Originally Posted by OKchiefs:
The question then is what do they do at QB going forward? Still not going to do much better if Bazelak is the best they can do at the position.
My guess would be handing the reins to either Tyler Macon or Sam Horn.
Macon was pretty raw but I would still have played him more this year. At least his running ability would have opened up some run game.
Horn looks like the real deal to me. He’s really good. Big arm. Good athlete. Accurate passer. [Reply]
This season has to be looked at as a placeholder in moving towards the future and overturning the roster. It’s frustrating because it feels like with a better QB it could’ve been a more successful season. But it was going to inevitably take more than one year to clean up Odom’s mess. Drinkwitz is billed as a recruiter and with the class coming in next year hopefully we can start truly evaluating the program under him. I just hope the blind allegiance at QB isn’t an issue in the future with other players not performing well. [Reply]
Recruiting day went off without a hitch - even picked up another 4* guy in the process.
Just an outstanding job by Drink to hold this class together despite a pretty rocky season. Definitely bodes well for the future, though new transfer rules makes any of these guys potentially gone the moment they aren't named starters as true freshmen or they get some crazy-ass NIL deal from Barstool Sports...
Hard to believe they have a fringe top 10 class w/ only a 16 man group. Mizzou's highly ranked classes in the past have usually needed 18-20 guys to get there. This really is a potentially foundational class, especially given the talent at key positions.
This isn't going out there and getting a 4* off-ball LB and IOL prospect. This is a 5* WR and 4* guys at QB, RB, DT, Edge, and another WR. All it's really missing is a true anchor OT and frankly there's a non-zero chance that DeShawn Woods (the lone verbal who hasn't signed yet but doesn't seem at risk) could be that guy in his own right.
To get that much high-end talent at critical positions is just not something you see Mizzou doing. Hell of a year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Recruiting day went off without a hitch - even picked up another 4* guy in the process.
Just an outstanding job by Drink to hold this class together despite a pretty rocky season. Definitely bodes well for the future, though new transfer rules makes any of these guys potentially gone the moment they aren't named starters as true freshmen or they get some crazy-ass NIL deal from Barstool Sports...
Hard to believe they have a fringe top 10 class w/ only a 16 man group. Mizzou's highly ranked classes in the past have usually needed 18-20 guys to get there. This really is a potentially foundational class, especially given the talent at key positions.
This isn't going out there and getting a 4* off-ball LB and IOL prospect. This is a 5* WR and 4* guys at QB, RB, DT, Edge, and another WR. All it's really missing is a true anchor OT and frankly there's a non-zero chance that DeShawn Woods (the lone verbal who hasn't signed yet but doesn't seem at risk) could be that guy in his own right.
To get that much high-end talent at critical positions is just not something you see Mizzou doing. Hell of a year.
Really excited for MU football's future. Can't say the same about MU basketball.
Did you see what Drink said in regards to recruiting Burden? Says CuonzNo was instrumental in getting Burden and he probably doesn't come to MU if not for him. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
Really excited for MU football's future. Can't say the same about MU basketball.
Did you see what Drink said in regards to recruiting Burden? Says CuonzNo was instrumental in getting Burden and he probably doesn't come to MU if not for him.
It speaks volumes that Martin is better at recruiting football players than he is basketball ones. [Reply]
Originally Posted by siberian khatru:
It speaks volumes that Martin is better at recruiting football players than he is basketball ones.
I think Duncan had the right of it w/r/t Cuonzo a couple years ago.
It's not that he's necessarily a bad recruiter - it's that he recruits the wrong things. He looks for toughness first, defense second, size third, playmaking fourth and finally shooting.
He just doesn't have a style conducive to winning games in this era. He's focusing his energies on building a team full of Javon Pickett's and that's just not going to cut it.
Yes, flashy wing players w/ range can be hard to get to buy in on defense. Yeah, they can be prima donnas after spending their HS years being coddled by coaches. But you NEED them. You need guys that can hit outside shots and/or create their own looks.
And Cuonzo just seems awfully disinterested in finding them. And even when he stumbles into one, he's too quick to bury them. The fact that Dru Smith is pretty much the perfect player in Cuonzo's eyes says all that needs to be said about the types of teams he's trying to build. Those teams just aren't going to win at a high level.
There's room for a few Jordan Geists on your squad but you've gotta have Kassius Robertson and Jordan Barnett to provide the scoring punch around them. Cuonzo just seems to disagree. [Reply]
It really is pretty damn amazing that Mizzou and Drink can pull a borderline Top 10 class (depending on which rankings you look at) in the country. This is an example of what having a strong and charismatic head coach that emphasizes recruiting can do for you if you play in a conference like the SEC. No way in hell, even with 'locking down the borders' does Mizzou pull a class like this in the old Big 12. Hell, even Kentucky, a basketball school, that has had some success recently on the field is pulling in a Top 15 class. This really could be a program defining class for Mizzou going forward and completely change their trajectory.
They'll never be up there with the Alabama's and Georgia's, but no reason they can't be in that second tier if they can continue this momentum going forward.
Most surprising? (outside of Mizzou of course) I'd have to say Florida. I mean, I know they had a down year and just fired their head coach and their football program is a bit of a mess right now, but did you ever think you'd see the day that the University of Florida had a football recruiting class outside of the Top 50?!? Crazy [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
I think Duncan had the right of it w/r/t Cuonzo a couple years ago.
It's not that he's necessarily a bad recruiter - it's that he recruits the wrong things. He looks for toughness first, defense second, size third, playmaking fourth and finally shooting.
He just doesn't have a style conducive to winning games in this era. He's focusing his energies on building a team full of Javon Pickett's and that's just not going to cut it.
Yes, flashy wing players w/ range can be hard to get to buy in on defense. Yeah, they can be prima donnas after spending their HS years being coddled by coaches. But you NEED them. You need guys that can hit outside shots and/or create their own looks.
And Cuonzo just seems awfully disinterested in finding them. And even when he stumbles into one, he's too quick to bury them. The fact that Dru Smith is pretty much the perfect player in Cuonzo's eyes says all that needs to be said about the types of teams he's trying to build. Those teams just aren't going to win at a high level.
There's room for a few Jordan Geists on your squad but you've gotta have Kassius Robertson and Jordan Barnett to provide the scoring punch around them. Cuonzo just seems to disagree.
Or he is just losing the blue chips in-state recruits like every coach not named Quin Snyder has since the early 90s. It's not like isn't recruiting the Caleb Loves, EJ Lindells types. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
Or he is just losing the blue chips in-state recruits like every coach not named Quin Snyder has since the early 90s. It's not like isn't recruiting the Caleb Loves, EJ Lindells types.
1 and dones make the blue chippers almost impossible for a school like Mizzou, though.
In CFB you can get those because Alabama and Georgia and whoever else has 3 years worth of 4 and 5 star recruits stacked up on each other and you can pitch playing time to those kids. You can go to Luther Burden and say "you have a genuine chance to be our #1 receiver from Day 1" - 'Bama can't say that. 'Bama has 4-5 guys just like him on the depth chart with a couple years of experience already.
Meanwhile in CBB, sure maybe some team has a class of 3 top 50 guys this year, but 2 of those 3 are going pro after a single season so as a recruit you know you'll always have an immediate shot at playing time regardless of the program you go to. So you'll gravitate to the Blue Bloods.
What Mizzou needs to do is find 3-4 year players with good jump shot mechanics who just need to be taught how to play defense. Guys that are fringe top 100-150 guys with tools you can develop. What they need to do is find 2-3 guys like Xavier Pinson every cycle and NOT run them out of the program.
But what Cuonzo seems to be doing, instead of figuring out how to harness/retain someone like Pinson, is just stop recruiting them outright. [Reply]
Originally Posted by siberian khatru:
It speaks volumes that Martin is better at recruiting football players than he is basketball ones.
Martin is a great person and mentor. He wins with parents. His style just sucks for modern basketball and for scoring-minded guys.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
I think Duncan had the right of it w/r/t Cuonzo a couple years ago.
It's not that he's necessarily a bad recruiter - it's that he recruits the wrong things. He looks for toughness first, defense second, size third, playmaking fourth and finally shooting.
He just doesn't have a style conducive to winning games in this era. He's focusing his energies on building a team full of Javon Pickett's and that's just not going to cut it.
Yes, flashy wing players w/ range can be hard to get to buy in on defense. Yeah, they can be prima donnas after spending their HS years being coddled by coaches. But you NEED them. You need guys that can hit outside shots and/or create their own looks.
And Cuonzo just seems awfully disinterested in finding them. And even when he stumbles into one, he's too quick to bury them. The fact that Dru Smith is pretty much the perfect player in Cuonzo's eyes says all that needs to be said about the types of teams he's trying to build. Those teams just aren't going to win at a high level.
There's room for a few Jordan Geists on your squad but you've gotta have Kassius Robertson and Jordan Barnett to provide the scoring punch around them. Cuonzo just seems to disagree.
Obviously I agree (since this is all based on something I've been saying about CuonzNO since he was even rumored to be the coach). He got a lot of security in his contract because of the Year 1 tourney bid, and he did not enjoy the Porter experience.
So I think he just decided he was going to recruit guys he liked and wanted to deal with and not deal with anyone he didn't. Flighty personalities need not apply.
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
Or he is just losing the blue chips in-state recruits like every coach not named Quin Snyder has since the early 90s. It's not like isn't recruiting the Caleb Loves, EJ Lindells types.
There's officially recruiting a guy, and there's recruiting them HARD. He hasn't gone hard after a lot of good in-state players because he doesn't like them.
He'd rather have his grinders with no skill that he sees himself in, and believes he can teach how to shoot. [Reply]