June 5, 2007
Columbia, Mo. - University of Missouri Associate Head Coach Melvin Watkins was named one of the nation's Top 25 men's basketball assistant coaches by Rivals.com on Monday.
One of the nation's premiere recruiters, Watkins is also an excellent sideline tactician, taking UNC-Charlotte to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearance in 1997 and 1998, while being named Conference USA's Ray Meyer Coach of the Year in 1997. Over his two-year tenure at Charlotte, Watkins compiled a 42-20 record and won opening-round NCAA Tournament games each of his two seasons at his alma mater.
Credited with laying the foundation for Texas A&M's basketball renaissance, Watkins led the recruiting efforts for recent A&M standouts Acie Law and Joseph Jones, and brought in eight National Top 100 recruits to College Station, Texas, including Bernard King, the Aggies' No. 4 all-time scorer and Antoine Wright, a 2005 NBA First Round selection.
Entering his fourth season at the University of Missouri and second under Head Coach Mike Anderson, Watkins has continued his coaching success in Columbia, leading the recruiting efforts for freshman standout Keon Lawrence, who averaged 9.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game as a rookie. The 9.7 points per outing were the most for a Tiger freshman guard since Kareem Rush in 1999-2000.
The 2007-08 season will be a highly-anticipated one for MU. After going 18-12 and finishing in the upper division of the Big 12 Conference standings last year (despite being picked 12th by preseason publications), the Tigers return all-five starters and 12 total letterwinners. Head Coach Mike Anderson's squad also returns 96.6 percent of its scoring, 96.6 percent of its rebounding, 98.5 percent of its assists and 94.7 percent of its steals. Last season, Anderson and his staff tied the Mizzou rookie record with 18 wins and the six-win improvement for the Tigers was the most since the 1993-94 campaign.
Missouri also welcomes a pair of newcomers, freshman forward Justin Safford and junior forward DeMarre Carroll, who becomes eligible this season after transferring from Vanderbilt prior to the start of the 2006-07 campaign. As a sophomore, Carroll averaged 10.9 points and 6.4 rebounds for the Commodores. In SEC play, the 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward averaged 12.1 points and a team-leading 7.4 rebounds, including an 18-point, nine-rebound effort at NCAA Champion Florida on Jan. 28, 2006.
## MIZZOU ##