The 2018/’19 regular season is in the books for Mizzou hoops as they finish with a paltry and disappointing 14-16 record (5-13 in conference) but we are looking ahead to good things to come under coach Cuonzo Martin and the football Tigers are hard at work on the gridiron as spring football is underway. Welcome to the Mizzou Monday Mailbag 3-11-19 edition.
Josh Barker asks: How many new helmet combos will we see this year? Noticed a recruit wearing a black helmet with the navy tiger on it.
This year saw the inclusion of several new designs. Some people liked and some were much maligned by Tiger faithful. For me, a school like Missouri can and should do whatever it wants with regards to helmets and uniform combinations because they don’t have a large and identifiable tradition to go off of. I think that, in 2019, you will see even more original designs and the recruits seem to love them so it’s a trend that will likely continue.
Josh also asks: Why did (the 2019 Missouri Tigers) have so much trouble finishing games?
That’s going to happen with teams as young and under-talented as this team was this season. You’ve got a solid neucleus of players that are trying to learn how to win and you also had some hold-over players from the Kim Anderson era that are just, frankly, not good enough. Add in the loss of your two best players in Porter and Smith and you get exactly what this season brought.
Roger Ship asks: What is the latest news on Mizzou’s NCAA appeal and do you have any info?
Roger, I probably know about as much as you do at this point. The NCAA has been alerted of Missouri’s intent to appeal and now it’s the waiting game. It’s likely that we will not hear a final result until sometime during the Fall. I will say that these type of sanctions just don’t ever seem to be overturned by the NCAA although Mizzou is doing the right thing by going on the offensive after cooperating fully during the investigation.
Dusty Vines-Mudd adds: What is Mizzou going to do if the appeal is denied and stands as given?
At that point Dusty there won’t be much Mizzou can do except accept the sanctions and move on. Obviously, this would set the precedent to the NCAA that no school should EVER cooperate with an investigation and the model will be clear: lawyer up and shut up from here on out.
Greg White writes: Explain “Tiger Sytle” to me in Mizzou wrestling. What’s it take to compete for a team championship?
#tigerstyle represents much more than a simple hashtag; it’s an attitude and an expectation. Mizzou wrestling has been very good for a long time now and the squad just notched its 8th straight MAC conference championship. There are a lot of traditional wrestling schools in the Midwest, east coast etc that are hard to unseat for team titles although Mizzou has been right there in the thick of it a few times recently. You also see former Mizzou wrestlers like Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren excel in the MMA world and they certainly take that #tigerstyle attitude to the next level.
