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Bieser Ball gets set for home finale

Mizzou Links for Friday, May 12

By Karen Steger
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While the softball team awaits their postseason fate, Bieser Ball (27-20, 7-17 SEC) still has a few weeks left. Starting tonight at 6pm, they’ll face off against Georgia (28-21, 10-14 SEC), who claimed a series victory over Tennessee last weekend as well as a midweek W over USC Upstate. Missouri is also trending up at the moment, having taken two of three from defending College World Series champ, Ole Miss, last weekend.

Per MUTigers.com, Friday will be the 27th meeting between the two teams with Georgia holding a 15-11 edge. The Dawgs have taken 9 of the last 11 games in CoMo (ew), though Mizzou took two of three from them in Athens last season.

This series represents another much-needed opportunity for the Tigers to build upon what they hope will be an NCAA-worthy resume. The Tigers currently sit in 12th place in the conference and are in line to make the SEC Tournament in Hoover. They will finish the season undefeated in midweek games (check out the thread from Matt Michaels I’ve linked to). They have an RPI of 47 and currently project as OUT of the NCAA field. Georgia sits 29th in RPI, so any number of wins this weekend would be a boost to their chances and could help them reach the NCAA Tourney again for the first time since 2012.

For more on the matchup, check out Kortay’s preview, which will be out early this morning!

Speaking of baseball, it’s been a hot topic of convo around here after Dave Matter wrote an excellent piece for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the team, the pressures, and head coach Steve Bieser. The piece was so enlightening that it was the subject of many a question in Matter’s new chat as well.

Listen, we all know our baseball team lags behind the rest of the conference in every way— in money, in facilities, in talent, in history, in weather... They have a 21-year-old stadium that seats 2,200 and sits atop of very steep hill that catches the worst wind. The location is far less than ideal, and parking is a joke. The field is a mess and needs turf. Signs don’t accurately tell spectators where to sit. They play in a much cooler climate far different than the southernmost SEC schools. They take commercial flights. They have farther to travel. They have an overwhelming lack of NIL deals. All of this sounds like a ringing endorsement to come to Mizzou to play baseball, right?

Well, not so fast. Despite all [waves arms wildly] this, Bieser actually recruits well. His upcoming class is ranked in the top 25, and he consistently recruits at a top 40 level.

Per Matter’s article, earlier this year, the university hired a global consulting firm to study ways Mizzou can invest in athletics projects. Bieser is understandably excited to hear about the results of the firm’s study, but in the meantime, he’s got to work with what he already has. Attendance is up— they will blow their attendance figures out of the water (they are up over 1K more than last year with three more home games remaining). And the team he has is at the edge of good.

“We’ve seen how the administration’s been able to get out and build those relationships and the requirements for the coaches to be out there on the ground level to build those relationships and what that does for your attendance,” Bieser added. “For us playing in front of 2,500 at this stadium it’s huge. It sounds like it’s packed and there’s energy in the stadium.”

From the chat, after Dave was asked about the shortcomings:

The flight situation is pretty bad. As much emphasis as sports science has put on sleep, it’s not healthy for athletes to be getting home at 3 or 4 a.m. after a baseball series - when they’re expected to attend class the next day and begin a week of prep for baseball. And here’s the real downside to some of these spending shortages: The word gets around to other players around the country - which can be especially demoralizing in the age of the transfer portal. That’s a concern for the staff. Players talk. They know what’s happening at other schools more than ever before. Mizzou’s current roster has players who previously played at Arkansas, LSU, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Arizona. They don’t want to earn an SEC-wide reputation as a place that’s cheap.

I cannot recommend this piece enough. It’s very, very good.

On to the Links! M-I-Z! Beat U-G-A!

Yesterday at Rock M

More Links:

Hoops

I don’t think Dennis Gates panics about anything. They’ve missed on some high-profile targets, but that’s part of recruiting. I certainly wouldn’t panic about missing on Jimmy Bell. He seemed like an odd fit for the system Gates wants to run and I’m not sure he’s the kind of athlete they want at the five position.

Kobe Time

  • Detroit draft talk:
  • Kobe in Indy tomorrow

Football

  • We see you, Hop!

Other Mizzou Sports

Former Tigers

24 minutes | 10pts on 4-10 FG and 0-4 from 3PT | 5 REB (3 def) | 2 PF | +11

UP NEXT: more basketball!

  • Big congrats to Tony Temple and Gary Pinkel for being inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame!

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