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.
-
-
Good morning Dave,
It's encouraging that Mosley is contributing productive minutes and appears much more comfortable on court. However, in my opinion, he has a tendency to sometimes play a one-on-one role with teammates standing and watching his moves. He gets his points but diminishes a team ball movement approach. I'd rather have 20 assists a game than 20 points a game from Mosley. Is that what Coach wants from him? -
The ball sticks in his hands longer than others, but he also has some skills that others on this team don't possess when it comes to creating space to take a jumper. Notice, he never takes a contested jump shot. His step-back is pretty lethal. Those shots are OK because they're really hard to defend. Kobe Brown made that point to me after the game Wednesday. This is a pretty strong statement from the team's most accomplished player: "The 3s that he shoots, a lot of people say those are bad shots. But those are great shots for him. We see him work on those day in and day out. And in practiced he makes them. You’ve seen his highlights last year. Those are shots that he makes. We tell him to keep shooting.”It reminded me of what an MVC coach who coached against Mosley several times told me over the summer: “When he gets going like that we just basically said, ‘Force him to go left and drive it all the way to the rim.' But when he puts it in his left hand he’s got a very good step-back 3 that he’s a high percentage on. So we tried to force him left and drive. We did not execute that very well.”
-
Good morning, Mr. Matter. Thank you for the chat and your outstanding coverage of Mizzou sports. Which players would you have on your all-time Mizzou men's basketball team? My choices would be Steve Stipanovich, Doug Smith, Derrick Chievous, Anthony Peeler, and Kareem Rush on first team. The second team would be John Brown, Ricky Paulding, Clarence Gilbert, Marcus Denmon, and Willie Smith.
-
Good question. If you're looking for five guys that would best function together, I think you need another true ball-handler in the first five. So I'd go with Stipo, Doug Smith, Chievous, Peeler and Melvin Booker over Rush.Second team: Arthur Johnson, John Brown, Willie Smith, Jon Sundvold, and Denmon. Rush would make the 12-man roster. Then the final spot comes down to Phil Pressey, Ricky Frazier or DeMarre Carroll.
-
Dave, regarding the momentum this season is creating my question is: how many seniors have eligibility remaining? It looks like Coach Gates will need several rotation-ready transfers (though not as much as was required to built this roster) given the amount of Senior production departing.
-
Only three scholarship players are out of eligibility after this season: Gholston, Gomillion and Hodge.Kobe Brown, Mosley, Carter, East and Honor are in their fourth seasons of college but could return for another year if they want.At this point, Mizzou has three scholarship recruits signed and a fourth committed to fill four spots. (MU is using only 12 scholarships this year, so there's an extra spot for next year.)
-
In speaking with coaches/scouts, is there any expectation that Brett Norfleet could come in and contribute as a Freshman? Tight End still looks like a weakness for this team, but it's a position that's on the field a lot in Drinkwitz's offense. If they don't have the talent to make it work, would you expect Moore to run more 4 receiver sets? Or use a 6th offensive lineman?
-
No telling what Moore has planned as far as formations. He'll have to take a close look at the roster before figuring that out. He might like some of the tight ends on the roster better than the staff did this past year. Max Whisner could become a factor depending on how he develops in the program. Norfleet is not currently on campus, so he'll have to catch on quick this summer to earn playing time. He'll be behind the tight ends on the roster, but his chances to compete for playing time all depend on how quickly he absorbs the playbook and whether he's physically ready to play against SEC defenders.
-
-
-
-
-
It's a very strong program with great tradition, great fan base and great resources. It's only one of 16 programs to win a national championship in the last three decades. Plus, Muss is a very good coach and recruits at a high level. Arkansas should recruit at a high level every year.
-
-
Why exactly would Hartman leave Wake Forest for the team he just beat? Wake had a better season than Missouri and, frankly, has a better chance to win more games in the ACC in 2023 than Mizzou in the SEC. So, if he's going to spend his last college season at another program, it makes sense he'd want to play somewhere where he could compete for a playoff spot. He'll have a better chance of that at Notre Dame than at Missouri or Wake.Mizzou will have three four-star QBs on the roster this fall. Drinkwitz has landed the high school QBs he's targeted in recruiting. It's fair to question if he's started the best QB each of the last three seasons, especially once injuries happened. And QB development is fair to criticize, too - though I thought Brady Cook was a much better QB in December 2022 than he was in December 2021 - while playing with a torn labrum.
-
-
-
-
-
I'm not a fan of hypotheticals like this. It's just a guessing game. How much better are we talking? Caleb Williams better or Will Rogers better? With slightly better QB play, I think Missouri stood a better chance to beat Florida ... and maybe Kentucky or Wake Forest. But I'm not putting those games solely on Cook. The defense had three third downs in the red zone to stop Kentucky and couldn't get it done. The O-line was a mess against Wake Forest. Cook's best receiver bailed before that game, too. Cook had two INTs at Florida. I still thought his receivers could have helped avoid those picks if they ran better routes, but they weren't great throws by any means.Mizzou had the Auburn game won twice. That wasn't on Cook.A better QB isn't making much of a difference against Kansas State, Georgia or Tennessee.And Cook deserves credit for playing well in SEC wins over South Carolina and Arkansas.
-
-
-
-
I think it's better to look at total snaps played rather than starts. Some guys play a ton of snaps but don't always start. Some guys start but don't always play the most snaps.On defense, Mizzou returns 15 of the 20 players who had the most snaps in 2022 and 11 of the 15 players who played at least 300 snaps. Those 11 are...D-line: Robinson, Williams, JerniganLinebacker: Bailey, HooperCornerback: Rakestraw, Abrams-Draine, NorwoodSafety: Carlies, Charleston, CarnellThe only four players who played 300+ snaps who don't return are D-ends McGuire, Coleman and Jeffcoat and safety Manuel.On offense, they return 12 of the 17 players who played 200 snaps:O-line: Foster, Delgado, Tollison, Mitchell, MembouQB: CookRB: Schrader, Peat*WR: Burden, Cooper, MillerTE: StephensThe five who played at least 200 snaps who won't be back: OL Wood, Powell and WRs Banister, Lovett, Dove.* Peat has not officially said he's returning - he didn't talk to the media all season, so I suppose it's no surprise he hasn't said anything publicly - but for now it appears he'll be on the spring roster.
-
Dave - would you be shocked to see Kobe or Mosley stick around for their COVID year?
Also, since the AD/athletic dept sometimes reads... suggestion: please post highlight videos to youtube again. It's very difficult to find good highlight videos, and this was something mizzou used to do very well. -
-
-
Mizzou will play at least 12 games if you count the SEC tournament. I think seven more wins gets them in without much concern. Maybe even six if they upset Iowa State, Tennessee or Auburn. KenPom projects MU winning 7 of its final 11 regular-season games - his projections aren't always spot-on, but nobody's are - with the only losses coming to Iowa State and road games at Tennessee, Auburn and Mississippi State.
-
-
With the addition of Juco guard Curt Lewis, we would now be over our scholarship count by 1 if all seniors with eligibility return. I have to assume they only would have made this move if they had word that one of their players wouldn't be back next season. Have there been any rumblings on who will and won't return next season. I would assume the staff would also likely leave a couple spots open for offseason transfers if they have that option.
-
Your count is off by one. Mizzou is only carrying 12 scholarship players this year - and three leave next year, leaving room for four additions. They signed three high school players in the fall and Lewis makes four. It's fair to expect more turnover only because you have to expect some turnover in college basketball.
-
-
He was not offered the OC job at Missouri. Drinkwitz made it clear he wanted to take some time after the bowl game to make any big decisions about the 2023 staff. Hamdan had an offer to be a coordinator at his alma mater and from what I was told felt like he had to take the offer and couldn't afford to wait on Drinkwitz's timeline. I'm sure Bush wants to be a head coach and knows he'll need another coordinator job to get that opportunity.
-
Looking forward to another great chat today Dave! I noticed that all of the basketball players and a few of the football players announced NIL deals to support local non-for profit organizations in COMO. What a great idea. Is this the organization that Lawrence Bowers runs? Can you provide any insight as to what plans this organization has? Very exciting to see local NIL support.
-
Bowers doesn't run the collective - Every True Tiger Foundation - but he serves as the executive director. They work with corporations, charities and boosters to raise money and offer players paid endorsement deals and paid appearance opportunities. I'll have a story on the collective soon. Been doing reporting on it for a few weeks.
-
-
Mosley missed practice time while tending to some personal situations in his life. He stayed engaged with the team even when he wasn't around the team.Diarra needed to get stronger and needed the practice time to get acclimated to this level of college basketball. He's gained 20 pounds since arriving on campus. Gates always thought he was going to need time to develop into a regular in the rotation. At Oxford the other night he said Diarra is "on time" as far as becoming a regular contributor. He wasn't a ready-made SEC big man when he moved to Columbia last summer.Gates: "It's on time.That growth I've been patient with because for most international and JUCO kids, you have to give them a timeframe to adjust. This kid right here sitting next to me, D'Moi, ad the same adjustment coming into Cleveland State. There's just a period of time and they embrace the process. I credit Mo for embracing the process and not panicking, not giving in when it when we live in a world where it's easy to jump into the transfer portal. He didn't waver at all. But he stayed with the game plan for strength and conditioning. He's gained 20 pounds. He's exerted his energy. He's learned how to exert himself. And he wasn't doing that and didn't have to do it every game at juco. But that's what's required now."
-
-
-
I'm going to assume/hope spellcheck changed Diarra in your question.I really don't get caught up in who starts. I know fans care a lot, but it's who finishes in a close game that's much more important. And this team's strength needs to be its depth. They need 9-10 guys to play. Maybe 11. They press and play with incredible pace most nights. Five guys can't play 40 minutes at this pace. You're better in this style with fresh legs. Also, these guys foul a lot by trying to get so many steals. You need the extra bodies.Diarra is a better rebounder at this point than Shaw. Shaw played nearly 10 minutes in Oxford and didn't a rebound. He's just so raw still. But I understand starting him. His energy is valuable - and Diarra is the kind of player who could get in foul trouble early if he starts.
-
-
He's living in Orlando but also following Purdue's games closely as a dad. His son is a walk-on for the Boilermakers. Pretty good team to follow these days. I haven't talked to him in a while, but my impression was he wanted to take a year off and just exhale for a while and then figure out his future whether that's in coaching or administrative work at some level.
-
-