Each Wednesday, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond 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. To have your question in next week's mailbag, send an email to Gabe at powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries:

BarnesTimothy asks: You and the rest of the PM staff are doing mock football and basketball drafts using only current and former Tigers. This is not fantasy sports, as to say you are not only working towards statistics, but to build the best possible team. You have the first pick in both. Who do you choose? This does not necessarily mean the best player in each team's history. You can factor in importance of position, leadership, etc. Assume you are getting four years of each player.

GD: Great question. Football's a no-brainer. You have to take a quarterback. And Chase Daniel was the best quarterback in school history. So I'm going with Daniel.


In hoops, I think you can go a few different ways. A lot of people want to start a team with a big man. If that's true, you might lean toward Steve Stipanovich. Some will want a point guard, in which you could make an argument for Melvin Booker or Willie Smith. Some just want the most talented player no matter what position he plays. If that's the route, you might take Anthony Peeler. But I'm going to go with the guy that blends a little bit of all of those. I'm going with a guy who could play down low, could pass, could step out top and, in my opinion, was one of the three most purely talented players in Tiger history. To start my team, I want Derrick Chievous. I went back and forth before deciding on the Band-Aid man over Doug Smith, who would join Peeler, Willie Smith and Stipo on my all-time starting five.

ZouFan27 asks: Let's say Chaney is hired by Pinkel, what can we expect to see offense wise. Could we see increased improvement in the passing and running schemes? And before you state it, yes I'm aware of the success with the current running schemes but I'd like to think that the offense would shift to employing bigger RBs.

GD: As we have stated previously, Missouri will continue to run the spread. Now, that doesn't mean the offense is exactly the same as last year. Whoever they hire will put his own spin on it. What I personally like about Chaney is that he has a varied background. He did really well running a wide open spread with Drew Brees at Purdue, but he did real well last year running a more pro-style set with Tyler Bray and a couple of NFL-bound receivers. The best coordinators (and head coaches) tailor their system to the talent they have on campus. Now, you want to recruit kids who fit your system, but let's say you get a quarterback who has different strengths, then you tailor your offense to that quarterback. Chaney has shown a willingness and ability to do that. The Tigers will run the spread, but whoever runs it will put his own stamp on the 2013 version.

objectivitycave asks: How many losses is Missouri going to incur with the transfer of maybe the best player on their basketball team? Is your preseason prediction still holding strong, or has it changed? 

GD: I like Mike Dixon and his game, but I don't think he was better than the third best player on this team. That aside, my prediction hasn't changed. I'm going with about a 25-6 regular season, which is what I predicted before the year. Missouri is worse without Dixon, but the SEC is also worse than I thought.

mutigerscott asks: What is the latest on the NCAA investigation of Miami & Frank Haith?  Has it finally ended?

GD: No clue. And, honestly, at this point, I don't think it matters. The man is 38-6 in his first 44 games. Let's say, as I predict, they end the regular season 26-5. You're talking about 56-10. At that point, I don't think there's really anything he could have done at his last job to warrant Missouri letting him go.



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