Nov. 21, 2002
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Mizzou Welcomes Amercian to Hearnes to Tip Off 2002-03
The University of Missouri Men's Basketball team (#20 Associated Press Poll/#18 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll) opens its 2002-03 season with a home match up against defending Patriot League Champion American University Friday at Hearnes Center. Mizzou recently completed the exhibition portion of its schedule with an unblemished mark of 2-0, taking out the EA Sports All-Stars, 81-80, and the Midwest All-Stars, 102-79.
The Tigers open their season with six of their first eight contests in the friendly confines of Hearnes Center. Mizzou opened last season at home against the Skyhawks of Tennessee-Martin in the opening round of the Guardians Classic taking the contest, 89-63. Mizzou does not play a true road game until after New Years when it travels to Iowa City, Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes of Iowa on Jan. 4th.
About the American Eagles
While Mizzou hasn't "gone to look for America" like Simon and Garfunkel did, American has come looking for the Tigers.
The American University Eagles, like the Tigers, will take the court for the first time this season on Friday. The Eagles (not Joe Walsh or Don Henley) have the talent to take the Tigers to the limit as they finished last season as the champions of the Patriot League with an 18-12 overall mark and a 10-4 record in the conference. They return three starters from last year's squad including senior guard Steven Miles, who averaged 11.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Miles transferred from Coastal Carolina after his sophomore year. He was the Big South Rookie of the Year after his freshman season and will be counted on as one of American's top scoring threats.
The Eagles played a single exhibition game earlier this month taking out Gulbene, an All-Star team from Europe, 93-71. Six Eagles reached double figures in scoring. They were led by Miles, who poured in 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor including 3-of-4 from the behind the 3-point line. He also led the squad in rebounding with eight boards. In a related note, former Tiger Johnnie Parker played for the Gulbene team putting in 11 points.
Jeff Jones enters his third year as the head coach of the squad going 29-32 in his first two seasons. The Eagles are busy their first week of the season. After playing in Columbia they head back to the east coast taking on UNC-Greenboro on Monday before wrapping up the seven-day road trip in Blacksburg, Va., against Virginia Tech.
Its On!
The day has finally arrived. Approximately 242 days (5,806 hours or 348,360 minutes, give or take a few) after the curtain closed on the University of Missouri basketball team's 2001-02 Elite Eight run, the Tigers will take the court to open their 2002-03 season at 7:08 p.m. CST.
It is an event the Tigers have waited for all summer as they finally get a chance to carve their names in the record books in what will be the 97th year of Missouri basketball.
Mizzou enters the season with 10 scholarship players on the roster and will suit up only 12 players overall. What the Tigers lack in depth, they will more than make up for in talent and desire. Mizzou will be led by junior captains Rickey Paulding, Arthur Johnson, Travon Bryant and Josh Kroenke.
Paulding and Johnson are both All-America candidates heading into '02-03 and both have tremendous potential. Bryant looks to be the Tigers' most improved player this season after tireless work in the weight room this summer. Kroenke is the elder statesman of the squad and will provide lethal marksmanship from three-point range, and a great deal of leadership to the squad.
Add to the equation, talented newcomers Jimmy McKinney (Fr., G., Vashon HS), Kevin Young (Fr., F, Shores Christian [Fla.] Academy and Ricky Clemons (Jr., G., College of Southern Idaho), and Mizzou has the talent to make a run at the Big 12 Championship in 2002-03.
Quite an Exhibition
While they didn't count in the official statistics for the season, the Tigers' two exhibition contests did offer a chance to play in front of a crowd and also against someone other than themselves.
Mizzou went 2-0 in the contests taking out EA Sports in overtime on Nov. 2, 81-80, and then proceeded to boat-race the Midwest All-Stars, 102-79 on Nov. 8.
Several Tigers had quality exhibition showings earlier this month. Junior All-American candidate Rickey Paulding was strong, averaging 19.0 points per outing while also pulling down 7.0 boards per contest.
Fellow guard and junior Ricky Clemons was also a pleasant surprise to Tiger faithful who hadn't seen him play, averaging 17 points and 7.5 assists per contest. He led the Tigers with 21 points against EA Sports and just missed a triple-double against the Midwest All-Stars with 21 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds. Josh Kroenke also was a valuable contributor, handing out six assists against EA Sports while hitting three 3-point shots.
Junior big men Arthur Johnson and Travon Bryant were solid in the middle averaging 13.5 and 12.5 points per game respectively. Johnson was also mighty good on the boards, averaging 10 boards per contest.
Bench Marks
Depth and health have been hot topics for everyone associated with Tiger basketball throughout the summer and heading into the 2002-03 season. With only 12 players on the squad, the bench will play an extremely vital role in the success the Tigers will experience in the coming months.
The bench came up large in the Tigers' exhibition contest against the Midwest All-Stars. Jeffrey Ferguson, Najeeb Echols and Kevin Young combined for 29 points and 11 rebounds in the Tigers' 102-79 win.
Ferguson and Echols both reached double figures with 10 points apiece and combined to shoot 73% (8-for-11) from the field. Young made the most of his 15 minutes in the ball game putting in eight points while pulling down nine rebounds.
We Are Family
Friday's contest will feature two young assistant coaching stars facing off against each other ... and they just happen to be related. MU assistant Lane Odom, (who is the older of the two) will face Ryan Odom of American for the first time in their coaching careers.
The Skinny On McKinney
Freshman guard Jimmy McKinney continues to heal after fracturing his frontal sinus late in the Tigers' match up against the EA Sports All-Stars on Nov. 2.
McKinney will miss the American contest as part of his four-week layoff due to the injury. There is a possibility that he will be able to return for the Tigers' game with Austin Peay and if not then, it will be for the Sacramento State game.
The 6-3 shooting guard from Vashon High School has been cleared to practice in non-contact drills and will be forced to wear a protective mask for the next several weeks upon his return to the lineup.
Prior to the injury, he had scored five points and pulled down six rebounds in 14 minutes of action.
Tigers Dominant in 102-79 Win over Midwest All-Stars
Five Tigers reach double figures in scoring.
Nov. 8, 2002
Columbia, Mo.-The No. 18th-ranked University of Missouri basketball team mixed a well balanced scoring attack with timely swarming defense to grab a 102-79 win over the Midwest All-Stars in front of 6,664 fans at the Hearnes Center.
Five Tigers reached double-figures in the scoring column and the Tigers out-rebounded the All-Stars, 44-36, en route to the win.
After trailing early in the first half, 11-6, the Tigers went on a 46-23 run to take a 52-34 half-time advantage. Junior Rickey Clemons came out of the gates on fire in the opening stanza, registering 15 of his game-high 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field. Junior Arthur Johnson also had a solid opening half, pouring in 13 points while pulling down eight boards.
Mizzou would continue its solid play in the second half, extending its lead to as many as 28, using 58.1 percent shooting from the field in the half and 55.1 percent for the contest.
Junior Rickey Paulding finished the contest with a quiet 16 points and six boards while juniors Josh Kroenke and Travon Bryant had eight and nine points, respectively. The Tigers bench came up huge in the win, pitching in 29 points including 10 points each from sophomores Jeffrey Ferguson and Najeeb Echols. Freshman Kevin Young impressed once again, just missing a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds in only 15 minutes of action.
4 Sure
The fourth place spot has been the vogue place to pick Mizzou to finish this season in the Big 12. The Big 12 Coaches, media from around the league and ESPN.com have all picked the Tigers to finish in the No. 4 spot behind Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and ahead of Texas Tech.
The Tigers have some time to get their feet under them before they face any of the top three picks. Their first tilt with any of those three teams doesn't come until January 25th when they travel to Austin to hook up with the Texas Longhorns.
Below is a breakdown of where each school was picked by the Big 12 Coaches, media and ESPN.com in preseason polls:
School Coaches Media ESPN Kansas 1 1 1 Oklahoma 2 2 2 Texas 3 3 3 Missouri 4 4 4 Texas Tech 5 5 5 Oklahoma St. 6 6 6 Iowa St. 7 7 7 Baylor 8 9 8 Colorado 9 8 9 Nebraska 10 10 10 Kansas State 11 11 11 Texas A&M 12 12 12
Quin Snyder Leads Mizzou into Year Four
Exactly 100 games into his career as a head coach at Missouri, Head Coach Quin Snyder sports a 62-38 mark. He has led the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament in each of his first three seasons and the Tigers have progressed one round further every season. Snyder and the Tiger's most recent post-season run yielded an appearance in the Elite Eight, MU's first trip to the round of eight since 1994.
Snyder guided his first squad to an 18-13 overall record, and he was named National Rookie Coach of the Year by Basketball Times. In 2000-01, the Tigers went 20-13, despite playing one of the nation's toughest schedules, and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Snyder's mission is to continue to build on the foundation the Tigers have built over the past three years and take them to the next level. And if that next level represents the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, Snyder will be a repeat visitor. In 10 years at Duke, he took part in five Final Fours -- three as a player (1986, 88, 89) and two more as a coach (1994, 99).
Cleaning the Glass
While Mizzou lost almost 55% percent of its scoring when senior Clarence Gilbert graduated and junior and current LA Laker Kareem Rush departed for the NBA, the Tigers still boast the team's top rebounders.
Leading the way is Arthur Johnson, who averaged 12.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per contest. Juniors Travon Bryant and Rickey Paulding were also solid on the glass, averaging 5.4 and 3.9 boards per game.
The emphasis on rebounding and toughness has grown more and more apparent every season since Head Coach Quin Snyder arrived at Missouri. After being out-rebounded by 5.0 boards per game in his first season at Mizzou, the Tigers turned the tables last season, out-rebounding opponents by nearly 4.5 reb. per outing. Below is a look at the progression Mizzou has made over the past three years on the boards:
Year Reb. Margin 1999-00 -5.0 2000-01 -0.6 2001-02 +4.4
Pre-Season Picks Here's a brief look at where MU is being picked by a handful of preseason polls:
FoxSports.com 10th Sporting News 18th Lindy's 9th Street and Smith's 24th
Picking Up Where They Left Off
Mizzou ended the year last season on an unbelievable hot streak which was ended by Big 12 foe Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight.
The run began with consecutive wins over #5-seed Miami (93-80) and #4 Ohio State (83-67) in Albuquerque, N.M. That put the Tigers in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1994, and the 6th time in school history. Mizzou then notched its 1st win in six tries against UCLA, as they came back from an 8-pt. defecit to win, 82-73 in San Jose, Calif., putting the Tigers in their third Elite Eight in school history.
October 1, 2004
That is the forecasted opening date of the Tigers' new arena that they will call home for the next several years. The ground breaking for the state-of-the-art building was Sept. 21, 2002. The yet-to-be-named facility is penciled to cost $75 million, and was kick-started by a generous $25 million donation by the Laurie Family.
The State of Missouri will contribute $35 million in bond appropriations. The additional $15 million will be raised through athletic fund-raising efforts.
The Hearnes Center will continue to be utilized by MU Athletics Olympic sport programs.
Going Vertical
Over the past two seasons, 2002-03 Wooden Award Candidate Rickey Paulding has dazzled Mizzou fans with a dizzying array of rim-rocking dunks and high-flying action.
While the talented junior is known best for his crazy athleticism and above-the-rim antics, Paulding has become one of the most well-rounded players in the conference.
One of the indicators of Paulding's dedication and desire to become a well-rounded player was his increased accuracy from the perimeter. After going 12-of-56 (including a stretch where he went 0-for-22) from the three-point arc during his freshman season in 2000-01, Paulding was the Tiger's most accurate marksman last season, which is pretty impressive considering he was on a team with two of the most prolific shooters (Clarence Gilbert and Kareem Rush) in MU history.
He shot a team-high 44% (50-of-113) from the land of trey including 53.3% in the NCAA Tournament. Rick averaged 18.3 points and was named to the All-West Region Team during the Tigers' run to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight.
Detroit-Block City
Pardon the Kiss reference, but Arthur Johnson has kissed several opponent's shots good-bye over the past two years. Possibly one of the most underrated big men in the country, junior and Detroit, Mich., native Arthur Johnson has been a powerful presence in the middle for the Tigers.
Arthur has led the Tigers in blocks and rebounds each of the last two seasons while averaging 10.7 points per game over the course of his two-year stint at Mizzou.
In fact, once the regular season hits, AJ will need just 14 blocked shots to surpass former Tiger great Steve Stipanovich for the all-time MU blocked shots mark. AJ sits in second on the chart right now with 136 swats right behind Stipanovich's 149.
Possessing great hands and a veritable plethora of quality interior moves, Johnson has been named All-Big 12 honorable mention each of the last two seasons and was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive team following his 71 blocks last season.
Trav"On Fire"
Since arriving at Mizzou, junior Travon Bryant has been one of the hardest workers on the team. Bryant's hard work payed off at the end of last season when he earned a starting spot on the squad for 25 of the Tigers' final 29 games.
His play in the final five games was nothing short of awesome. He averaged 7.8 points and 8.4 rebounds during that stretch that included an outstanding effort against the Tigers' NCAA first round opponent, Miami (Fla.) in which he scored 11 points while pulling down 10 rebounds.
Chances are when the charismatic lefty puts up a shot, it is probably going to go in. Tra was one of the most accurate Tigers last year, shooting just under 58% from the field. He also developed the ability to step outside and hit the three this past summer, a weapon that will make him hard to guard on the perimeter for big men around the league.
The Crafty Veteran
Junior guard Josh Kroenke will be one of the Tigers' fearless leaders this season. A great hustler, Kroenke goes after loose balls with reckless abandon and is not afraid to defend against the best guards in the country.
The native of Columbia has become one of the Tigers' most lethal spot up shooters and will be called upon to continue to contribute quality minutes whenever he is in the game.
Super Sophomores
Najeeb Echols and Jeffrey Ferguson enter their second year with a sense of urgency. The two outstanding athletes made good contributions in their freshman seasons.
Ferguson proved solid down low for Mizzou. He averaged 7.1 minutes per contest last season, putting 1.7 points and 1.8 rebounds per contest. He is one of the Tigers' top shot blockers and is one of the best dunkers on the team.
Echols has now fully recovered from a knee injury he experienced toward during his senior year of high school. Jeeb has looked more athletic and explosive in early-season practice and will get to move back to his more natural position at guard and small forward after spending much of the year at power forward last season.
Arms Wide With Open
The Tigers welcome three newcomers to the squad this season. Junior Ricky Clemons, and freshmen Kevin Young and Jimmy McKinney join a Tiger squad that lost three starters from a year ago.
Clemons has fit in nicely at the point for the Tigers. A natural floor leader, Clemons averaged 17 points and seven assists per contest in the Tigers' two preseason games. A transfer from the College of Southern Idaho, Clem averaged 18 points and almost eight assists last season.
McKinney, who is a native of St. Louis, displays a high level of maturity and will be called upon to play both the off-guard and point guard position. He is currently sitting out due to a fracture of his frontal sinus, but is expected to return to the Tiger lineup by either the Austin Peay or Sacramento State game.
Kevin Young, who has been tabbed as the "Jamaican Sensation" by the media relations office, has dropped 53 pounds since coming to Mizzou in June. While Young has dropped the pounds, he has picked up his play to a higher level every day. An extremely coachable young man, Kevin will have a year to learn from AJ, Tra and sophomore Jeffrey Ferguson.
Tigers Take EA Sports Out of the Game in Overtime Win
The Tigers registered what proved to be a thrilling 81-80 win over EA Sports on Nov. 2.
Junior All-American candidate Rickey Paulding sparked the Tigers with 22 points (13 of which came in the second half and overtime) including a three-point shot that sent the game to overtime with just 0.6 seconds left to play. Junior Ricky Clemons, who was solid in his preseason debut as a Tiger at point guard, put in 13 points and handed out five assists.
Junior big men Travon Bryant and Arthur Johnson also gave quality efforts. Both just missed double-doubles as Bryant put in 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds while Johnson had eight points and a team-high 12 rebounds.
Quin and Helen Snyder Announce the Formation of the "Q Foundation"
Non-profit organization will benefit educational and academic enhancement throughout Missouri.
Sept. 27, 2002
Columbia, Mo.-University of Missouri men's basketball coach Quin Snyder and his wife Helen announced the launching of the "Q Foundation." The organization's primary focus will be to encourage the educational ambitions of young men and women by promoting educational opportunities and literacy.
The Q Foundation will look to support educational institutions, ranging from pre-school to high school, and provide scholarship opportunities for educational enhancement. It will also focus on developing community center literacy programs in economically disadvantaged areas as well as promoting literacy through participation in reading programs.
"Helen and I are thrilled to be embarking on this endeavor," Snyder said. "We have always been passionate about education on all levels and in all forms. Through this organization, we hope to help create and enhance the educational opportunities our young people are receiving in the state of Missouri and beyond."
The foundation will feature a board of directors that will oversee and guide the foundations undertakings. The President of the Board will be Coach Snyder's former Duke teammate: current ESPN personality and attorney Jay Bilas. Other board members include former Duke and current NBA star Shane Battier as well as several prominent business leaders from around the country and throughout the state of Missouri. For more information on the Q Foundation, call 573-882-1495.
Construction Camera Will Showcase Mizzou Basketball Arena Project
Fans can get a glimpse of the arena development via the World Wide Web
Columbia, Mo.- The University of Missouri athletic department announced the launching of a new feature on its web site on Friday. Mizzou fans and supporters can now log on to www.mutigers.com and monitor the progress of the new arena that is being constructed just south of the Hearnes Center.
A camera has been mounted on the southwest corner of the Hearnes Center and is linked to the web site, sending a continuous picture the arena site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Tiger faithful can point their browsers to www.mutigers.com, click on the Arena Cam icon on the front page, and view the site, as it looks at that very minute.
The project, which is set for completion Oct. 1 of 2004, will be home to the men's and women's basketball teams and will have a capacity of approximately 15,000 people.