After the week-long stream of SEC Media Days, the league announced the results of the polls conducted by the media present in Hoover. Missouri was picked to finish third in the SEC East, behind Georgia and Florida. Alabama was picked to win the West and beat the Bulldogs in the league title game.
The league also released three teams worth of all-conference honors. Tight end Albert Okwuegbunam was the only Mizzou player selected to the first-team. Offensive lineman Tre'Vour Wallace-Simms and linebacker Cale Garrett made the second team. Defensive back DeMarkus Acy and running back Larry Rountree III were third-teamers.
You can see the entire all-conference list here.
Missouri also released its pre-season camp schedule. The Tigers will have their first practice on the morning of August 2nd. Here is the entire schedule.
CATCHING UP WITH TIGER HOOPS
Mizzou also paraded out its returning basketball players on Friday morning. We'll have more with the familiar faces later today, but we asked a handful of them about the new faces on campus. Mizzou brought in freshmen Mario McKinney, Tray Jackson and Kobe Brown plus junior college big man Axel Okongo. Here's what some of the veterans had to say about the rookies.
Xavier Pinson: "The freshmen came in right away and got it in the weight room and on the court, faster than what we were as freshmen last year. I really looked up to that. We all have bonded real good."
Mitchell Smith: "Mario, he's one of the quickest people I've ever seen. When he comes off the ball screen, he can stop on a dime. Then with Tray, just crazy athleticism. He can jump out of the gym, he can board the ball, he can shoot the ball too. Kobe's just really smooth with his game. He's a bigger guy, a little combo, he can shoot the ball, he can take it to the hoop. Those guys are showing us a lot of things I didn't know they had."
Torrence Watson: "I think these guys have good potential of being really good freshmen right away. Kobe, he's a four-guard that can step out on the perimeter and move. Tray, same thing as well with crazy athleticism. Then we've all seen the highlights of Rio. Man, that guy's crazy. He can definitely do some things that are jaw-dropping."
Mark Smith: "They all are good at one thing. They really talented guys, they really have a lot of potential. Tray's very crafty. He can basically do everything, Kobe is basically a point guard and Rio is very athletic. It's fun to play with them. They definitely have an impact in practice."
Mitchell Smith: "Coach kind of threw it to us, he came to the gym, we thought he was just going to watch us work out, but coach threw him in there and he started working out with us. Axel's one of those guys he just runs all day. I never really saw him get tired. He was talking, it's like he was a part of the team already. I love the energy that he brought and now that he joined the team, I can't wait to get working with him."
KREKLOWS STEP ASIDE
Missouri announced last night that volleyball coaches Wayne and Susan Kreklow were retiring after 19 years leading the program. On Friday morning, they talked about
"It's been the best 19-plus years we've ever had," Wayne said. ""I don't think we've ever considered it really a job. It's been like home."
The husband and wife team won a national title at Columbia College before Mike Alden tabbed them to lead Mizzou. Susan was the head coach for the first five years before taking on more of an administrative role as Wayne took over head coaching duties. No matter who was technically in charge, they took a program that was winless just before they arrived to 15 NCAA Tournaments in 19 years, including a pair of Southeastern Conference championships.
"The hardest part is knowing that at some point you walk away," Susan said. "At some point you're finished with something you've invested your life in."
But why now? Wayne has had knee and hip replacement surgery, plus a double hernia operation in recent months. They also believe that the program is set up for success with a roster that will allow Joshua Taylor, the interim coach, to succeed immediately. Taylor and his wife, Molly, who is Wayne and Susan's niece, will lead the program for the immediate future.
"We want these guys to have success," Wayne said. "I told them the last thing we would ever do is to walk away if I felt like we were going to struggle, if I felt like we were in for a rebuilding year."
The new coaching duo will look to the example set by the old one.
""They just gave everything they had. I don't think there was a moment where they gave half of themselves to anything," Taylor said. ""I can't imagine what it's like to give 19 years of your life to something, succeed greatly and then have to walk away."
The Kreklows may be walking away, but they will not be uninvolved. Taylor said they're a phone call or a ten-minute drive away and "it's a resource that will not go unutilized."
And for the Kreklows, they want to see the program they build continue to ascend.
"There's a part of us that will be a little sad not to be a part of it," Wayne said. "Everything we have is because of Mizzou."
