Tigers begin SEC play tonight.

I wish I was there. Really, I do. But I seriously doubt, given the insane cancelation sprees courtesy of SWA, that I would have made it back in time, so I am glad I will be taking in the game from the comfort of my parents’ couch in St. Pete, listening to Dane Bradshaw & Dave Neal on SECN. Thankfully, one of our J-School tech guys took my ticket and will be there in my absence. You’re welcome, Joe S. It’s gonna be EPIC. Red Panda is coming…

Let’s continue with Hoops news up top, shall we? I’m ready to wash my hands of all things football at this point (side note: Rock M will not be stopping the coverage).

First off, fresh off his national player of the week honors, it should come as no surprise that Kobe Brown was named SEC Player of the Week after his 31-point, 5 rebound, 8 assist, 4 steal performance.

Here’s what my guy had to say about the honors.

Gates & Co. met with the media on Tuesday, and here’s what the always stoic man in charge had to say about the team’s Braggin Rights performance, and his approach going forward. Per Dave Matter’s piece in STL Today:

“I’m measuring things on completion and whole, not parts,” Gates said Tuesday. “And when I look at it from a whole, it’s not a complete game that we played. No different than I’m not going to measure our season on a part. I measure it on a whole. So I won’t know how I feel about our season until April 4, right when the final rankings come out. ... But I’m not being over critical. I’m just being disciplined and detailed.”

Kobe Brown elaborated:

“We watched film, and even after the game, we kind of knew where we messed up, the stuff we need to work on,” said Mizzou senior forward Kobe Brown, named the SEC player of the week Tuesday after scoring a career-high 31 points against Illinois. “Being older and having the experience and that maturity to know ... we came out on top by X amount of points, but we didn’t play as well as we should. We had a lot of mental lapses, a lot of unforced errors.”

On how grateful DG is for the support from the Columbia community and the players’ friends & families:

Love this guy. Love this TEAM.

Brackets, Rankings, and Stats Time

• In Lunardi’s new Bracketology, you’ll find Mizzou as a 9-seed.
• Fascinating stuff indeed.

• Thank you, Matt Harris. And here’s his tweet about Torvik, too.

On to the Links. MIZ!

Check out the pregame primer at MUTigers.com

---

Yesterday at Rock M

• BK is back with a new Recruiting Reset: Sam Williams was a welcomed ‘flipmas’ addition
• Parker looked at Where Missouri basketball stands now, and what SEC play has in store for them
• A final MV3 of the season is upon us from Josh: MV3: Dud against Wake Forest still produces some compelling performances
• COMING UP: Nate dissects that unfortunate game in the season’s last BTBS, Brandon H previews the game, and there’s TWO film-heavy pieces coming your way from the Matts

---

More Links:

Hoops

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Tipsheet: SEC’s basketball strength offers Missouri opportunity to climb (Jeff Gordon)|
• PowerMizzou: Non-Con report card (Drew King)
• KC Star: If Mizzou Tigers keep winning, especially with Kentucky next, the AP ranking will (Blair Kerkhoff) | Mizzou’s win vs. Illinois — and how it arrived — must change how we view the Tigers (Sam McDowell)
• Love to see this!

• Columbia Missourian: Missouri opens up SEC play with No. 19 Kentucky coming to Mizzou Arena (Jaden Lewis)
• Women’s Hoops kicks off their SEC portion of the schedule also with a game against Kentucky, but on Thursday night. From MUTigers.com:

Thursday marks the 15th contest between the Tigers and the Wildcats with Missouri’s record in the all-time series sitting at 4-10. Missouri dropped its lone matchup against Kentucky last season in a 78-63 contest at Mizzou Arena on Feb. 24, 2022.

Kentucky, the reigning SEC champions, enters its conference opener with an 8-4 record. The Wildcats got back in the win column in its most recent contest against Ohio on Wednesday. Prior to that game, Kentucky lost three games in a row.

• Nice compliments on Kobe’s skillset here from a basketball analyst & scout:

• Matt Stahl returned to his Kentucky roots (his last position was writing about the ponies, among other things, in KY) and chatted Mizzou Hoops on the John Clay Podcast.

• Thanks for the reminder, DG!

• More of this. But with a win, please.

• Love to see it, ladies. Also, they should be higher-seeded than this, in my opinion.

• Also hoping the women’s team members are all able to get back in time for tomorrow’s game. This doesn’t sound good.

Football

• PowerMizzou: A way-too-early prediction for Mizzou football’s 2023 starting lineup (Jarod Hamilton)
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Mizzou football snapshots: PFF grades, snap counts for Tigers’ bowl loss to Wake Forest | ESPN’s Paul Finebaum says Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz ‘needs to start winning’ (Erik Hall) | Hochman: ‘He didn’t stop making it happen.’ Jackie Joyner-Kersee honors Demetrious Johnson

• Safety Jaylon Carlies made his return official, and I’m excited. Since both Rake and JC are back, take a minute or two to read Jack Soble’s October piece about their friendship.

• Ummmmm…. YIKES. ABC 17 is reporting significant damage was sustained.

• Check out the new episode of KC Sports Network’s Mizzou, That’s Who, where Gabe, Tucker and Maggie chat about the whiplash of Braggin Rights wins and bowl losses.

Mizzou in the Pros

** Tune in for the weekly NBA performances/how former players on Friday. **

• It’s Sophie Week for the Phoenix Mercury!

— — — — — — — — — — — — —

If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now!

If you’re looking to sign up for a new streaming service, you can try FuboTV: click HERE for FuboTV access — FuboTV now has ESPN, CBS, FS1 and more sports channels.

(** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)