Join Mizzou beat writer Dave Matter for his live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday
Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Dave Matter in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
-
It looks like Javon Pickett is planning on playing another year. Are he and Trevon Brazile open to returning to Mizzou if they like what they hear from Coach Gates? It appears, so far, the Browns are even more loyal to Mizzou than to Cuonzo. Do you have any idea if Coach Gates is in contact with Aidan Shaw? Thanks for the chat, Dave. -
So Brazile and Braithwaite are both gone? I guess the 3 transfers in this past season stay since they would have to sit out a year if they left? Aiden Shaw is still a possibility. Is Christian Jones still on board? Can current Cleveland St players transfer to Mizzou? The one I’m really concerned about is another SEC team poaching Kobe Brown.
-
Lots of questions here, a few repeats.Gates is in the process of re-recruiting the current roster and the guys in the portal. To what extent, not sure yet.Who is Braithwaite?Jones has not returned messages or announced any change of plans.I'm not sure there any Cleveland State players what would upgrade this roster. D'Moi Hodge is a 6-4 senior guard who averaged 15.4 points per game, shot 33% from 3. I'm not sure MU needs another guard who's not a great 3-point shooter.No telling on Kobe Brown yet. He'd have plenty of options if he decides to transfer.I'd expect Gates to pursue Shaw, who is open to playing for a new coach at Mizzou. -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Uh, yes. The Frank Haith hire was largely criticized at the time. He even acknowledged it during his first press conference. People hated the Kim Anderson hire right away.I would say the people who pay attention to college basketball and are aware of the game's top assistant coaches were fully aware of Dennis Gates and consider this to be a solid hire.A source of mine who is well connected to the coaching network around the country brought up Gates' name to me several weeks before Martin was fired. That was enough for me to put Gates on my radar.
-
-
-
-
Not sure if anyone caught Frank Cusumano's KFNS show yesterday, but Gates was on and confirmed that he's met with Brazile and Pickett, along with the entire team. There was a Zoom meeting with all the players right before his press conference and he's since had calls, texts, meetings, etc., with the players, their parents and high school coaches. Here's what he told Frank about those two players entering the portal:"It doesn’t mean they’re not coming back. It just means they have that right to explore. Sometimes when you explore it deepens your love for the place you’ve been and once called home. Maybe that’s what they need to do to help build Mizzou back and restore where we can go."
-
NIL is a reality but from you're seeing, are the, "bidding wars," developing much faster than the schools anticipated and/or can keep up with? I just saw an item (haven't had a chance to verify) that Tennessee just got a commitment from a QB that, "Cost the Volunteers $8M." It seems like we're almost seeing bidding wars similar to what the non-salary-capped MLB has.
-
That's going to happen until the NCAA introduces more guardrails, but NIL is already leveling the playing field. The QB Tennessee landed is not the kind of player who's been signing with Tennessee over the last 15-20 years. I believe he's the highest-rated QB to pick the Vols since Peyton Manning. That's a QB we'd normally see pick Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State or another super power. We're seeing five-star players sign with places like Arizona, Missouri, North Carolina, etc. There's NIL money everywhere.
-
-
-
Since when did "Whitten family" become an apparent requirement that the AD, new coach, etc. apparently must make sure they say before any statement Mizzou basketball-related? Yes I know they're big-money donors, but it's just a tad bit bizarre and is already getting to be overkill. Even Gates on his Twitter bio says "Whitten Family Head Men's Basketball Coach"! Goodness, hearing "Whitten family" from Coach Gates or DRF or whomever utter that particular family name over and over again when talking about the 🏀 program could grow old in a hurry! The Laurie family didn't require Norm Stewart or Quin Snyder to say their name repeatedly when Mizzou Arena was in the process of being built, did they?
-
When you donate more than $5 million to have your name on the head coaching position, you get your name on the coaching position This is becoming fairly common across college sports. All of Michigan's football coaches have titles from donor sponsors. It's no different than every segment of a radio show, TV show or podcast having a title sponsor.
-
-
-
-
-
Major donors.
-
-
-
-
-
It seems like too much worry about NIL. Bama or OU can’t get the best kids every year for $50,000 under the table. Now the players can see true market value and even Bama can’t pay $8 million every year to get the best quarterback available. NIL should be a positive for every SEC/B1G type school. It seems like they have the rules too tight. There would be no cheating with NIL if coaches could openly be involved and NIL offers right? Why not be able to make it part of the recruiting with deals in writing instead of the grey area with NIL’s right now?
-
I don't think coaches want to be that involved in all the negotiations. If the schools could be directly involved with the NIL deals, then every school should hire a general manager. Most coaches want to coach. Recruiting is not enjoyable for most. If they have to start negotiating dozens of endorsement deals on top of actually coaching their teams, you'll see a lot of coaches leave the college game - or demand much higher salaries for having to take on another job.
-
-
-
-
Regarding John Rainvold, Dave, I think it's very possible he was serious and really doesn't know what a woman is and was sincere in asking for your input on that.
Okay now that that's out of the way, is it not okay for us to question Pingeton's coaching ability when she can beat the current college basketball dynasty one night and then, instead of building on that amazing victory, the team plunges into the depths of mediocrity the rest of the season and fails to finish with a winning record in the conference and misses out on an NCAA bid? Also, I'm sure you'll disagree with me, but as much as I love Sophie Cunningham for being one of the all-time Mizzou greats, I thought her calling out Blackwell on social media--and subsequently starting an embarrassing Twitter fight between the two--was bad form. -
Of course it's fair to question her coaching. This season went sideways on Missouri. If you're good enough to knock off South Carolina without your most talented player, then you should be able to finish in the top half of the conference. They only lost to one team that missed the NCAA Tournament (Mississippi State) so in reality just one more win probably puts the team in the NCAAs. But they certainly left a lot of questions to answer.
-
-
-
-
The four who transferred last year would have to sit out next season or get an NCAA waiver for immediate eligibility. I would think all four could return but probably wouldn't have the same roles. DeGray is worth keeping for sure. Gordon brings some value. Not sure about the Brown brothers. I suppose it's promising that they haven't entered the portal yet. No telling on the three guys in the portal, though if you're rating them as priorities Brazile is clearly No. 1, then Pickett and Brookshire a distant third. I'd be surprised if Wilmore has a future here. He got plenty of opportunities with the last staff and it went nowhere. Keita is a tough call because of the injury situation. I think when healthy he can develop into a serviceable big man. Long way to an answer, but I'd set the over/under at 5.5 and take the over.
-
-
Never good to lose a multiyear starter if he's indeed done for the year. Drinkwitz just said he'll miss the spring and summer but indicated it could be longer. Zeke Powell and Dylan Spencer could compete for the job. Connor Wood can always bounce outside and play right tackle, too. I wouldn't say it's a crippling injury, but he's one of the two most experienced O-linemen on the team.
-
