Welp.

That didn’t go as we had hoped, now did it? However, Sammy reminded us that this just happens sometimes. Mizzou is no different than many other teams in college basketball this year.

Keep that in mind as you shout, “Fire Cuonzo! You suck!” onto the court on your way out of the arena... (yeah, that happened, and I was predictably not amused). So yes, you’re frustrated. I get it. This team is maddening at times. Ole Miss seemingly has our number, X didn’t really show up, Dru had another icky game, the basket seemed to have a lid on it, the team played what looked like a game of hot potato on several possessions... but what are you going to do about it? Move on with your life, and on to the next one. We’re still in the tourney. All hope is not lost.

This concludes Karen’s basketball thoughts. You can read the post-mortem in Sam’s Study Hall or in Kortay’s game story.

Moving on to happier things! The Men’s SEC Swimming Championships are in town, and Mizzou did really well on Tuesday evening!

To the hype video! Sigh... this makes me miss swimming.

The 4x200 Free Relay team earned their NCAA A-Cut and finished fourth. YAY!

For swimming newbies, A-cuts are automatic NCAA Championship berths, whereas the B-cuts only get invited if there are not enough of those with A-cuts competing to fill the field.

Way to go, Frederik! Only a freshman and already 5th all-time in the 200 free (my personal fave)!

From Coach Andrew Grevers, per MUTigers.com’s night 1 recap, on his team’s performance:

”What great momentum to finish tonight’s session. We had some big lifetime bests for some individuals in the 800 free relay. We’re going to ride that momentum into tomorrow morning.”

On to the Links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Dive Cuts is back, and Sam & Matt are talking about previous week, coaching rumors, and the upcoming games against Ole Miss and A&M, which may or may not occur (stupid Covid).
• Josh previewed the Ole Miss rematch, looking at whether Mizzou could exact revenge upon the Rebels (narrator: they didn’t)
• Sam covered the hiring of Aaron Fletcher, and shared the official press releases of the other hires.
• Jacob put together the game thread (hide your eyes, it ain’t pretty), while Kortay handled the game story.

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More Links:

Football

• PowerMizzou: Mitchell continued his position reset with the safeties, while Gabe covered the new hire news. For subscribers, Sean Williams wrapped up Mizzou’s newest 2023 offers.
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Matter detailed how, with spring practice starting, Drinkwitz has filled his staff.
• Kansas City Star: Blair Kerkhoff wrote about the hiring of new DB coach, Aaron Fletcher.
• Columbia Tribune: Eric Blum covered the news of Mizzou’s FOUR new hires.
• Saturday Down South: With spring practice set to kick off on Friday, Drink met with the media to talk about updates and injuries, according to Michael Wayne Bratton.

Hoops

• Choose Your Own (depressing) Game Story: Blair Kerkhoff (KC Star). Eric Blum (Columbia Tribune). Dave Matter (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Mitchell Forde (PowerMizzou). Joel Lorenzi (Columbia Missourian).
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Dave Matter looked at the market for Cuonzo Martin, and what Sterk could do to keep his guy.
• PowerMizzou: Gabe chatted with callers and gave his own thoughts on the loss in a new Dance Class and shared video of Cuonzo’s postgame presser.
• The Maneater: Jack Soble dove into the impact of the players-only meeting that brought the basketball team back together.
• Kansas City Star: Blair Kerkhoff wrote that Mizzou can off tourney-bound teams, but for some reason can’t seem to beat Kermit Davis.
• Columbia Tribune: Check out Eric Blum’s newest Bracketology, not to be confused with Sammy’s superior Rock-M-Tology, haha.
• The Athletic ($$): Eamonn Brennan was back with a new edition of his Bubble Watch, stating that of his five Should Be In’s, Missouri “has the best reputation and the best collection of wins.” Check it out, if you are a subscriber.

Other Mizzou Sports

• Mizzou announced the fan policies for Taylor Stadium ahead of their home opener on Friday, according to MUTigers.com. Sorry, only season ticket holders will get to be a part of the 25% allowable capacity, it sounds like.
• Hal William Estep recapped Day 1 of the SEC Swimming Championships. The meet runs through Friday, so there’s a lot of hot swimming content coming your way, y’all!
• After this weekend’s trip to Florida, Coach Anderson took the softball team to the beach to see the sunrise. Love this.

• Speaking of softball, Mizzou finds itself No. 17 in the newest D1 Softball Rankings. Looking good, ladies!
• After this weekend’s games, volleyball’s Kylie Deberg was awarded BOTH SEC Player of the Week AND SEC Offensive Player of the Week!

From the SEC’s site:

SEC Offensive Player of the Week - Missouri’s Kylie Deberg, a senior outside hitter from Hudson, Iowa, averaged 5.25 points and 4.83 kills in the two wins over Georgia. Deberg recorded 14 kills while hitting .355 in the first match against the Bulldogs. She then tallied 15 kills as well as three total blocks in the second match Saturday.

• From KOMU’s Ben Arnet, who chatted with Mizzou AD Jim Sterk prior to the game on Tuesday:

Other Sports News

• According to Nathalie Jones of ABC17, it looks like Hickman’s girls team will have some familiar faces leading the Kewpies. Joining head coach Morgan Eye Scott will be former Tiger Jordan Roundtree and former Mizzou coach, Michael Porter, Sr! What a trio!

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