Eli Drinkwitz is a smart, smart man.

It may be the off-season around here as all our college sports teams have officially wrapped up their seasons (sad face), but ‘crootin is going on at warp speed at The Zou now that the 14 month dead period is officially over.

Night at The Zou, which isn’t really a “night”, per se, will bring Missouri’s targeted elite football prospects to CoMo, where the staff will roll out the proverbial black & gold carpet, and try to entice potential players into a commitment, either while on the unofficial visit or some time afterwards. As for the specifics of the day, we’re all a bit fuzzy on the details. Mizzou did have a couple visitors on Tuesday, but Wednesday appears to be “The Main Event”— invite only. From Dennis Dodd’s article on CBS Sports, this will be the first time ever — as a recruiting catch up of sorts after Covid— that players can work out for teams, like a mini-combine involving one coach and one player. According to the article,

Schools who are into it ‘full throttle’ will have the entire staff scattered across the field, each assistant working out a prospect. The most creative schools will welcome walk-ones, JUCOs, unsigned high school prospects from 2021 and Class of 2022 recruits.

Most creative, huh? Well, I would consider Mizzou to be one of ‘those schools.’

Regardless of what actually transpires throughout the day, it will be an excellent opportunity for interested commits to GET ON CAMPUS and check out the beautiful facilities, and get evaluated. Or, in Missouri’s case, take a walk to Drink’s house for a meal? Yep, you heard that right. In the same article I referenced above, Dodd mentioned something ingenious that Coach Drinkwitz thought of upon taking the Mizzou job.

Before picking the location of his home in Columbia, Missouri, Drinkwitz inquired about a little-known NCAA rule that allows a recruiting advantage for coaches who live within a mile of campus. Recruits coming on an unofficial visit can actually stop by a coach’s house if it’s close enough to the university.

Guess who bought a house close enough to the university for this to be legit? And what appears to be an ENORMOUS house at that? I’m telling you, the man’s a recruiting mastermind.

Maybe some will leave our fair city and feel inclined to commit (or peer pressure, according to Nate), and should that occur, rest assured— Rock M will be on top of it!

On to the Links! It’s a GREAT time to be a Tiger!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Game previews continue, and Nate the Great is asking why on Earth we’d schedule a school Iike Boston College.
• IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: I recapped Mizzou Softball’s season-ending loss, but remain hopeful of what’s to come. READ IT if you haven’t already.
• COMING UP: The “Team USA” WR is awarded, Aaron interviews a new Mizzou commit, and we’ll have a new Dive Cuts pod for your ear holes.

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More Links:

Football

• Matter wrote about the return of in-person recruiting in what will be Mizzou’s first regular offseason under Drinkwitz’s restructured recruiting staff.
• Among those visiting during NATZ? One Luther Burden.

• One of the visitors on Tuesday picked up an offer.

Softball

• In a new Blum’s Banter, Eric wrote that despite their NCAA Tournament elimination, Mizzou softball proved the program’s revival.
• I’m not crying.

• Just so happy to be a part of it. Seriously, what a great few weekends to get to cover this team for the site and watch this team live (and it was very nice of my boss to let me switch my schedule around a bit to accommodate the games)

Other Mizzou Sports

• In a new post by the Post-Dispatch’s Benjamin Hochman, he wrote about how Mizzou understands the importance of St. Louis to its athletic programs. Really good piece.
• In the new Eye on the Tigers podcast, Dave is joined by Bennett Durando to discuss the softball Super Regionals and the year that was Mizzou Athletics.
• According to MUTigers.com, Mizzou Track will be sending FIVE athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Track Championships in Eugene June 9-12. Congrats to Skylar Ciccolini (freshman, javelin), Mitch Weber (freshman, discus), Georgi Nachev (sophomore, triple jump), Mara Häusler (freshman, triple jump) and sophomore Arianna Fisher (sophomore, triple jump)!

Mizzou Athletics

• Happy Birthday, big man! Hope we get to know you this season!

Mizzou in the NBA/WNBA

• On a buzzer-beating longgggggg three by Kia Nurse, the Phoenix Mercury beat the Chicago Sky on Tuesday evening, 84-83. It was a cool scene, watching her teammates jump on her as she fell to the floor. Sophie Cunningham was essentially a non-factor in the game, with the majority of minutes going to the starting five. In her 3 minutes, she recorded no offensive or defensive stats aside from 3 PF and 1 turnover for a -1 +/-. Next Game: Thursday, 9pm CBSSN

@PhoenixMercury, Instagram

• That Denver-Portland game**, with the series tied 2-2, was W-I-L-D, y’all. It would have been nice if everyone could have watched it, but they put the damn thing on NBA TV… At one point, Denver was up 22 points, and then in a 27-point swing over a little over quarter, Portland took the lead. Denver immediately tied it up to start the fourth quarter on a MPJ bucket and were leading with less then 5 seconds left, when Dame (being Dame) made an unbelievable three over the outstretched arm of MPJ, sending the game to OT. In OT, just when the Nuggets were starting to take over on the hot shooting of former Iowa State player, Monte Morris and the soon-to-be MVP, the Joker, Damian Lillard was, well… Damian Lillard and was [expletive] AMAZING and almost singled-handedly willed his team to victory OT again. With 1:33 left in double-OT, MIKE HIT A THREE and I screamed, and he snatched the defensive rebound on the other end.

After a miss at the Nuggets’ end, Mike, trying to get a hand on the cross court pass to CJ McCollum, might’ve caused McCollum to step out trying to get away from him, which brought the ball back to the Nuggets with 10.2 seconds left. And they did it! The Nuggets won! OMG.

Not Mizzou-adjacent with this tweet, but seriously… what Dame did was jaw-dropping. 55 points, 17/24 FG, 12/17 3PT (most made 3s in playoff history), 10 assists, only ONE turnover.

But anyway, this is about Mizzou players in the Pros, and Michael Porter, Jr. looked like a different player this game — that is, not terrible like the previous game, and more like himself. I was impressed. Here’s his stats:

48 minutes, 26 points on 10-13 shooting (3-5 from three), 3-3 FT, 12 rebounds (11 defensive), 3 assists, 2 steals, +11 +/- (highest on team)

Next Game: Thursday, 7pm on TNT, and it is MUST SEE TV.

**this was meant to be a tiny little recap but hot damn, this game was exciting and warranted more words…

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