As the 2024 calendar rolls into our lives…many in the sports world are CHARTERING A NEW COURSE for the upcoming or remaining season.
…..Mizzou HC Eli Drinkwitz continues to CHARTER THE MIZZOU FOOTBALL COURSE. Currently, in addition to preparing the Tigers for Ohio State, he works as a recruiter. He’s already demonstrated that he can find the overlooked star. He landed running back,Cody Schrader, when no one else even had him on their radar. Schrader’ background was “suspect” to say the least. He went to a HS that rarely had winning football teams. Then Schrader went to a D-II school, Truman St, as a running back. This year Schrader has exploded on the gridiron…. 247 carries (over 20 carries/gm),1489 yds – that’s 6+ yds/carry! He has 13 TD’s & a bowl game coming up. That rushing total for a season is the 3rd best in the HISTORY of MU Football. The highest total for a season rushing was in 2021! Tyler Badie holds the MU record as he rushed for 1,604yds. The 2nd highest rushing total was Devin West–1,578 yds in 1998. Schrader was a unbelievable “find” for Coach Drink.
…Now Coach Drink CHARTERS A NEW COURSE, he’s not signing another “unknown” player. Rather, he signs the #2 nationally listed HS recruit–Williams Nwaneri. Nwaneri is from Lee’s Summit North (Lees Summit, MO). ALL the recruiting experts feel that it’s a great signing for the Tigers. Only drawback that I see, he’ll probably have a 1 year career @ MU then apply for the NFL draft. Don’t worry though…Coach Drink is showing growing acumen in chasing down & signing top flight talent as he hopes to drive MU into CHARTERING A NEWER, EVEN HIGHER COURSE FOR THE TIGERS!
….the Smoke hasn’t cleared yet after the firing of Craig Berube. It wasn’t unexpected….after all, you can’t fire the whole team…the Coach becomes the “fall” guy. The Blues felt like they had to CHARTER A NEW COURSE with the dismissal. The 23-24 Blues roster does seem “short” on the defensive sides of things as well as “short” on effort on some nights. The Blues Defenseman are having a very difficult time “clearing out the area in front of the Keeper”. More of a physical presence is required in that respect. The Power Play has not been “in control” of the action with good, quality shots in 23-24 with just an exception or 2. In fact, Blues have only 7 power play goals as we sit here in late December. Surprisingly, the Blues have 8 goals when their opponents are on the power play!!! Since the start of last season the Blues rank 27th among the 32 teams in their yield of 3.52 goals per 60 minutes. In my opinion, most of this stems from the Blues mgmt. decision to CHARTER A NEW COURSE and “pass” on defenseman and team captain Alex Pietrangelo. They allowed him to walk as a free agent to Vegas after the 2019-2020 season. The Blues defense, and team, has NEVER been the same since that time!! Since Pietrangelo’s exit the Blues are 17th in the NHL in wins, 19th in points, and 15th with six postseason victories. I hate to say it… but can Doug Armstrong CHARTER A NEW COURSE for the Blues again?
… In 2022-23 season, the Blues did finish 6th in the Division (8 teams total) with 81 pts in 82 games. Coaches come & go..since their beginning in 1967, the Blues have seen 27 different Head Coaches! Drew Bannister takes over the reins. Let’s enjoy watching the Blues while holding very modest hopes for their success and hoping the see growth in the defense & Kyou & Thomas. Playoffs, always the goal, are still possible but it’s TOUGH COURSE TO CHARTER!
…the Cards have already CHARTERED NEW WATERS by dipping into the “transaction” waters as they hoped to build up their starting pitching corp. Unlike their usual approach, realizing the severity, the Cards demonstrated an unusual approach for them– the free-agent waters. Signing Sonny Gray was the biggest catch. He held a splendid ERA of 2.79 for Minnesota last year. Gray did pile up 32 starts—showing his durability—another good quality. His 184 innings last year were the most for him since 2015! In his 12 seasons, Gray holds a 98-85 record. In his last 4 seasons, Gray (in reverse order) had 8,8,7 & 5 wins. Gray has 1571+ innings under his belt as he shows up to be the ACE of the Cards staff in Jupiter. Gray had outings of 6, or more, innings in 19 games in 2023. 2023 was a GOOD year for Gray…184 inn, 183 K’s, allowing only 8 home runs all year (none in April & May). Clearly his numbers sagged in August & September in 2023. The Cards will have to provide him with an extra “rest” day every 3rd or 4th start to keep him fresh. Let’s hope that the Cards realize that additional starters will need to be found as well as a bullpen that can “shut the door” for 3 innings or so/game. I am wondering if the Cards will have to part with Arenado, Goldschmidt, Nootbar or Edman, to CHARTER A NEW COURSE for the Redbirds. I’m still optimistic..but maybe a drastic change is required.
…When Travis Ford was signed by SLU, the expectations were that Ford would CHARTER A NEW COURSE for the Billikens. He was experienced, a well-known name, a “basketball” guy his whole life. Ford was expected to elevate their post-season presence, get some national rankings. It isn’t the lack of financial backing—the Bills are 2nd in the A-10 in basketball budget (only $6,000ish less than the highest budget of the A10—Dayton. The Billikens are still a middle-of-the-road team. Ford has taken SLU to ONE NCAA Tournament in 8 years when they won the 2019 A-10 Tourney as a #6 seed. During his tenure, the Bills have never been higher than a #3 seed in the A-10 Tourney. His highest finish in A-10 conference play is 2nd place while being just 1-5 against the 1st place teams. He has yet to beat a Top 25 team while @ SLU. Against the best A-10 teams, SLU struggles. In the A-10, he struggles against the top teams. He’s 5-10 against Dayton & 2-5 against VCU. It’s not the money, SLU has spent the 2nd most on basketball of ANY A-10 school. While he seems like a genuine, good guy, he was signed to win games against quality opponents! It seems that Ford, has not yet adapted to the quickly changing world of college athletics with Portal moves, NIL money, rosters that seem fluid every year. Or, maybe it’s St Louis U who hasn’t adjusted? At any rate, he probably needs an energetic, convincing, assistant Coach who devotes all his time to recruiting, NIL work, booster involvment to help the Billikens CHART A NEW COURSE.
….Staying on the basketball court, Mizzou has a different look this season. HC Dennis Gates CHARTERED A NEW COURSE for MU last season. His deep roster saw constant use, the pace of the game was way up & 3-points rained down! Mizzou was extremely entertaining to watch as they piled up a 25-10 record while tied for 4th in the SEC with an 11-7 conference record. IN 23-24 season, the Tigers are a vastly different team To this point, the Tigers are 7-5 with 3 of wins over lower level teams–Ark-Pine Bluff, SIU-Edwardsville, S.Carolina St. Illinois blasted out the Tigers in StL in the Braggin’ Rights game 97-73. It’s too early to tell but Coach Gates’ 23-24 team doesn’t appear to be anywhere close to he 22-23 team. I have the feeling that he’ll just go out & find that 1 or 2 “game changers”as he CHARTERS A NEW COURSE for 24-25.
….Happy New Year! Thanks for your reads and comments throughout 2023. I’m always CHARGERING A NEW COURSE as far as adding new readers. Sooo…I’m asking each of you to approach 1, just 1, relative or friend to “try out” the Buzz in 2024! Happy New Year!!!
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