EVENTS
 Sportsman of the Year
 Heisman Trophy
 Swimsuit 2001

CNNSI.com GROUP
 Sports Illustrated
 Life of Reilly
 SI Women
 SI for Kids
 Press Room
 TBS/TNT Sports
 CNN Languages

COMMERCE
 SI Customer Service
 SI Media Kits
 Get into College
 Sports Memorabilia
 TeamStore

9 Missouri
Team Page | 2001-2002 Schedule | Roster

It's Kareem Rush hour for the Tigers, who are on the fast track to success

By Grant Wahl

After averaging 21.1 points and shooting 44.8% from three-point range, Rush hopes to improve himself and the Tigers in subtler ways. Bob Rosato

Two themes emerged from Missouri's Black & Gold scrimmage to kick off year III of the Quin Snyder era. For starters, Snyder is right when he says junior forward Kareem Rush has clearly improved from last season, no small feat for a guy who led the Big 12 in scoring with 21.1 points a game. "He's playing without the ball, learning to use his brain in addition to his body," Snyder says of Rush's newfound subtlety.

	THE TOP 20
1	Duke
2	Illinois
3	Kentucky
4	Kansas
5	Maryland
6	UCLA
7	Florida
8	St. Joseph's
9	Missouri
10	Iowa
11	Memphis
12	Stanford
13	Virginia
14	USC
15	Kent State
16	Oklahoma St.
17	Temple
18	Georgetown
19	Arizona
20	Western Ky.
REST OF THE BEST

Whether the Tigers fulfill their potential as a dark-horse Final Four pick, however, depends largely on the second theme: Senior guard Clarence Gilbert is still the nation's most shameless gunner, and he can talk all he wants about "slowing down and not taking bad shots" after a season in which he sank just 36.4% of his nearly 15 shots a game, but in the scrimmage he jacked up rim-rattlers the first two times he touched the ball. "Look, Clarence is a gunner," says Rush in Gilbert's defense. "He can shoot us into games, and sometimes he can shoot us out of them. I can't take all the shots." In any case Snyder can only hope the heading on the Black & Gold game stat sheet -- Missouri versus Missouri -- doesn't describe the Tigers' attack this season.

Yet there's plenty to be encouraged about as Snyder enters the next stage of what he calls a five-year plan to turn Missouri into a national power. Sophomore center Arthur Johnson is a reliable inside scorer, even more so now that he has dropped 35 pounds to a svelte 265. (Likewise, promising sophomore forward Travon Bryant lost about 30 pounds and is now 243.) If junior college transfer Uche Okafor, a 6'11" center from Nigeria, can gain his eligibility -- the NCAA is investigating the contract he signed with a Russian pro team three years ago -- then Missouri will easily have the most formidable inside punch of Snyder's tenure.

Better conditioning means the Tigers will be merciless defensively, though Snyder remains worried about rebounding (Missouri had a rebounding margin of -0.7 a game last year) and excessive turnovers. Whenever a player turns the ball over in practice, everyone in the gym -- coaches included -- has to drop and do 10 pushups. Nonetheless, there's plenty of energy left to fuel the rekindled rivalry with Big 12 cousin Kansas. Snyder, who dropped midnight madness this year, recently took a jab at the Jayhawks' annual skit-filled midnight festivities, telling a reporter, "We're not the drama club. We're a basketball team."

Snyder chuckles when reminded of his neighbor-baiting smack-talk. "Sometimes when you're new to an area, people don't believe you understand the depth of a rivalry," he says. "I don't think there's any question whether I understand it or not."

Issue date: November 19, 2001

Copyright © 2001 CNN/Sports Illustrated An AOL Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines.