the Mamba Sports Academy is being renamed to just The Sports Academy as of today. Here’s the story from ESPN’s Marc J Spears.
• Hamilton is coming! To Disney+ July 3! Here’s an article about it in Vanity Fair. I cannot wait! I’ve never seen it!

• A collection of cool Jordan stuff from theringer.com (a great website): Rodger Sherman examined how much credit and blame does Jerry Krause really deserve for dismantling the Bulls dynasty. The Last Dance director, Jason Heir, shared on the JJ Redick Podcast what he learned about rumored 1985 ASG freeze-out of MJ. In an entertaining piece, Haley O’Shaughnessy, Paolo Uggetti & Shaker Samman examined which current NBA players Jordan would have hated (all of them?).
• Jerry Stiller, the man behind Frank Costanza, passed away on Monday morning. The Ringer staff examined his greatest Seinfeld moments.
• Seems a bit early to be making this announcement, but California State University campuses will remain closed through fall semester according to this report. That’s 23 universities, y’all. Wow.
• Missouri residents, please consider signing this petition to let us purchase to-go cocktails permanently. as shared by Adam Tilford, CEO of Mission Taco Joint in KC. Apparently, Total Wine is actively working against this.
• HOW CUTE IS THIS?!?

• And lastly, for your viewing enjoyment, please go to Nate the Great’s twitter and check this out. I am not posting the actual tweet since it contains hilarious NSFW content. Poor Nate.. not that gifted with the round sports ball.
• If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now! (** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)