The Morning Commute for Friday, May 2nd, 2025
Welcome to the Morning Commute
If you’re searching for Mizzou news on the Men’s Basketball portal these days, the news is scant. So much so that Matt Harris is posting a portal profile on kU transfer wing Rylan Griffen, despite our belief the marriage between the former Alabama player and the Tigers to be unlikely.
Search a bit further and it’s been days since “Missouri” and “Transfer Portal” found their way into the news cycle. Who is Mizzou pursuing? Who might they sign to finish out their roster?
What if the answer to that question is nobody? Would it be so bad?
Over at Rockm.Plus I’ve been keeping track of all the transfers in and out of the rest of the SEC. Were you aware that Missouri is returning more production than anyone else in the league?
Number one in returning minutes? Missouri
Number one in returning points? Missouri
Number one in returning possessions? Missouri
Continuity is important, even as some teams and coaches have found success in full-on portal overhauls each offseason. Evan Miyakawa, noted data wonk and friend of the site, had a recent blog post talking about the best way to build a roster and overhauling everything is still not the best answer.
Three of this year’s Final Four teams, all 1-seeds, were comprised mostly of players returning to their team from the previous year. Houston, Florida, and Auburn all had at least 69% of their minutes being allocated to guys coming back for another year.
Missouri doesn’t have that much returning, they only have 42.15% of their minutes coming back. And yes that’s still the most in the SEC (which should demonstrate just how much turnover is happening here). But and you should read the whole post from Miyakawa, as it’s much more complicated than just “bring back your players”.
Dennis Gates has 13 players signed on for next season right now. That’s a normal amount of players. Five players don’t have much experience, but there is talent there. If Mizzou entered the season with these 13 (which I don’t fully expect but you never know), I think they’ll be fine.
Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+
- Karen previewed Softball’s weekend series against Georgia and Mizzou will be honoring their seniors, including four-year Tigers Kara Daly, Julia Crenshaw, and Jayci Kruse:
This weekend, they will wrap up their final games at Mizzou Softball Stadium, along with Taylor Ebbs, who joined the team from Kentucky for her final season, and Mya Dodge, the former MVC Player of the Year who came on from UNI last season.
Dodge went yard to help boost the Tigers to a win, and Karen dropped a recap on it last night. You can read everything here.
- Community Service Awards were announced by the SEC, the full info is over on MUTigers.com, but Soccer’s Ashlyn Mills, and Swim & Dive’s Will Whittington were honored for Missouri. There will be an overall winner announced later in May.
- Over at Rock M+, we’re talking about Mizzou Hoops and the stall in the portal:
The goal prior to the off season was getting a “do-everything” combo guard that slotted into the top 3 and a legitimate difference maker in the front court. I think they fell just short on those two spots, but not by much. Mack is a “do-everything” combo guard except for a proven jumper.
Plus much more.
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