Men's Basketball Ranked 23rd in Pre-Season Poll
6/30/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
June 30, 2000
Columbia, Mo. - The University of Missouri men's basketball team has been ranked 23rd in a FOXSports.com pre-season poll.
The Tigers lose just one starter from last year's team which went 18-13 and reached the NCAA Tournament under rookie Head Coach Quin Snyder.
Here's what Frank Burlison at FOX had to say about Mizzou:
Rushing the ball
Missouri set to excite with young players, young coach
BY FRANK BURLISON
FOXSports.com
NO. 23 MISSOURI
Coach: Quin Snyder
1999-2000 record: 18-13 (NCAA tournament South Regional, first round)
Big loss: Guard Keyon Dooling bid adieu to Columbia after two seasons to join the newest members of the NBA Young Men's Millionaire's Club.
Best of the rest: The departure of Dooling won't be as hard felt as some might assume (he only hit 39 percent from the field). It will mean more jump shots for Kareem Rush and Clarence Gilbert (14.7 and 13.7 points per game, respectively). T.J. Soyoye, 6-foot-9, 240 pounds, is one of the Big 12's more underrated big men. He averaged 8.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
Big things are expected from: Rush was the league's most productive freshman and will add All-Big 12 honors to his resume in March.
Key newcomer: Ricky Paulding is a high-flying, ooh-and-aah-inspiring, dunking swingman from Detroit who has a chance to be the Big 12's most spectacular newcomer.
Question mark: Can freshmen Arthur Johnson and Travon Bryant (assuming he gains his academic eligibility) jump-start the Tigers' post attack and provide for some offensive inside-outside balance?
Exclamation point! Snyder and his staff signed the two best high school seniors in Southern California in Bryant and guard Wesley Stokes.
In a nutshell: Snyder has wasted little time in stocking the program with some high-profile recruits and demonstrated in his first season that the Tigers are going to play a fast-paced style of basketball that should keep the good folks in Columbia entertained.
Prediction: The Tigers will make another appearance in what should be a long string of NCAA tournaments under Snyder, the former Duke player and assistant.
