The Morning Commute for Friday, February 21, 2025.

Welcome to the Morning Commute

If you’re still buzzing about Wednesday night’s Mizzou Basketball win over #4 Alabama, know that you’re not alone.

Mizzou Hoops may have finally captured their moment in the national spotlight with this win. It’s hard to break through into the national conversation, especially for a program like Missouri. There hasn’t been a second weekend trip in the NCAA Tournament since 2009, and since that trip only one protected seed in the NCAA Tournament. Even in the program’s good years they’ve been relegated to the backline. National conversation tends to float around those at the very top of the polls, and then what’s wrong with (insert your blue blood school here).

But the talk at the national level has been squarely on the SEC, promoting the powerhouse teams of Auburn and Alabama. Both were very noisy in the non-conference slate and have been near or atop the polls all season long.

Really, Missouri isn’t the only SEC team to fly a little under the radar. Florida was doing the same, quietly winning games and moving up the polls. Both the Tigers and the Gators have been the surprise teams at the top of the conference. Alabama and Auburn were expected to be there, as was Texas A&M and Tennessee.

But beating Alabama in a primetime game when no real other important games were happening is an attention-grabbing moment for the Tigers. And it’s done the job.

I’m not particularly a Mark Titus Show watcher but Titus dove in on the Mizzou game during his show yesterday morning. On top of that, the NCAA official site is writing articles explaining the Mizzou season. Winning the Alabama game proves the win over Florida wasn’t a fluke, especially since Missouri’s win over kansas seems to be losing some luster.

If Mizzou can find a way to beat Arkansas on Saturday in Fayetteville, it’s possible they could even crack into the top 10 in the AP Poll, and maybe more important get themselves in line for a top 4 seed in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament.

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Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+

• Last night’s results include baseball dropping a game to UCF as outlined by Matthew Gustafson. And WBB dropped their latest game to 14th ranked Kentucky. And softball went 1-1 on the day with a 1-0 win over Rutgers and a 4-2 loss to 4th ranked UCLA.
• If you’re still buzzing from Mizzou’s win over Alabama (it wasn’t an upset!) then you should read Adeen’s piece on Mark Mitchell’s big day:

Dennis Gates has praised Mitchell’s coachability and more precisely the way he “takes criticism on the chin,” and it’s that aspect of Mark that allows him to continue to grow as the season goes on. The things he did in this game and the traits he displayed were just shown in glimpses early on in the season, but the last four games it has culminated into dominant performances.

Study Hall is also coming this morning, i have some fun stats to present.

• The win over Alabama was enough to slide the Tigers into 4-seed territory. Just gotta keep winning.
• Chad wrote a fun little piece on the history of transfer QBs and the Tigers:

Mizzou’s history of transfer quarterbacks is really thin, and I suppose that’s not surprising overall, as the concept of transferring is a more modern phenomenon. Even so, I was still surprised that my research indicated that the most impactful transfer QBs in program history have been (presented in chronological order):

What if Kelly Bryant never got hurt?

• SBN Reacts for this week is about Spring Football (it’s close!), which transfer are you most excited for?

• Over at Rock M+, we’ve got a cadre of links and articles on the Bama game. Plus some additional notes and stats only on the Forums:

Rim Finishing:

MizzouSeason: 43.7% usage — 1.250 PPSLast Night: 41.4% Usage — 1.500 PPS

AlabamaSeason: 43.6% Usage — 1.240 PPSLast Night: 43.1% Usage — 1.214 PPS

Mitchell was 8-10 at the rim.

Rock M Radio: Prescient talk before Alabama

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