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Nov. 19, 2009
Missouri's match-up with Memphis pitted two coaching friends against each other
Memphis’s win over the Tigers on Wednesday night had meant a lot for both teams, and especially for the head coaches -- Memphis's Melissa McFerrin and MU's Cindy Stein. The two first met when they were assistant coaches at Central Michigan from 1984-1986 and have remained close ever since.
“Melissa is one of my best friends,” Stein said. “I feel like I have a lot of coaching friends, but Melissa is one of my dearest and truest friends. She is one of the most trusted people of my circle. I think she’s a terrific coach. We challenge each other basketball wise and every aspect. It’s hard going up against her.”
McFerrin echoed those statements when she said she had been looking forward to the trip Memphis made to Missouri.
“I told the players before the game it didn’t matter, and I lied,” McFerrin said. “This place is special to me. I got joy in my heart for my players but sadness in my heart because this is a program I care about a lot. Cindy is one of my dearest friends. She came to Missouri and really put Missouri back on the map in terms of women’s basketball. Cindy truly loves this place and the people that she works with, and she’s a great representative of the University of Missouri.”
McFerrin was asked who would win in a game of one-on-one between the two coaches.
“Cindy would beat me,” McFerrin said. “Cindy will tell you that she will beat me too. She might be lying but I’m going to say that she would beat me. She’s tough.”
Missouri basketball prepares for life without Tiller
On Tuesday, the Tigers earned an opening-night win over Tennessee-Martin but suffered a loss along the way. Senior guard J.T. Tiller left the game in the second half with a bone bruise to his left foot that will keep him out, at the very least, through Sunday’s game against Texas-Pan American in the opening round of the South Padre Island Invitational.
“We’re certainly not happy that he got hurt, but at the same time, we’re relieved that he’ll have an opportunity to cast it up, heal it up and get ready to play,” coach Mike Anderson said. “The healing process is just a matter of time. There will be a little pain, but the guy played with a broken wrist all year long (last season). So that tells you his makeup.”
Tiller is the team’s top returning scorer from the 2008-2009 season, and was called the “face of the team” by Anderson in the preseason. Replacing his production and leadership will not be an easy task. But the Tigers have other players ready to step up and fill the void.
“He’s the key to our team,” senior guard Zaire Taylor said. “So with him out of the picture, everybody’s got to step up – me, Marcus (Denmon), Laurence (Bowers) and the rest of the guys. Leadership is definitely going to have to improve. Especially from myself, Keith (Ramsey), Justin (Safford) and some of the guys who have been around for a little while.”
On top of Tiller’s injury, sophomore guard Kim English hit his head in the opener, and is dealing with shooting problems. But Anderson sees no reason to worry.
“He got popped pretty good, and I thought he was different even at halftime,” Anderson said. “But we’ll get him to work out at practice here. He’s important in what we’re doing. He’s pressing, that’s all. Sometimes you want to do something so bad, you work so hard and you want to showcase that. But once things start happening, you better really watch out then.”
Nov. 15, 2009
Reports: highly-rated recruit commits to MU basketball
According to reports, Missouri bolstered a solid recruiting class today by getting a commitment from Tony Mitchell.
Gabe DeArmond of powermizzou.com confirmed this afternoon Mitchell gave a verbal commitment to play for the Tigers.
Mitchell is ranked as the No. 15 recruit in the class of 2010 by rivals.com and has a five-star rating from the site. ESPNU 100 ranked him at No. 57.
The six-foot-six-inch forward comes out of Pinkston High School in Dallas and had also considered Georgetown and North Texas, according to espn.com.
Mitchell attended Missouri’s exhibition finale against Northwest Missouri State on Friday. The commitment comes at the end of a busy week for Missouri basketball. On Friday Missouri announced the signings of Kadeem Green, Rick Kreklow and Phil Pressey.
Pressey is listed as the No. 31 recruit in the class of 2010 by espn.com.
Nov. 13, 2009
Fantasy Football: Underperforming wide receivers
Wide Receivers are kind of like Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks; they’re either hit or miss. I have always hated receivers, mostly because I never draft the right ones (Greg Jennings of the Green Bay Packers this year) and always end up trading them away for better running backs.
Despite being in the core of a fantasy line up, receivers are the least reliable players. Certain wide receivers will inevitably prevail at the top such as Indianapolis’ Reggie Wayne and San Diego’s Vincent Jackson. However, the rest of the elite wide receivers have had some inconsistency.
Wayne is the clear-cut number one receiver right now. The Colts’ wide out has a touchdown in five of the last six games and hasn’t had less than six receptions during that span. The Colts aren’t slowing down anytime soon, and neither is Wayne.
The Chargers’ Jackson has had similar success with a touchdown in four straight games. He has been taking pretty much all of Antonio Gates’ touchdowns this season, which is great for Jackson but bad for Gates’ owners like myself.
Jackson and Wayne seem to be the only consistent elite receivers. The Arizona Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald put up a monster game last week against the Chicago Bears, but he didn’t have a touchdown in the two weeks before that.
Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans hasn’t had a touchdown in four weeks. The New England Patriots’ Randy Moss has had one giant game (150 yards, three touchdowns) but only has touchdowns in the three of his eight games this season.
Marques Colston of the New Orleans Saints, Chad Ochocinco of the Cincinnati Bengals, and Brandon Marshall of the Denver Broncos have experienced similar inconsistencies.
The solution? There probably isn’t any good answer. Wide receivers are emblematic of the unpredictable nature of Fantasy Football. Luck can play just as a strong of a factor as talent can. I guess that’s what makes the game exciting. Or incredibly frustrating.
The only thing to do is try to have a balance. If you have hit or miss guys like Ochocinco, try and balance them with possession receivers like the Patriots’ Wes Welker or the Packers’ Donald Driver. No matter what Ochocinco does, possession receivers will put up consistent stats akin to what running backs post.
However, I am getting sick of all this wide receiver talk. Several weeks back I wrote an article on running backs. Click here to check it out.
At that time I was down on New York Jets running back Thomas Jones. So, it is only natural for him to explode in the weeks since then. Jones is definitely someone to target right now. He has gotten over twenty carries in each of his last three games, and the running back by committee system that was in place earlier in the year is clearly gone.
Five of his seven remaining games are cakewalks (Week 17 doesn’t apply to most Fantasy leagues). In this span he faces some of the worst run defense in the NFL including the Buffalo Bills, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Look for him to explode in these upcoming weeks until he has to face a stingy Colts’ defense Week 16.
Four Missouri teams sign recruits this week
This week a handful of athletes took pens to paper and signed on to become future Missouri Tigers.
The men’s basketball team and women’s basketball, volleyball and gymnastics teams all announced commitments from recruits the past few days.
The Tigers basketball squad welcomed three signees: Kadeem Green, Rick Kreklow and Phil Pressey. Pressey is a guard from Dallas and is the son of former NBA player, Paul Pressey.
Last season he averaged 19 points and 10 assists for Dallas Episcopal and is ranked No. 31 in ESPNU’s Top-100 of the class of 2010.
Kreklow attends Rock Bridge High School in Columbia and is the son of Missouri volleyball coach, Wayne Kreklow.
Rick Kreklow is a six-foot-five-inch shooting guard who hit 56 3-pointers for the Bruins last season. Green comes out of Charlotte, N.C., and is a six-foot, nine-inch power forward. He has an 87 rating by ESPNU.
As Wayne Kreklow’s son prepared to sign his letter of intent, his dad was involved with some recruiting matters of his own.
The Missouri volleyball team received commitments from Molly Kreklow and Lisa Henning—both top 50 recruits.
Kreklow hails from Delano, Minn., and is the niece of Wayne Kreklow. She is a six-foot setter who was named an AAU All-American the past two seasons.
Henning is a Blue Springs, Mo., product who led her team to a runner-up finish in this year’s state tournament.
She is a middle blocker/outside hitter.
The Missouri women's team announced the signing of two recruits--Maggie Flynn of Troy, Mich., and Paige Spietz of Brimfield, Ill.
As juniors last season, Flynn averaged 18.1 points a game and Spietz averaged 17.9 points a game.
As Missouri gymnastics prepares for the start of its season, it welcomed four future members of the squad.
Cathryn Aliceaacosta of Houston, Taylor Medrea of Britton, Mich., Brittani Price of New Lennox, Ill., and Katelyn Trevino of Ovilla, Tex. signed letters of intent this week.
Nov. 12, 2009
Volleyball team notes
The program added two top-50 national recruits to its 2010 recruiting class. Setter Molly Kreklow (Delano, Minn.) is ranked as the No. 20 national recruit according to Prepvolleyball.com. She led Delano to a 27-2 record this year and is heading to the state championships later this month. Kreklow is the niece of coach Wayne Kreklow.
Outside hitter/middle blocker Lisa Henning (Blue Springs, Mo.) led Blue Springs High School to a 36-5-1 overall record and a Class 4A Missouri State High School Activities Association runner-up finish in 2009. She finished the season with 273 kills on a .385 hitting percentage.
Nov. 11, 2009
Missouri women's basketball features four seniors
The 2009-10 installment of Missouri women’s basketball is headed by four seniors, the most in three seasons.
A strong core at the head of the class has never hurt the Tigers. In 2007, they finished with a 17-14 overall record when led by a seven-member senior class. After that group graduated, they dropped below .500 for the next two years and are now picked to finish last in the Big 12 in the preseason poll.
But with a big exhibition win under their belt and the regular season tip-off approaching, the Tigers seem rejuvenated by a new class of seniors.
Of the senior class, all four have potential to be impact players this season.
Let’s take care of the obvious first: forward Jessra Johnson has dominated inside for the past two years, leading the team in rebounds and always getting high numbers in blocks and scoring. But it’s the other three seniors who may be sleeper stars, as all are coming off junior seasons that lagged in comparison to their sophomore showings.
Both forward Amanda Hanneman and guard Toy Richbow thrived in 2007-08 before fading last season. Hanneman sunk 41 three-pointers as a sophomore, only to see her points and minutes per game plummet as a junior. Richbow started 28 games at point guard and led the team in assists two years ago, followed by five starts and meager productivity last year.
The fourth member at the top, forward Marissa Scott, also saw her minutes and numbers dip in her junior year.
But the exhibition win over Central Missouri on Sunday could be a glimpse of a comeback for these players, as Hanneman scored a career-high 20 and Richbow played 38 minutes.
No matter how they produce on the stat sheet in the coming weeks, the senior group has the rest of the team focused and ready for game one.
“As a whole they have stepped up with the team and [kept] us focused on the goal we have at hand,” junior forward Shakara Jones said Sunday. “This is their last go-around and we want to make it special for them.”
Wrestling opens season against Illinois
MU wrestling will start off the season on Thursday night at 6:30 at the Hearnes Center against border rival Illinois. Last season, MU finished in 7th place at the NCAA Tournament, while the Illini finished No. 8.
Both teams enter with five wrestlers ranked among the top 25 in the nation in their respective weight class. For Missouri, three of those wrestlers are returning All-Americans. Illinois also had three All-Americans last season, but lost two to graduation, and will redshirt 133 pound wrestler Jimmy Kennedy this season.
Missouri will see two new faces in its lineup at 133 pounds and 197 pounds. Redshirt freshman Nathan McCormick will be the third McCormick to wrestle for MU, and will wrestle at 133 pounds. Redshirt freshman Brent Haynes will also be making his Missouri debut, wrestling at 197 pounds. Haynes will take on three-time NCAA qualifier and ranked No. 12, Patrick Bond.
This is the first time in 10 years that Illinois is not ranked in the preseason poll. Redshirting Kennedy could benefit the Illini in the long run, but it will be a major loss this season, since they no longer have a true face to their program. Illinois might start off strong since Missouri struggles in the lower weight classes, but Missouri should win this dual fairly easily, especially once the depth of Missouri's upper weights starts to show.
Oct. 24, 2009
Fantasy Football: Looking beyond the top two running backs
Adrian Peterson of the Vikings and the Jaguar’s Maurice Jones-Drew are the top two scoring running backs in standard fantasy leagues. That’s no surprise since they were drafted to perform to that caliber.
However, the breakdown after those two is surprising: the Raven’s Ray Rice, the Dolphin’s Ronnie Brown, the Titan’s Chris Johnson, the Jet’s Thomas Jones and the Bengal’s Cedric Benson.
If we take a closer look at these numbers we can weed out Johnson since his numbers were inflated after a 45-point Week Two. My blog last week focused on my man crush on that bad little dude Rice. Check out last week’s blog entry for more information about his situation.
Don’t look now but Brown is a top five back. After a bad Week One, Brown’s lowest scoring week is 11, with his other three games more than 20. He is looking better than a lot of other backs and you might be able to get him cheaply if you act quickly.
Even more, his playoff matchups (Weeks 14, 15 and 16) are out of this world. He faces the Jaguars, Titans and Texans. The Jags and the Titans have two of the worst defensives in the NFL, so you can basically ride Brown to your championship game.
Although I’m set on Brown, I don’t quite know what to make of Jones. He exploded against the Bills last week, but they also have the worst rushing defense in the NFL. What worries me most about Jones is he is in a running back by committee with two other solid backs, Leon Washington and Shonn Greene. Washington has been getting double digit carries most games. I see too much talent in that backfield to trust Jones. Furthermore, the team just reminds me of Mike Shanahan’s Broncos and how he seemed to deliberately destroy fantasy teams.
Lastly, big ups to Benson coming out of nowhere. The Bengal’s running back is third in rushing yards and is turning into a reliable running back. The team struggled against the Texans last week, but that was largely because the Bengals were playing from behind after giving up two scores. However, tread carefully with Benson because his upcoming schedule includes the Bears, a bye week, the Ravens and the Steelers. His schedule lightens up a bit after and I think you can expect him putting up some solid stats along the lines of 80 yards and scattered touchdowns.
Predicting fantasy football week-to-week can be hard, but looking into the future and finding trends is just a matter of looking at stats. Check out any site, such as ESPN, to get your fix.
Oct. 23, 2009
Missouri soccer keeps momentum with win over Iowa State
The Missouri women’s soccer team honored its seniors Friday night at Walton Stadium. There was a pregame ceremony, but perhaps the more fitting recognition of the class of 2010 was a 3-1 defeat of Iowa State to keep the Tigers’ record spotless in conference play.
“It’s all dedicated to [our seniors],” sophomore forward/midfielder Jessie Crabtree said. “They motivate us every morning in practice. They’re there for us every single time we need them. This one was a big-time win for them.”
It was Crabtree who scored the game-winning goal in the second half. The score was knotted at one goal apiece, and a corner kick from senior forward Kristin Andrighetto headed straight toward the net. As senior forward Michelle Collins went up for the ball, it eventually ended up in the goal off Crabtree’s body.
Andrighetto, one of the seniors honored before the game, was Friday’s star. She scored two goals and kicked the corner kick that was credited as an assist that produced the game-winning tally. The goals were her sixth and seventh of the season.
Andrighetto overtook Collins for the team lead in points with 18 on the year. She also moved into sole possession of second place on the Missouri all-time goal scorer’s list. She has 34 career goals.
“It’s definitely a really special game,” Andrighetto said. “We wanted to come out really hard and win and continue to do well in the Big 12. It was really exciting, especially because my parents are here.”
The pregame ceremony featured the seniors being individually recognized. Each walked through a tunnel of their underclassmen teammates before reaching their parents, who stood with them on the player’s number, which was painted on the field. A highlight video of each senior played on the video board as the public address announcer listed their career accomplishments.
The six seniors honored were midfielder Bree Thornton, midfielder Meghan Pfeiffer, defender Crystal Wagner, goalkeeper Tasha Dittamore, midfielder Michelle Makasini and Collins and Andrighetto.
The first half ended in a scoreless tie, but the Tigers struck first in the second half. Andrighetto netted her first goal of the night off an assist from freshman defender Kellie Gavigan. Missouri’s first goal came just over four minutes into the first half.
Iowa State would answer with a goal from senior forward Amanda Nimtz with about 23 minutes remaining in the game. Crabtree’s game-winner came five minutes later, and Andrighetto added the insurance score for her second goal of the night 15 seconds after that.
The Tigers’ record improved to 11-4-3 overall and 6-0-2 in the Big 12. They have two games remaining before the Big 12 Tournament. Their next match comes Sunday when they will play host to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at 1 p.m.
