The Morning Commute for Friday, January 17th, 2025.

Welcome to the Morning Commute

If Mizzou takes care of business on Saturday and beats Arkansas, they’ll move to 15-3 overall and 4-1 in the SEC conference. The Tigers sent a shot across the bow by beating kU at home in December, but the real marker was their upset win at Florida. Beating Arkansas will almost certainly move them into the AP top 25 poll. And as Sammy noted yesterday, CBSSports’ Gary Parrish already inserted them into his Top 25 & 1 poll.

If you start at the beginning of January, Missouri would be ranked as the 13th best team in the country per BartTorvik. Now imagine if they’d have just played a bit better against Auburn!

I’m not sure what the ceiling is on this team. At times they look like a Sweet 16 team and others they make you nervous as hell. But the facts are these:

Mizzou’s defensive rebounding rate is 2nd in the conference
Their Free Throw attempts per Field Goal attempt rate is also 2nd in the conference
Their three point shooting offense is 3rd, while their 3 point shooting defense is LAST!
Offensive turnover rate is 17.9% and defensive rate is 20.9%

Three point variance says Mizzou opponents should start shooting a bit worse soon, they’re at 41.7% right now. That’s high. But the bones of the Tigers being pretty great in the KenPom Four Factors is all there (eFG%, TOR%, ORB%, FTA/FGA).

Also, the Tigers are currently 33rd. which is as high the Tigers have been rated since 2021 when they reached 29th. Go beat Arkansas and let’s keep this train rolling in the right direction.

Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+

Resetting of the recruiting, Damon Wilson style! This one from Nathan:

It was an addition they found in Damon Wilson, the 6’4” 250 lbs. rising junior with two years of eligibility remaining. Wilson registered 22 total tackles, six tackles for loss and three sacks for Georgia in 2024 as well as forced and recovered two fumbles. So how does he slot in for the Tigers? Let’s take a look.

Missouri added one of the more elite rushers available and did so up against Ohio State and Texas, that’s pretty cool.

Mizzou also found their new LB coach in Miami’s Derek Nicholson:

He was hired in 2013 to be Akron’s linebackers coach; he then spent a season each at Louisville and Alcorn State before going to Southern Mississippi in 2016. There, he coached the linebackers, defensive line and became co-defensive coordinator in 2018. In 2020, he returned to Louisville as its linebackers coach and spent three seasons there before taking the same position with Miami (FL).

Nothing has yet been confirmed by Missouri, but if Thamel is reporting it the chances are it came from Eli Drinkwitz.

Another tough night for WBB, not many breaks in the SEC (they ARE the break) as they were dispatched by 13th ranked Oklahoma:

Mizzou (11-9, 0-5 SEC) held tight in the first half, hanging with the superior No. 13 Oklahoma (15-3, 3-2 SEC), trailing by seven at the half. But all that hard work went away in a flash, as the Sooners put together an 11-0 run to open the quarter. The home team held that lead the rest of the way, pulling out the win 80-63.

The long march towards the inevitable.

Over at Rock M+, we’re talking about Nicholson, and Mizzou’s updated rotations:

Obviously, there are 14 games left, but the Mizzou staff used the first four games of SEC narrow its focus. Then there are nights like the one we saw in Gainesville, where necessity has Dennis reaching way down the bench for a frosh like Barrett.

Also how recent results have impacted league finishing probabilities.

Rock M Radio: Splits Seconds from Abigail is here!

She’s interviewing sprints assistant coach Jordon Adreassen in this fun episode!

Subscribe to Rock M Radio on Apple Podcasts. Or stream episodes through Megaphone or Spotify. Have a question for us? Leave a 5-star review with your question and that show just might answer it in an upcoming episode!

If you like Rock M Radio drop us a Review and be sure to subscribe on your preferred podcasting platform. Follow @RockMRadio on Twitter and if you heaven’t already head over to our YouTube channel and click that subscribe button!

(** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)