Man oh man. The 2010-2011 version of the Missouri Tigers basketball team has been fun to watch. Even their lone, heart-breaking, defeat was an heart stopping game from start to finish. While the Tigers haven't exactly played the nations toughest schedule, they haven't played the weakest either. Mizzou has played quality basketball teams in Georgetown, and Vanderbilt, and have another chance at a quality win or two with Illinois and Old Dominion on the horizon. At many times this season, however, it has been very apparent that Mizzou misses the veteran leadership that last year's group had in guards J.T. Tiller and Zaire Taylor. This year, the junior class, led by guards Marcus Denmon and Kim English and Forward Lawrence Bowers was set to take over and lead this team (the Tigers have only one senior, Forward Justin Safford, who is still, according to Coach Mike Anderson, only at about 75 or 85 % after an ACL injury sustained last season). Those three, combined with the continued development of sophomore PG Michael Dixon, and one of the nations premier recruiting classes (brothers Phil and Matt Pressey, Ricardo Ratliffe, Ricky Kreklow and Kadeem Green) had many forecasting the Tigers to finish in the upper half of the Big XII and a preseason ranking in the top 15 of both polls. While these young Tigers have shown many flashes of things to come, the team at times, has had breakdowns in fundamentals and problems taking care of the basketball, all of which are things head coach Mike Anderson values. In a couple of games, free throws have been an issue as well, be it not making them, or not getting to the foul line enough. The Tigers have had issues guarding the three point line, and have given up a lot of open looks at the basket. All of these things led to a loss to Georgetown, a closer than expected game at Oregon an overtime thriller with Vandy and close games all throughout with the likes of Western Illinois, Wyoming and LaSalle. While it would be easy to look at the results thus far and forecast problems down the road in conference play, I don't think thats the way to view this team. No, this team is young. Sure, with four (techincally six when one includes the JuCo players) upperclassmen, they're not young age wise, but they are young in experience. The three juniors are stepping into leadership roles for the first time in their college careers, while the JuCo players are getting their first taste of Division I basketball. This team will continue to improve and get better as players gradually become more comfortable in their new roles. Once this happens, look for the players who have been uncharacteristically struggling thus far (English, and Bowers head this list) to begin to play with more confidence and for the young players to continue to get better and show the talent that lead this group to be one of the more promising classes in the country. It's probably unreasonable to expect the Tigers to make a real serious run at the final four this season (though it's completely reasonable to expect them to be playing in the sweet sixteen) or even to win the conference (though it could happen) this team will be fun to watch, and will be able to play with anyone in the country. I've personally been pinpointing next season for three years now as the target year for Mizzou's first final four in school history, and as of now, I stand by that. But, I wouldn't be upset if it came a year early.
Just some quick thought on the St. Louis Cardinals off-season so far. After reading some extremely different takes (Joe Posnanski of SI and Jeff Gordon of the Post-Dispatch) on the recent trade of SS Brendan Ryan to the Mariners for a pitching prospect who was at high A ball at seasons end last year, I've developed some thoughts of my own; not just on that trade, but all off season developments thus far.
First off, I don't think the Cardinals are taking seriously the very real possibility that, at the current pace of things, franchise cornerstone Albert Pujols could be a free agent at this time next year. If that happens, teams led by the Angels, Mets, and yes even the Cubs (never count out the Yankees, but they're pretty set at the moment) could all very easily outbid the Cardinals for the three time MVP as it seems Pujols will probably not take a "hometown discount". Now, I know Cards GM John Mozeliak has said negotiations between the team and Pujols and his agent, Dan Lozano will be kept private. That being said, Mo hasn't held back when the two sides have met, he's just kept the contents of the meetings private. It just doesn't seem like there's a lot of urgency, especially on the part of the Cardinals, to get a deal done before spring training. Am I a die hard Cardinals fan over-reacting? Perhaps, but even still it's hard to ignore the warning signs that go back to last off-season. And make no mistake, with Pujols' (understandable) unwillingness so negotiate once spring training begins, if the team doesn't have a deal with him in place by the middle of February, the great Albert Pujols will become a free agent, and yes, that freaks me out.
As far as the other things, I was glad the Cardinals retained starter Jake Westbrook. This makes the starting rotation more of a sure thing heading into camp this spring then last, which is always a good thing. As far as the Hawksworth for Theriot trade and the Brendan Ryan trade, I'm luke warm. There are those that think the Cardinals are being extremely short sighted in the way they're building this team, as they also signed aging outfielder Lance Berkman. BUT one can't ingore that the team did seem to lose some sort of focus or intensity the second half of last season, and all indications are Brendan Ryan didn't fit in well in the clubhouse, and was not in the best standing of Tony LaRussa. TLR likes to have his kind of guys around, and let me tell you something, he's won in the past doing that. So what this comes down to is, the pressure shifts to the management. They got rid of a fan favorite, and have a veteran team, so now it's time to win. I'm a huge, huge supporter of Tony LaRussa, but a lot of the off season moves have been things that he wanted to see happen. If they don't win in 2011, I'll be the first to point fingers at him. So now, just go win baseball games and get back to the playoffs.
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