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Posted: Saturday October 26, 2002 10:00 PM Updated: Wednesday October 30, 2002 5:24 PM Missouri Tigers
The following preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the most thorough preview available of the upcoming season, order the 2002-03 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518. Team Preview | Blue Ribbon Analysis
Missouri was so close last year -- six points from advancing to the first Final Four appearance in school history. In an Elite Eight battle of Big 12 teams, Oklahoma edged the Tigers 81-75. It ended a good run for Mizzou, which advanced to the Elite Eight by beating Miami, Ohio State and UCLA. Getting back won’t be easy. The Tigers lost 55.8 percent of their scoring. Only two starters departed, but but they were good ones: Forward Kareem Rush averaged 19.8 points and guard Clarence Gilbert 17. Gilbert, however, ended a great career for the Tigers with one of his worst games -- he made 1-of-16 shots from the floor, 1-of-9 from 3-point range, in the NCAA loss to Oklahoma. Coach Quin Snyder begins his fourth season with the Tigers with only 10 scholarship players, after the loss of six letter-winners because of a variety of reasons. "We’re thin, there’s no question about it," Snyder said. "But I feel like we’ve got a bunch of guys that you’d climb into a foxhole with right now. There isn’t a kid on our team that I wouldn’t want there beside me when we’re walking down that dark alley, and I want them to feel that way about each other. It doesn’t do you any good to have more guys if you don’t want them in the alley with you." Much of the Tigers’ game experience returns to the frontcourt, where 6-foot-9 center Arthur Johnson and 6-9 power forward Travon Bryant are back for their junior seasons.
Bryant (6.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg) can play either low post or power forward, and he will look to increase his scoring this season. A left-hander, Bryant started 25 games last season. In the offseason, Bryant worked to improve his shooting range and can even hit an occasional 3-pointer. He has good spin moves and can score with his back to the basket. Bryant, the team’s second-leading rebounder, is great on the offensive boards, where he scores often on put backs. His first career double-double came in the first round of the NCAA tournament when he had 10 points and 11 rebounds against Miami. He ended the season with nine points and nine boards against Oklahoma in the Elite Eight. Johnson (12.2 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.0 bpg) was second in the Big 12 in blocked shots, fourth in double-doubles (11), fifth in offensive rebounding (3.4 per game) fifth in rebounding and sixth in field goal percentage (.551). Johnson, listed at 265 pounds, has a soft shooting touch around the basket and a rare combination of strength and quickness for a big man. His baby hook is impressive. He can run the floor. And he knows how to use the angles and position himself around the basket. Those qualities make Johnson an All-Big 12 candidate and perhaps an All-America candidate in the next two years. Also returning to the frontcourt is 6-10 sophomore forward/center Jeffrey Ferguson and 6-9 freshman forward/center Kevin Young. Ferguson (1.7 ppg, 1.8 rpg) played in 30 games last season with three starts. He averaged 7.1 minutes per game. Young, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, was attending Shores Christian Academy in Florida last season before the school shut down its athletics programs because of financial reasons. He played at Berkshire Academy as a junior and helped the team to a 17-2 record and national ranking by USA TODAY. Young is strong around the basket, but a bit of a raw talent. Still, the Tigers believe Young can become one of the team’s top post players with some work. Rickey Paulding, a 6-5 junior wing, established himself as one of the team’s most exciting young players last season. Paulding (11.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg) was at his best in the NCAA tournament when he led the team in scoring (18.2 ppg). He was chosen to the All-West Region team and to the Big 12’s All-Underrated team. Paulding will take over as the starter at small forward, where he has played in the shadow of Rush for the last two years. He can score in a number of ways, is a terrific dunker, and has a good mid-range shot. Paulding shot 51 percent from the floor and 44.2 percent from 3-point range, making 50-of-113 from beyond the arc. Snyder will build his team around Paulding, Johnson and Bryant. "A few guys have established themselves in the last year, obviously A.J. [Johnson] and Rickey, and I think Travon really started to do that at the end of the year," Snyder said. Sophomore swingman Najeeb Echols spent last season trying to recover from a severe knee injury that caused him to miss his senior year of high school ball. Echols (2.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg), 6-7, has improved his strength and will get the chance to become more of a perimeter player. He seemed improved during pickup games in the summer months. "He was recovering from a knee injury almost the whole year, and he was playing in the post because we didn’t have a lot of depth there last year," Snyder said. Ricky Clemons, a 5-11 point guard and transfer from College of Southern Idaho, is the likely replacement for Gilbert as the team’s playmaker. Last season, Clemons averaged 18.2 points and 7.5 assists, ranking 11th among junior college players in assists per game. He scored 51 points in one game last season and led the nation (35.0 ppg) in scoring as a high school senior at Bonner Academy in Raleigh, N.C. A quick penetrator, Clemons may make the Tigers more able to run an up-tempo style. Perhaps the most talked-about recruit is 6-3 guard Jimmy McKinney, who played at Vashon High in St. Louis. McKinney was chosen as Missouri’s Player of the Year in 2002 after leading the Wolverines to a 29-1 record and No. 4 ranking in the final USA TODAY prep power poll. He averaged 22.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists despite playing point guard for the first time in his career. McKinney will compete for a starting job early in his career, most likely at shooting guard. "We’ve got to be careful not to put too much on [the recruits] right away," Snyder said. "There’s always adjustments to make for first-year players, no matter what level they come from. There will be a growth process for all of them, especially Ricky and Jimmy at the point. There always is at that position. But I do believe that these three will be impact players in one regard or another, and we’re as excited to have them here as they are to be here." Two other upperclassmen also return to the backcourt -- 6-0 senior guard Ryan Kiernan and 6-4 junior guard Josh Kroenke. Kroenke (1.4 ppg, 1.0 rpg) is a good spot-up shooter who played in 32 games last season. Kiernan (0.9 ppg, 0.4 rpg) was a walk-on who was awarded a scholarship over the summer. He played in 11 games last season, averaging 1.5 minutes. Kiernan will be more of a practice player. Snyder has his work cut out trying to produce another season like 2001-02. When Rush decided to enter the NBA draft -- he was taken in the first round by Toronto, then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers -- the Tigers took a big hit. Rush averaged 18.9 points during his career at Missouri. Add to that the departure of point guard Gilbert, and the Tigers have a couple of big holes to fill. Also gone are Wesley Stokes, a spot starter at point guard the last two season. Stokes decided to transfer to San Diego State, for more playing time and to be closer to his home in Long Beach, Calif. Three others are gone from last year’s team -- Justin Gage, Duane John and Michael Griffin. Gage is an All-America candidate at wide receiver for the Missouri football team. John was a freshman guard who was dismissed from the team in the offseason. Griffin, a sophomore walk-on, decided to transfer to a smaller school. "That’s a fair amount of attrition to deal with in one year," Snyder said. "But what we have right now -- even though we don’t have as many guys -- is that everybody we have truly appreciates the fact that they’re here. They want to be here and are committed to one end. "I think they’ve raised the bar on themselves and that gives me a chance to try to raise it higher so that my standards are their standards." The Tigers better not have raised the bar too high after last season. It will be hard to duplicate what the 2001-02 team did.
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