Each Wednesday, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond and recruiting editor Pete Scantlebury will answer questions from subscribers in our Tiger Mailbag. This feature will allow for longer, more in-depth answers than you may get on the message board on a daily basis. On to this week's inquiries:
elliott311 asks: How does this Levi Coolley incident affect Mizzous basketball program/ athletic dept? Is this serious enough to have NCAA investigate and what/if any penalties could/should we expect?
GD: Let me answer in reverse order. First of all, I don't think there are any investigations or sanctions on the way. Missouri has looked into it, has dealt with it and I don't believe there is anything further. The quotes I've read indicate to me that Missouri doesn't think there is anything that would indicate an NCAA investigation.
As far as how it effects the basketball program or athletic department, I don't think it really does. I think it will lead to even more self-monitoring by Mizzou as far as who the people are close to their program, but I don't think it changes anything day to day. The only real issue would be if it came out that players were trading tickets for things from Mr. Coolley (be that drugs, services at his car stereo business, etc), but again, from what I've read, that does not seem to be the case at all. I'm not guaranteeing you nothing comes of it, but unless there is more that we don't know about at this point, I don't think it's going to have a real impact on the program.
thepatman02 asks: NBA draft coming up. Do you think any Tigers will get drafted, if so, where?
GD: First off, I'm not a draft expert in any sport and especially not in the NBA. I don't really watch the NBA so I don't know what teams need, what they're looking for, etc. Most projections I've seen give Denmon and English a decent shot at being drafted with Ricardo's name having kind of falled off the radar a little bit lately. I don't know why because, again, I just don't follow it that closely.
As far as Denmon and English go, they've got some attributes that would certainly be attractive to NBA teams. They're both very good shooters and Kimmie has good size for a two guard. Marcus has been proving people wrong who said he couldn't do something for years. The issue for both, I think, is that they don't have a true position. Is English a legit NBA two guard? Maybe, but he never really showcased two-guard skills at the college level. Denmon is probably too small to be a two-guard in the NBA, but does he have point guard skills? I don't know. I think the thing we forget about when it comes to the NBA is just how elite those guys are. There are a lot of guys in the NBA who shoot it just as well as Kim or Marcus (or better), but have four to six inches on them size-wise. The other thing is that the NBA has two rounds. Sixty players will be drafted. And realistically, there are jobs available for about half that many. Again, both have a chance, but neither at this point is a shoe-in.
I know how these things go and I hope no one takes my answer as saying they can't make it, they won't be drafted or they won't be good NBA players. I am certainly not qualified to make that statement. I'm just laying out some of the pros and cons for both.
JoeDec89 asks: With 13 commits so far 1 QB (Hosick), 1 RB (Abbington), 1 WR (Moore), 4 OL (Campos, Gill, Rhodes, Abeln), 1 DE (Loud), 1 DT (Thompson), 2 LB (Burkett and Ramirez), 2 ATH (Penton and Sherrils), what breakdown of positions do you see Mizzou filling the other 12 spots? Is there any word where the coaching staff sees Penton and Sherrils playing?
GD: Let's say there are ten spots left. I think you get one more QB, two more wideouts, one offensive lineman, three defensive linemen, a linebacker (they don't necessarily NEED one, but Eric Beisel is there, so they'd take him for sure), leaving two spots for "best available." Penton is a defensive back. On Sherrils, I'm not positive, he'll start out wherever he chooses.
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