Mizzou chat with Dave Matter
Bring your Tigers basketball, football and recruiting questions, and talk to Mizzou beat writer Dave Matter in a live chat starting at 11 a.m. Thursday.
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Do you know how many season ticket holder for football Mizzou had last year? I figure they will allow 13,000 fans into each game. Not sure how many students. I get my opportunity next week for season tickets, being Black and Gold donor, but I am curious if I should expect to get tickets, or one of the packages. -
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We touched on this last year a little bit, but do you know how Coach Drink feels about "showboating?" I'll name names. Jarvis Ware did more to elevate the opponents' play by his antics than any bulletin board material. He is a fine athlete, does a good job most of the time, but when he flaunts it, it seems the next play teams burn him like toast on a Monday morning.
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It's not something Drinkwitz has addressed to the media, but my guess is he doesn't like anything that will draw a penalty. There's nothing wrong with some on-field celebrating when the time is appropriate, but no coach likes taunting or anything that would lead to a flag. I agree with Ware. He got caught up in those antics too much last year.
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Technically there won't be any redshirts in 2020. The NCAA is granting every fall athlete an extra year of eligibility because of COVID, even if their team plays every game this season. But I would not expect Cook to be a factor in the QB competition this year unless there are multiple injuries. Connor Bazelak (BAZE-uh-lack) ran a wishbone offense in high school, but he's not an option quarterback. He's much more of a traditional drop-back QB. He can create some yards with his legs, but he's more of a pocket passer.
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I don't know. Probably. Maybe. What's the difference? We write about sports. Sometimes politics enter the sports worlds that we cover and we write about those topics. But I've never shared my personal politics in my reporting. I've written a lot about Mizzou athletes and coaches using their platform to talk about topics like racial injustice and social issues, but that's not the same as partisan politics.
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Dave. I have few friends at Mizzou and they have been telling me that there are a condsiderable amount of athletes that have come down with Covid19, especially the basketball and football team. They said that they quarantined at a hotel. Could you elaborate on that.
Second how are basketball players doing on recovery with injuries from last year? Good chatting with you! -
MU has not released any recent numbers for athletes who have tested positive for COVID but I'm told there will be some numbers released this week. As of last week, Drinkwitz said there were only two football players with active cases. Most of the basketball players were at last night's march through campus. Yes, there have been positive cases for the other teams on campus. No, I do not believe that is true about quarantining in hotels. As of last week, the chancellor said only four or five students were quarantining at MU facilities and that the school also has contracts with area hotels in case they need more rooms. But as of last week, there were no students using those rooms.As for last year's hoops injuries, Tilmon worked out almost all summer in Columbia and appears recovered from the foot injury that slowed him down last year. Mark Smith had an ankle injury last year and I haven't heard much one way or the other on his recovery.
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MU beat AL in the 1968 Gator Bowl 35-10. After the game Bear Bryant said the Tide couldn’t have beaten a barber college that day. The Tigers also beat AL in Birmingham 20-7 on a Monday night. The most recent results between MU and AL have ended with an average score of AL 40 MU 10. One on those games AL obliterated MU in the SEC championship game 42-10. Without knowing much about this year’s teams, i’m afraid the final score will revert to the average score of the last 3 games. Alabama is still Alabama. Missouri is the great unknown. Last year they were a .500 team but with losses to Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Can HCED inspire the team to be more competetive even against pereniel championship contending teams like Alabama?
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We'll find out in a few weeks. At least Mizzou will have the element of surprise in this matchup. The Tide won't know much about Mizzou's scheme or personnel on offense. At last check Alabama is about a 19-point favorite. That seems low to me, but I think it's natural for everyone to come out of the COVID offseason a little rusty - even Alabama.That said, Alabama is loaded with proven playmakers at receiver and tailback, a strong O-line, lots of returning parts on defense. They don't have an All-SEC returning QB, but Mac Jones has game experience - and there's young talent behind him.
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I've probably heard the most good things about Curtis Luper (running backs) and Bush Hamdan (receivers). Luper is intense. Colorful guy, charismatic, lots of energy. He's got a chance to be a real dynamic recruiter for this staff in St. Louis and anywhere they send him.
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There's a good chance the 2020 team could be a better team than 2019 but have a worse record when you factor in the schedule. No nonconference cupcakes this year. A gauntlet of SEC teams - Bama, LSU, Georgia, Florida. Will this team be better offensively in 2020? The 2019 offense was one of the worst in the Power Five by some measures. Some creativity and playmaker additions at receiver could be enough for this offense to be competent compared to last year. They still have to sort out the quarterback situation. We still don't know how this offensive line is going to come together.Defensively, Mizzou was top 15 nationally in multiple categories. Can this group be better? They'll need some cornerbacks to emerge. They'll need a more consistent pass rush. Someone needs to replace Jordan Elliott's production inside.Overall, this team could go 4-6 and still have a better season if they're competitive against the best teams on the schedule. Don't forget, last year's team won six games but only three against SEC teams: Arkansas, South Carolina and Ole Miss.
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Assuming we have a season in college basketball, what will Coach Martin need to do in terms of finishing in the SEC in order to keep his job after the year? Can't say I'm excited about the current and new recruits, but still highly respect him as a person, so I'm rooting for him. Or should we assume he'll stay another year regardless given how COVID-19 could restrict their ability to buy out the remainder of his contract and hire a quality coach too?
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I can't envision Mizzou paying any significant buyouts in 2021. It just wouldn't make sense financially. The athletics department is shedding costs now, laying off longtime employees who have been loyal workers through multiple regimes. More cuts could be coming as revenues continue to tumble in the fall. I just don't see the school spending $6 million to get rid of a coach who might be the most widely respected person in the entire department. That's not hyperbole. Under normal financial circumstances, then maybe a losing record would be enough to convince Mizzou to pay that buyout and get aggressive to hire someone they believe can win more games. But not under the current situation.
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What do you think the differences will be with different D1 schools one that has football and ones that only have basket ball (SLU, DePaul etc) with dealing with the $$ losses of Covid19? The b-ball schools only lost March Madness ,which I am not sure if they had insurance for and the f-ball schools lost more and some cut other sports.
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The 2020 recruits are the players already on the team. Are you talking about the 2021 recruits? Mizzou has three 2021 commitments. Anton Brookshire committed early but probably could have drawn more high-major interest had he stayed on the market longer. He still could gain more interest. Don't forget, there was no AAU circuit this year because of COVID. He might have attracted more interest had those events happened this spring and summer.Sean Dururgordon, who committed last week, chose Mizzou over Arizona State, Georgia and Auburn. He had several more high-major/Power Five offers.Kaleb Brown also committed recently. He's had offers from Minnesota and Ole Miss.Mizzou has room for as many as six players in the 2021 class, so Martin can afford to take some gambles on players they're targeting.
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Is there a reason why none of the Mizzou athletes/coaches, or any other pro athletes support the police? We hear how they all can walk out of their practices/games with no consequences when any other that would walk out of their job to show some support for the police would be fired? Right now they are upset about the WI incident without knowing all of the facts of the investigation. A police officer was just murdered in the city and NONE of the athletes have said anything about it or even sent out their prayers and respect. The only one that I have seen is Pat Maroon, and your paper hasn’t even reported on that. It kind of seems like a double standard to me....
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Where has anyone in Mizzou athletics said they don't support the police. Shortly after George Floyd was killed, Cuonzo Martin had the police chief of Columbia (a white man) talk and listen to the men's basketball team about both sides concerns and challenges. Drinkwitz has had police talk to his team. The football players/coaches invited local police to join them on their walk through campus back in June. Both Drinkwitz and Martin have gone out of their way to talk about supporting police.The football team didn't walk out of any games or practices. They rescheduled a practice so the players and coaches could spend time discussing ways they want to be more engaged with the community. How is that anti-police?
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There's no reason they shouldn't be better. They've added a productive point guard and their only loss is Reed Nikko. Mizzou will be the most experienced team in the SEC. That has to be a strength for this team. They have to be the kind of team that makes veteran decisions, is clutch late in games and doesn't get rattled on the road. If this team can recapture what was working for that two-week stretch when Dru Smith and Xavier Pinson looked like the best backcourt in the SEC, the Tigers can surprise some people and be a top-six team in the SEC.
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OK. Yeah, Wilmore seemed like a stretch at the time, but they like his size and upside. Chang was a high-major recruit out of high school with a bunch of strong offers. He went to be one of the best programs that's not in a Power Five conference (San Diego State) but is better than a lot of Power Five teams. Mizzou clearly missed out on some of its top targets for the 2020 class. There's no way to spin that.
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There has been talk about bubbles for noconference games. Similar to what we've seen in the NBA and the NHL. I'm not sure how feasible that is for college athletes, but the NCAA is set on having a basketball tournament next March. The pathway there could look very different. The Pac-12 has already said it won't have any games until the calendar flips to 2021. If the Big Ten doesn't play football in 2020 I'm not sure how it can justify playing basketball until after the new year. What does that mean for nonconference games? That's what conference commissioners, athletics directors and coaches are asking right now. A lot is to be decided.