Reactions to the Big XII Wrestling News

I’m assuming you’ve all heard the news by now. We covered it here at Rock M and I got the pleasure of attending my very first press conference to capture the announcement. Mizzou Wrestling has found a new, but familiar, home. After nine years in the MAC, kicking ass and taking names, they’ve been invited to return to the Big XII as an affiliate school.

As expected, the reaction among current and former Mizzou wrestlers was positive. Here’s how the team reacted upon learning the news. A cool moment, for sure.

Andrew Kauffman of ABC17 talked with current wrestler Brock Mauller about the move after Thursday’s press conference. Here’s his thoughts.

Mizzou Wrestling twitter went retro with this post. Love the Missouri in block letters.

Mizzou greats Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley showed their appreciation.

On to the Links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

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• Sam and I covered the breaking news and subsequent press conference that Mizzou Wrestling is headed back to the Big XII.
• COMING UP:

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More Links:

Football

• A new episode of the wildly entertaining Tiger Wings was released, and this time, LDW in on the hot seat with Jethro Franklin. These are fun!

• Mizzou has brought in a nice recruiting class this year, headlined by 4-star DE Travion Ford, 4-star WR Dominic Lovett and 3-star QB Tyler Macon. In light of this info, Adam Spencer of Saturday Down South took a look at the 10 best freshmen in the past five years.
• Adam Gillum of The Maneater also looked at this year’s recruiting haul and attempted to identify its stars from a mix of freshman, JuCo additions, and transfers.
• Matter was back with a new chat for STLToday, taking all sorts of football and hoops-related questions.

Hoops

• The Athletic’s CJ Moore answered some Mizzou, K State and kU questions for his newest mailbag. There’s a lot covered here, ranging from Cuonzo’s seat warmth — it’s cold — to CJ’s expectations for the upcoming season. You’ll enjoy it... if you’re a subscriber.
• Kobe’s been practicing on the new practice facility floor. Looking good!

• In terrible SEC news, this is so very sad. Our hearts go out to the family of Kentucky’s Terrence Clarke.

Wrestling

• Here’s the press releases from MUTigers.com and the Big XII in regards to the big news. From the Board of Curators, on the decision:

“Mizzou’s wrestling program has always strived for excellence in everything they do, both on and off the mat,” said Darryl Chatman, chair of the UM Board of Curators, in a statement. “This return to the Big 12 Conference continues that tradition of seeking excellence in competition. MU and the state of Missouri can be proud of the team that will represent us in a conference with some of the best wrestling programs in the country.

• Wilson Moore, in a great post for the Missourian, focused on Brian Smith’s wish to return to the Big XII, as implausible as it seemed through the years. It’s great that now Smith won’t have to work as hard to schedule Big XII foes, Oklahoma State and Iowa State.
• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dave Matter examined how a team becomes an affiliate, exactly in his new post.

To join the Big 12 as an affiliate member, the process begins with a recommendation from the league coaches, both the full-term members and the affiliate schools, a Big 12 spokesman confirmed Thursday. From there, the vote goes to campus leaders of all 10 institutions, including schools that don’t sponsor wrestling teams, like Kansas and Texas.

Baseball

• Need a preview for baseball’s upcoming series before Kortay’s preview comes out later today? Check out the MUTigers.com preview. Georgia has swept each of the past two series meetings (2018 & 2019), and Mizzou’s last win came in Athens in 2017.

Other Mizzou Sports

• Track and Field is currently competing at the 111th annual Drake Relays, and one day of competition is complete. According to MUTigers.com, RS-junior Karina Liz was the big winner of Day One, capturing the Tigers’ first win of the weekend, winning the unseeded women’s 800m race in a time of 2:08.50.

• Volleyball’s Kylie Deberg was named an AVCA Second Team All-American on Wednesday, the organization announced. According to Eric Blum of the Columbia Tribune, this is her third such honor, after receiving second team honors in 2019 and honorable mention honors in 2018.
• Eric Blum looked at 10 names to keep in mind as Mizzou searches for its next soccer coach. One suggestion? Blitz’s top assistant, Don Trentham, who has been with the Tigers for the past six seasons coaching the defense. Another name? Former Mizzou assistant and current Washington State head coach, Todd Shulenberger. Check it out. Not all have Missouri ties.
• According to Calum McAndrew of the Missourian, Mizzou’s golf team was one of only three teams to record a worse score on Thursday than the previous day. They now sit in 11th place and six shots behind eighth-placed South Carolina in the final match-play qualifying spot.

Mizzou in the Pros

• Michael Porter, Jr. was active on Wednesday night in the Nuggets’ 106-105 win over the Blazers, scoring 17 points in his 31 minutes of action, shooting 8-12 (1-4 from three) with five rebounds and two assists. Not a double-double like Mike has been accustomed to, but he contributed positively nonetheless.
• Jontay Porter hit his first threeeeeee of the season in his two minutes of play on Wednesday night in the Grizzlies’ loss to the Clippers. You love to see it, and hopefully we will see more of the younger Porter sibling going forward.
• Jordan Clarkson was very good in his 28 minutes of play in Wednesday’s win over the Rockets. He scored a team-high 22 points on 7-18 shooting (4-9 from three) with five rebounds and one assist. Way to go, JC!

Love this video from Slam Magazine via JC’s instagram.

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