Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Eli Hoff in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Live transcript
Eli Hoff:ÌýMorning all, and happy Thursday. I've got a couple notes I want to share to start off the chat, then there's lots of room for your questions and thoughts for the next couple of hours.
or those of y'all who will be following Mizzou softball this weekend as it begins NCAA Tournament play with a home regional, here's a breakdown of the schedule: The Tigers begin the weekend playing Omaha at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
If Missouri wins, it will play at 2 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Washington/Indiana. If it loses, it will enter the consolation bracket and play the loser of UW/IU at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
If Missouri either loses the 2 p.m. Saturday game or wins the 4:30 p.m. game (a confusing way of saying it goes 1-1 in any order), it plays the other 1-1 team at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Sunday determines the regional winner. Whichever team is 2-0 will play whichever team is 2-1 and advancing out of that Saturday evening game. Game times are TBD for Sunday. If the 2-0 team wins, that's that, they move on. If the 2-1 team wins, they play again with the winner of that team then advancing out of the region.
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Double elimination tournaments are just fun and confusing like that. The big thing to track: You need two losses to get bounced and three wins to advance.
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bigron:ÌýEli, enjoy your coverage of Mizzou, anything new on the mens bball transfer portal? Are they still looking to add players?
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Hoff:Ìý
I'll flag what I wrote earlier in the week about this, but I don't have anything new to add. Dennis Gates was optimistic that there would be a transfer portal commitment this week. That still seems possible. He was thinking 1 or 2 more players before summer practices start and they stop looking. Ìý
Matt L:ÌýVery excited to see the college football video game returning. I kept my PS3 around until recently just to play college football 14 I think was the last year. It’ll be that little bit cooler to have the players in the game and I’m glad they’re getting a cut.
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Hoff:ÌýI think that's the biggest indicator that there's demand for the game – people have been playing a decade-old version just to get their fix. For my friends/generation, it was very much a game that we enjoyed when it came out in middle school but will now greatly enjoy having, like, gone through college and seeing it updated.
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Matt L:ÌýDo you know if the Mizzou Arkansas game is scheduled for Black Friday? ESPN shows it on Saturday but my recollection is that it showed the same thing last year and it ended up on Friday again.
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Hoff:ÌýIt's scheduled for Saturday for now. I suppose it could be moved — ESPN will be announcing kickoff times for "special date" games in a couple of weeks, which I assume would include any Black Friday games. I'm not sure if it'll wind up moving up a day like in years past.
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DDD:ÌýBoard of Curators meeting for Friday. Any insight to what it could be?
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Hoff:ÌýThe Mizzou Intercollegiate Athletics Special Committee (aka the oversight committee) will convene Friday afternoon in executive session. It's closed to the public like the other ones have been, so no exact idea of the topic. If I had to guess though, I would say it's something to do with bids from construction managers for the north concourse project. The RFQ process for that closed a little over a week ago. One of the three statutes cited for closing tomorrow's meeting is about discussing sealed bids and proposals. That makes it make sense as a topic in my mind, but again, it's just my inferential guess.
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Regardless of the topic, though, it is notable that the committee is sticking around through the start of the Veatch era. It's not a surprise, but there had been a part of me that wondered whether it would go away once the hire was made. Evidently not.
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Vernon Evans:ÌýOn the mizzou Mens bb teams What incoming freshman and transfer players do you think will have the biggest potential impact on next season?
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Hoff:ÌýFor the freshmen: I think Annor Boateng is the most likely to start. There's a good crop of wings on the roster, so I don't really think it's from Day 1 — I'm not sure he beats out, say, Tamar Bates and Caleb Grill for that role. But he could as the season goes on. I'm really intrigued by Peyton Marshall. He's a big center who had some highlight worthy plays in high school/developmental circuits. He's shed some weight and added some muscle, which will be necessary to be able to stick with the college pace of play. But if he can get there, he could give Mizzou a really unique post presence. I don't know if that happens this year.
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For the transfers, Mark Mitchell has the star power. He could be the focal point of this entire system next year. And he has chemistry with Tamar Bates already. There's a lot to like there. I find Jacob Crews to be the intriguing pick. His size and skillset are of natures that don't often overlap in college basketball, and that could break some teams down. But it's a bet that he's able to step up a level and continue to produce. So those are my two picks for each group of newcomers.
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JohnL:Ìý10 games might be more of a challenge than a lot to Tiger fans realize. Not only are we no longer going to catch teams by surprise, but we lost key defense contributors on the line, linebacker, and secondary positions The 'D was our key to success last year. Ideas?
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Hoff:ÌýWinning 10 games is always a challenge, particularly in the SEC. If it were an easy thing to do, every team in the league would do it. I think it's fair to look at the defense and expect a step back from what it was last year. But it would be just as reasonable to look at the offense, see how much production is returning and expect a step forward there. The offense was good last year. A step forward from there might be enough to be a 10-wins level of good. It won't be a surprise if that's the case. And maybe plays like the 61-yarder and 4th and 17 don't happen. The bigger thing with getting to 10 wins is that there isn't really much margin for error. One bad game against a team that should be a fairly automatic win can put that whole possibility in jeopardy.
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arnezzi:ÌýAt the Griggs-LaPointe fundraiser in STL Tuesday, Coach Gates explained his thinking on having a big roster: 1. Injuries - 5 players had surgery last year; 2. Having enough players to practice (see #1?); 3. Having enough players at practice to pull individuals out for 1-on-1 instruction, an increasingly critical component to practices as vs. 5 on 5 scrimmages.
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Hoff:ÌýI'm glad to hear he articulated the logic at that event to those who were there. Some coaches choose the opposite route, going under the scholarship limit to then give some guys who are walk-ons in terms of playing time scholarships. They have their own reasons for that. But I think Gates' reasoning makes sense, particularly after how last season panned out The only real downside, I think, is that it can be hard for players to find roles when they're one of 15 guys who could conceivably be in the rotation. But that's up to Gates to assuage that during the recruiting process — and he's obviously been able to do that. This approach has worked at Florida State, so it makes sense that he's trying to get that cycle going here.
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arnezzi:ÌýAdding this latest DL from the portal seems like a curious move. Another obstacle in the path to the 2-deep for our 5-star freshman, or further proof of lack of confidence in Gracial.
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Hoff:ÌýI'll share a quote from Eli Drinkwitz that he said back in March in regard to adding players from the portal: "We will be active. The No. 1 core value of University of Missouri football is to always compete. the day quit competing is the day we've accepted mediocrity — we will never do that as long as I'm the head football coach. Every single player knows: Every day, you got gotta be better today than you were yesterday. That's an always compete mindset. None of us are afraid of competition, and we'll be looking to add competition."
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So the move is not a surprising one. Recruiting capital is only worth so much. If a player can't contribute, they can't contribute. Doesn't really matter how many stars they had. Drinkwitz just wants options.
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tigermu99:ÌýEli - have there been a lot of staff/personnel changes in the Athletic Dept since the transition of AD's?
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Hoff:ÌýI only know of one upper-level administrator who followed Desiree Reed-Francois to Arizona. Other than that, I'm not aware of any staff turnover related to the AD change. There could be some – there areÌýa lotÌýof athletic department employees, only some of which I know. Maybe there are some who are waiting to see how they like Veatch. College sports, whether it's in marketing, compliance, administration, operations, etc., seems to be a pretty fast-moving industry. I won't pretend to know what's been going through the heads of those in the Mizzou Arena offices over the last few months.
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arnezzi: When is SEC media days? What players will Drink take with him: Cook, Burden and ??
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Hoff:ÌýMedia days are July 15-18 in Dallas. I imagine Cook goes. Maybe Chuck Hicks or Theo Wease? They both talk to reporters a decent amount. I'm not really sure.
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MO: You say ESPN will announce dates/times for CFB games in a couple weeks. How many MU games can we expect to be announced that day?
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Hoff:ÌýNo idea. I wish I knew. I'd love to start lining up travel to some of these away games. So much of this seems to happen at a level that is made up of the SEC and ESPN. I guess the consolation is that even if times take a couple more months to come out, it'll still be earlier than the 12-day timeline of yore.
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arnezzi:ÌýWhat’s happened to Tavarus Jones? Prior to your time on the beat, he was as widely touted as Roberts and the incoming freshman are now. Then he was supposed to get snaps and didn’t. I think we all understand that it was nearly impossible to take Schrader off the field, but Jones now seems to be an afterthought. Just not showing enough at practice?
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Hoff:ÌýIt's like I said before, that recruiting capital and hype are only worth so much. Mizzou wanted experienced backs during 2022 and 2023. Jones wasn't either of them. Roberts seemed to be ahead of him in the depth chart last season — that was just a talent/what can you bring to the team evaluation. The coaches felt they needed experienced options again this season. We'll see where Jones looks to fall on the depth chart with Roberts and Lacy, the incoming freshman, as the backup running backs vying for touches. It would seem for now he has not done enough to warrant serious consideration for a role.
Tahart27:ÌýOkay, sequel here to comment that I accidentally sent to soon on Mizzou Softball: As great of a season MU Softball has had--and what a remarkable turnaround they have had this season after a bad one last year--I have some concerns about them going into Postseason play. I have watched the team more closely these last weeks, and for what my amateur evaluation is worth, their two biggest strengths are solid pitching and good speed on the basepaths, but their weaknesses are inconsistent play defensively(they mix in some amazing defensive plays with way too many errors, especially by Jenna Laird, whom was a former Gold Glove award winner and now if I'm not mistaken leads the team in errors!) and overall very poor hitting throughout the lineup. I don't know if anyone on the team even has more than 10 HRs! Great pitching is obviously a crucial asset to have, and the Tigers have it in abundance. But the lack of hitting more than anything I fear is what will ultimately do this team in; it's not a good thing when scoring 5 runs in a game for this team is their version of an offensive onslaught.ÌýÌý
Hoff:ÌýI won't pretend to have watched every Mizzou softball game this season as I weigh in here. I think I watched 4 or 5 before the SEC Tournament last week. You're right about the pitching. Laurin Krings might not be as good as some other teams' aces, but she's still an ace and backed by one of the best staffs in the country, including closer Taylor Pannell, who's one save away from the NCAA record. Laird is tied with Kara Daly for the most errors on the team, with 14 apiece. That's uncharacteristic for her track record. The miscues hurt in the SEC title game against Florida, for sure.
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The team has 36 HRs on the season. Nobody has more than 7. Opponents have hit 39 off the Tigers. It really seems like, stylistically, they're happy to win games 2-1, 3-2, etc. It got them this far, but we'll see what that looks like in tournament-based postseason. I don't know whether that style is more or less conducive to winning at this stage of the season.
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Tahart27:ÌýIs Caleb Grill coming back this season? I have not heard if he is or not.
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Hoff:ÌýYes, he is. Or, at least, he didn't enter the portal and hasn't said he's giving up his bonus year of eligibility, which means he's coming back. He earned a masters degree over the weekend, which is cool to see. Caleb Grill and Nick Honor graduated together.
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Tahart27:ÌýWhat to make of Kobe Brown's rookie year with the Clippers? Looking at his game-by-game(when he did actually play) and overall stats, seemed like it was quite a struggle for him. Maybe he'll gradually improve from one season to the next just like he did at Mizzou.
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Hoff:ÌýI didn't watch a minute of what he did this season, unfortunately. Most of the basketball I watched was Mizzou, with a Celtics game here and there and a few other random NBA games. And then Brown wasn't really in the Clippers' playoff rotation, so I didn't see him once I was really watching the pros on the regular. He had to play a very different position for them. He was a big at Mizzou. He's a wing in the NBA. I imagine that takes quite a bit of behind-the-scenes development. But again, I don't have any specific insight into how he performed this year.
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Tahart27:ÌýI attempted to do "The Math" on my own to try to figure out how it is that new Mizzou QB from the transfer portal is said to have 3 seasons of eligibility left. His first year at Notre Dame was 2020--Covid year. So that means he was a true freshman for them in 2021. I figure maybe he ended up getting a redshirt that season, perhaps appearing in 4 games max? So on to 2022, and if I am right about what I just said, that means it was a Redshirt Freshman season for him..2023, a Sophomore at ASU. Wouldn't that make him actually a Jr at MU this year with just 2 years of eligibility left as opposed to 3?
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Hoff:ÌýYou're close on the math. 2020 counted as a covid year. He only appeared in two games in 2021, so that's a regular redshirt. He played a full 2022 season, which counts as his "freshman" year from an eligibility standpoint even though it was his third. He got hurt early in 2023, which allows for a medical waiver to save that year. This season will technically be his "sophomore" year, since it'll burn his second year of eligibility, given that he's preserved three already. That would make 2025 his "junior" year and 2026 his "senior" year. He may never have to leave a campus!
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