Blowin' Smoke Presented by Weston Tobacco

What's more fun than us giving you a chance to mock us every single week? In our new feature, Blowin' Smoke presented by Weston Tobacco, we will do that each and every Thursday. Gabe DeArmond and Mitchell Forde will make five predictions almost sure to go wrong every week in this space. These will range from big games to big picture predictions with a bit of the comedic and absurd mixed in most weeks as well.

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Gabe: Will they? Maybe. Should they? No. Not unless you get an impact transfer who can help, preferably maybe even one who has to sit out. Those guys might be out there. I don't really spend much time poring over the portal these days. If you find a guy that can help you in 2021-22 right away (like be a starter), cool. Otherwise, I say bank it. You can only play so many guys. We've seen enough of the let's take a chance on a guy in late summer approach the last two years to convince me that it usually isn't a worthwhile endeavor.

Mitchell: As always, I should provide a disclaimer here that, along with everyone else, I'm pretty much just speculating when it comes to what the Missouri basketball coaching staff is going to do with its roster. But I'm leaning towards thinking yes, they will fill Okongo's vacant scholarship. In my mind, you only encourage him to leave if you feel like you have a chance to land someone who can help more. I think they try to get some sit-out transfer who can help bridge the gap after a bunch of guys graduate this season.

Gabe: Dru Smith, Xavier Pinson, Dru Buggs, Kobe Brown, Jeremiah Tilmon

Mitchell: Dru Smith, Xavier Pinson, Mark Smith, Kobe Brown, Jeremiah Tilmon

Mitchell: It looks like we're going to have a baseball season, so that's cool. I feel like the Dodgers and Yankees have to be the favorites from each league right now, but it's no fun to just pick the favorites, and if ever a year something wacky could happen it would be a shortened season. So I'll say Yankees and Braves.

Gabe: If they play, this will be a weird year. Who knows who will come out ready to go? And if you don't come out ready to go in a 60-game season, you might be done after three weeks. On the flip side, bad teams can get hot for a month. A month now is half the season. That is a long way of saying we're obviously headed for a Royals/Marlins fall classic. This season will not mean anything...but it could be fun.

Mitchell: I think we're in it right now. In case you somehow missed it, Mizzou got five commitments in a six day span (four from the 2021 class) and jumped up to No. 20 in the team rankings. Obviously, that pace has to slow down a bit since there are only so many spots left to fill, and as schools like Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M and Washington get more commitments, they're inevitably going to pass Missouri. The Tigers still have a couple more four-star kids on their board and I suppose one or two current three-star commits could get bumped up, but unless those things happen in the next week or two, I think this is the high spot and Mizzou winds up in the high 20s to low 30s.

Gabe: I've got to agree.. If they were to pick someone up in the next week, they could theoretically jump up into the high teens for a few days, but the class is already 60% done. There's more of a chance that they fall over the next few months than that they rise. There's no shame in that. A top 30 class at Mizzou is doing well and I think that's very much in play. A top 20 class would be something we've never seen before. Maybe Eli Drinkwitz does that at some point...but I don't think it's this year.

Gabe: This is where we're at, man. I can't come up with anymore sports questions. I stared at a blank screen for ten minutes before I came up with the ones I did. I'm playing golf tomorrow, so probably yes.

Mitchell: Somewhere in the world, yes. In Columbia, no.