October 14, 1998
Columbia, Mo. -- - For the second straight year, the University of Missouri mens basketball team will get its season underway with Midnight Madness, this Fri., Oct. 16th at the Hearnes Center. All Tiger fans are invited to come get the first glimpse of an MU team which has been predicted by many pre-season publications to return to the NCAA Tournament in March.
Doors open for the free admission event at 11:00 Friday evening, the night before the Tiger football teams Homecoming battle against Oklahoma. From 11-11:30, fans will have the opportunity to meet with Tiger players and coaches in an autograph session on the Hearnes floor. Fans are invited to bring cameras to take pictures of their favorite Tigers.
Fans in attendance will have the opportunity to win outstanding prizes throughout the night. Prior to the scrimmage, fans will have the chance to participate in a promotion to win $10,000, courtesy of the MU Alumni Association. Additionally, at halftime of the scrimmage, fans will have the chance to participate in a promotion to win a Ford Explorer, courtesy of Joe Machens Ford.
MU Head Coach Norm Stewarts 32nd Tiger squad will take the floor at Midnight, with a 25 minute scrimmage beginning at 12:05 a.m. At halftime of the scrimmage, MU players will compete in three-point shooting and slam dunk contests.
Adding to the evenings festivities will be appearances from Mini Mizzou, the MU Golden Girls and Cheerleaders and Truman the Tiger.
TIGER NOTES
The Missouri team just concluded its pre-season strength testing, and the current Tiger team is one of the strongest in history, according to strength and conditioning coach Bob Jones.
"This is one of the most hard-working teams Ive been around," said Jones, who is in his 10th year at MU. "They compare favorably to the 94 team (which went undefeated in Big Eight play) in terms of strength and work ethic. Its a good group," he said.
Sophomore guard Brian Grawer was one of the leaders in testing, as he proved to be the strongest Tiger pound-for-pound. The St. Louis native, who weighs just 169 pounds, bench pressed 280, up from 225 a year ago. He also increased his vertical jump three inches, to 30 inches, and led MU in all five conditioning tests.
Other impressive numbers included senior guard John Woods, who set a team record with 620 pounds in the squat, breaking the old mark of 605 pounds set last year by Dibi Ray. Freshman guard Clarence Gilbert squatted 500 pounds, which is a team freshman record. Fellow freshman Keyon Dooling has the teams biggest vertical jump, at 33.5 inches. Standing just 6-foot-3, he can reach an impressive 11-foot-6 with a one-step jump.