2023 Macadoodles Mailbag: 5th Edition

GD: 1) Obviously I'm rooting for the Chiefs. I'll wait to see who's healthy before I actually make a prediction.

2) Both. Great podcast.

3) This isn't close. That's why Sunday was so big for him. We don't have this discussion for another couple of years at least.

4) Gates for basketball, Drink for football (that's called being diplomatic)

GD: We ran down the top 12-15 targets in The Chamber last week. Right now I think they’re in good shape with T.O. Barrett and have made up a lot of ground on Annor Boateng and Travis Perry.

GD: By ranking, it's Ryan Wingo. The No. 6 player in the country who has friends and high school teammates on the current team and a brother who played here. Missouri will roll out the red carpet. At one point, it seemed like the Tigers had no chance. It no longer seems that way.

GD: It would have been the biggest upset probably in school history. I don't think there's much question about that. As far as best wins? I have a real hard time putting this one at the top because it would have been the difference between 6-6 and 7-5 (yeah, you can make the argument if they beat Georgia there's some tidal wave of momentum, but that's changing a lot of things without any real basis). Missouri has played for championships since 2001. Here's how I'd rank the wins, including a hypothetical win over Georgia:

1) 2007 over Kansas -- It was the biggest game in school history (until the next week).

2) 2013 over Texas A&M -- Making the SEC title game in year two was monumental

3) 2003 over Nebraska -- That was the day Missouri fans started to believe in Gary Pinkel. Like really started to believe.

4) 2014 over Arkansas -- Again, they made the SEC title game because of this

5) 2022 over Georgia -- Beating the No. 1 team, and a juggernaut at that, would have rounded out the top five

GD: Removing all the Chiefs fans.

GD: Not really. Kirby Moore was at Fresno for two years. He wasn't the head coach. He was the OC for one year, he coached wide receivers and quarterbacks. It's not all that shocking nobody has followed him from Fresno halfway across the country. If we're surprised by that, are we surprised no Missouri transfers have landed at Boise State? Moore was hired for Moore, not for any players he might bring.

GD: I would assume mostly breaking down game film, getting to know the talent and the players on the roster and prepping for spring football. He's probably also been doing some recruiting, though the truth about Power Five staffs is that the coordinators are a little less involved in day to day recruiting than the position coaches are. Don't get me wrong, they do it, but they're more focused on game planning and such than they are recruiting on a daily basis.

GD: Definitely a big man. I'll give you your choice of Steve Stipanovich, Derrick Chievous or Doug Smith. Take any of the three. Add that guy to this roster and Mizzou is in the mix for an SEC title and much, much more.

GD: The real answer is there's a lot that has to play out over the next two months before anybody can make a real guess at that. I believe both will go through the draft process. I've already heard talk of NBA teams being interested in working Kobe Brown out. I personally think Isiaih Mosley is the more likely NBA prospect. From what I've seen out of Mosley this year, he can play point guard. He can handle the ball and he's a pretty good passer. He's also a much better defender than was advertised. I'm not sure how Kobe's skillset translates to the NBA. He's not big enough to play inside in the NBA. I don't know that he's a good enough shooter and ballhandler to be a three in the NBA.

I think it also depends a little bit on what Mizzou does over the next two months. If this team wins a couple games in the tournament and plays in the Sweet 16, what else is there for Kobe to do here? But if it doesn't win a tournament game, maybe there's some unfinished business. Right now, I'd put the chances on both right around 50/50. There's just too much still to happen before I can start leaning one way or the other.

GD: Offense: The top priority is finding the quarterback. That goes almost without saying. I will be surprised if it's not Sam Horn or Jake Garcia. Call that an educated guess. Number two needs to be figuring out if you have enough offensive linemen to feel good going into next year or if you have to go out and find more. Number three (and really number one) is figuring out what the guys on the roster do well and tweaking his system to those skills.

Defense: Identify your best guys on the edge and figure out if you need to add someone. This defense was pretty good last year and brings back a lot. The one position where it doesn't is defensive end. The only other thing is to fight against any complacency. Mizzou fans are just assuming everyone's going to get better and the defense will improve from this year. That might happen. It might not. As Eli Drinkwitz always says, progress isn't linear. You can't just assume everyone plays better next year than he did this year.

GD: It can't ever be quite as simple as a specific win total. There's no way you're saying if he wins six he's gone and if he wins seven he's safe. That leaves too much room where you're firing him or keeping him based on a single play or a complete fluke. If it's that close, you fire him.

That said, I don't care what the recruiting class is ranked this year. If he's not showing progress on the field, it tells me maybe the recruiting rankings don't matter as much as we want them to. Again, as a general rule, recruiting rankings matter. There are also exceptions to that. There is much more talent on the Missouri roster this year than there has been the last few years, at least on paper. So it's time for that to translate to success on the field. Again, I'm not going to say at X number of wins he stays and at Y number of wins he goes. I want to see the season. But I'd say if he wins seven in the regular season, he's almost certainly safe. If he doesn't, there will likely be a very tough decision to be made.

GD: It's not chili until you put beans in it.

GD: It's a fair question. We won't know for another year or two. In the first year of Martin, we knew Michael Porter wasn't coming back and as it turned out neither was Jontay Porter. We know D'Moi Hodge, Tre Gomillion and DeAndre Gholston are done. If Kobe Brown and Isiaih Mosley both leave too, then Missouri's going to have something to prove again next year.

But the biggest difference is the recruiting class. Missouri has three top 150 players signed in Trent Pierce, Anthony Robinson and Jordan Butler. They have a well-regarded juco guard in Curt Lewis. Martin's 2018 class wasn't terrible, but it had a four-star who didn't pan out (Torrence Watson), a couple of three-stars who turned into pretty good players (Xavier Pinson, Javon Pickett) and three projects that didn't work. That's too many projects and it's what eventually led to his downfall here. Martin's insistence on recruiting so many players that no other high major schools would take just didn't give him enough talent to succeed.

GD: I drove by the indoor the other day and it's coming together. Should be ready to go next fall I think.

As far as Horn, he may get a few innings out of the bullpen here and there. I don't think he'll be a major factor.

GD: There will be an ACC/SEC challenge next year. If it's done the way the Big 12/SEC challenge is, I think it's largely going to be based on standings (the Big 12/SEC challenge is about standings over a couple-year period, I think). If that's the case, you're probably looking at something like NC State, Duke, Pitt or Miami. But the Florida State thing would certainly make for a great storyline.

GD: I see no benefit to me answering this question. But I'd say Jarod is the betting favorite.

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