As we reach the end of Mizzou Football’s bye week and look forward to next week’s Homecoming match up, we have reached a kind of lull in the football news cycle. Honestly, thank god. I’m tired of writing about it! So let’s see what else is going on, huh?

First up! My favorite news of the week!

Everyone’s favorite mid-20s PG, Dru Smith, is getting his first NBA contract!

After the Heat’s Wednesday win, it was announced that Smith would be the Miami Heat’s second (and final) two-way player to make the Opening Night roster. I know Sammy shared Shams’ tweet, but I thought I’d get into it a bit more since there are some articles and interviews about it!

While Wednesday night’s preseason finale actually featured minimal DRUUUUUUUUUUUUU action, he had good stats in his limited work (6 min, 2pts, 3 REB, 1 BLK, 2 TO, +5). In all likelihood, the Heat didn’t need to see much more of him to make a decision — they’d seen his preseason growth & overall summer league performance. Per this Miami Herald article ($$), Smith averaged 7.4ppg on 45.5% shooting. He shot 41.7% from 3-point range, and averaged 2.4 REB and 1.8 AST per game in five games in the preseason. And in three summer league games (he’s coming off a meniscus tear he suffered last season), he averaged 12ppg on 46.4% shooting, to go with 1.7 REB, 1.7 AST and 3 STL per game.

Remember this on your timelines? **CHEF’S KISS**

In this particular game, to go along with this absolutely incredible hook pass he sent to other two-way contract-getter (and preseason darling) Jamal Cain, he had 15 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal in his 26 minutes of playing time. Yowza.

In this article by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Ira Winderman had a lengthy convo with Mr. Smith following the announcement. Here’s some highlights to read over with tears of joy in your eyes:

On his work with the team this past month:

“I got the chance to be here. I was able to learn and grow. I felt like I was able to become a better player”

After playing in two preseasons, what helped him hang in there and break through?

“I think my attitude is just trying to become the best player that I can,” he said. “I just try not to worry about the outside things, just trying to control what I can control in practices and games and things like that...I think when you get caught up in all the stuff, it’s easy to get distracted, it’s easy to do the wrong thing. So just trying to control what I can control and be the best I can be.”

Want more? Read the article. It’s good, and not under a paywall!

So, dear readers, you might as well get used to me yelling DRUUUUUUUUUUUU all season (you won’t see it nobody actually reads the links, lol), because for up to 50 games, our guy, who is suddenly earning approximately 508k (per a google search, they get half of the league minimum), will see time in Miami.

The Heat open their season at 6:30pm on 10/19 vs the Chicago Bulls, followed by a game on 10/21 at 6:30pm vs the Celtics. That game cane be watched on ESPN. I hope you’ll be cheering along with me.

Moving on.

Let’s check in on Women’s Tennis, who is KILLING IT.

I mean, LOOK AT THIS. WOW is right, Coach!

The team is currently taking part in the ITA Regionals in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The singles & doubles champions here will qualify for the ITA Fall National Championships in San Diego Nov 2-6.

According to Wootten’s tweets (and the MUTigers.com recap), it appears the team did - no surprise here - really well on Day One. Romary Cardenas and Koral Koldobski advanced out of singles qualifying, while Mae & Inah Canete advanced to the round of 32 in doubles (they won 8-2!!). Eight Tigers will kick off their ITA meet and compete in singles on Friday while one doubles team will be in action in the main draw. Three doubles teams have moved on into the consolation bracket. LOVE.

Here is today’s schedule (I wasn’t typing all that out):

MUTigers.com

On to the Links!

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Yesterday at Rock M

• To wet your Mizzou Hoops whistle, we’ve got a Q&A: Taking stock of the offseason!
• A new BTBS PODCAST: If you can’t lose, it’s a win. IT’S BYE WEEK, BABY.
• BK (sadly) shares with readers, Missouri’s passing game rates as one of the SEC’s worst since Eli Drinkwitz was hired
• Nate gets to the good stuff: Missouri’s Defense at the Halfway Point: A Numerical Investigation after the day prior writing about the … BAD stuff.
• In case you missed it: Player Profiles: Kobe & Ronnie | ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ BTBS |
• Coming up: Sam previews the next non-con game and Matt W’s next player preview is the other Brown Bro. Dan makes a REASONABLE case for Sam Horn.

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More Links:

Football

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read the transcript from Matter’s Thursday (subscriber) chat
• PowerMizzou/Rivals: Midseason Review: Defense & Special Teams (Jarod Hamilton) | New Target Profile: Taje McCoy (Sean Williams)
• The Athletic ($$): From Bryce Young to Hendon Hooker: Revisiting the recruitment of every SEC starting quarterback (Grace Raynor)

A little backstory on Brady Cook (class of 2020 | no. 745 nationally | no. 29 pro-style QB) — read the article for the rest!

Cook comes from an athletic family — his mother played soccer at Truman State, his uncle played basketball at Missouri Baptist and his grandfather played college baseball. But football was the sport for Cook, who committed to Missouri in September 2018 and stuck with the Tigers through the coaching change that brought Eli Drinkwitz in to replace Barry Odom.

• KC Star: Max Baker (hey, Max!!) wrote, Remember that name’: This former BV North receiver came up clutch for Missouri Tigers
• Columbia Missourian: No Tigers? What to watch with Missouri on bye week (Kyle Pinnell)
• Thanks to Sammy for the reminder about this, which will definitely be worth a full listen. Here’s a snippet:

Hoops & Other Mizzou Sports

• PowerMizzou’s NEW player previews by Drew King: Deandre Gholston | Noah Carter
• Found a new IG follow, Trevor Bergman, who does video work for Mizzou Athletics. He does a good job!

First up, Mizzou Club Hockey’s win over kansas:

And then this behind the scenes video of Women’s Hoops:

• Soccer is back out on the road this evening as they get set to face Georgia in Athens. First kick is at 6pm. Per MUTigers.com, both teams are currently tied in the SEC standings with seven points. Results-wise, Mizzou beat Florida at home, 3-2 on Sunday, after dropping a road contest to no. 19 Tennessee 2-0 earlier that week. Georgia, on the other hand, tied Vandy 1-1 in Nashville and lost 2-0 to no. 9 Tennessee.
• Swim & Dive hosts its first home meet this weekend against Purdue at Mizzou Aquatic Center, per MUTigers.com. The meet gets started at 4pm Friday and 10am on Saturday. After an opening weekend at the SMU Classic (Invitational?), 13 Tigers have top-10 times, while 5th year seniors Jack Dahlgren & Molly Gowans, and grad student Clement Secchi have posted times in the top-5 nationally.
• Softball continues their Fall Ball schedule:

• Tiger Style returned to the mat this week:

Mizzou in the Pros/Hodgepodge

• Jordan Clarkson (no games since my last Links)

UP NEXT: today, 10/14 at 8pm vs Mavs, Opening Night 10/19 at 8pm vs MPJ’s Nuggets. 10/21 at 7pm vs. T-Wolves

• Michael Porter, Jr.

10/12 vs Clippers (W 126-115): 16 min | 12pts on 4-6 shooting (3-3 from 3, 1-1 FT) | 3 REB | 1 AST | 2 PF | +1

UP NEXT: today, 10/14 at 9pm vs Warriors (ESPN2), Opening Night 10/19 at 8pm vs JC’s Jazz

• It’s been 238 days and Brittney Griner still remains detained in Russia and is struggling, as anyone would in her terrible situation. Her teammates, her fans, the W, the entire sports community… are all worried about her and want her back home. She and Soph had developed quite a nice bond in their time together and were often seen messing around in practice and games. Witness:

• And in other former player news, this came across my IG feed: Xavier Pinson — yes, I’m writing about him again, ha! — has an NIL deal with Zip Recruiter (AKA “the new way to hire”). That’s pretty cool, and big congrats to him!

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