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Thursday, July 26
Updated: July 27, 4:09 PM ET
Snyder: Tigers still have a lot to prove
By Jeff Potrykus
Special to ESPN.com
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Life has rarely been better for Missouri fans.
The state senate recently approved the university's request for $35
million in bond appropriations to help pave the way for a new arena. Quin
Snyder has rejuvenated the program in his two seasons as head coach. And the
Tigers, thanks to an abundance of young talent and a highly touted recruiting
class, find themselves ranked among the top five nationally in early
preseason polls.
|  | | Clarence Gilbert is Missouri's only senior, but the young Tigers could be talented enough to topple Iowa State. |
"We had high expectations," said Snyder, whose Tigers gave Duke all it
could handle before falling in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last
season. "We've been fortunate that the kids we have have really improved.
"But we're still so darn young. You never know what can happen on a given
day."
Youth rules in Columbia these days.
Guard Clarence Gilbert will be the team's only senior. Junior guard
Kareem Rush will be the marquee name and five sophomores, three of whom could
start, will form the foundation. Toss in three incoming freshmen and a
talented junior college center and Snyder's No. 1 task will be to nurture the
team's chemistry.
"It takes time to win championships," said Snyder, whose team will be
among the preseason favorites to supplant Iowa State as Big 12 champion. "We
haven't won any yet. I think that mindset is something that has to evolve
over time. It is a progressive, step-by-step process.
"I think you have to acquire skills to be committed -- leadership,
unselfishness, toughness -- those are qualities that you're trying to instill
in the culture of your program. That takes more time than just putting in a
play."
Gilbert, who scored 43 points in one game last season but also was
suspended for a game by Snyder, must provide leadership.
"He is a great example of a kid who is really coming into his own as a
player," Snyder said. "He is beginning to really believe in what we're doing."
Rush, who averaged 21.1 points per game last season despite missing seven
of the team's last eight regular-season games with a thumb injury, must
continue to fortify his game. He already showed plenty of wisdom by deciding
to stay in school rather than jump to the NBA. His older brother, JaRon, left
after his sophomore season at UCLA and went undrafted. Snyder, though,
believes JaRon's ill-fated move wasn't a factor in Kareem's decision to
return to Missouri for a third season.
"That would be an obvious perspective," Snyder said, "but he maintains he
wasn't influenced. He is a really independent kid. Each year he has added a
new dimension to his game. And I think he felt the idea of establishing
himself as a great player was something he wanted to try to do.
"And with having our team accomplish some exciting things."
No one on the Missouri roster is capable of providing more excitement
than Rush, a first-team All-Big 12 pick and honorable mention All-American.
"Rush can make unbelievable shots," said Illinois assistant Norman
Roberts, who saw Rush in person last season when the teams met in a
non-conference game. "He can make bad shots. He can create his own offense
and score."
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This team hasn't done
anything yet. But the ranking should fill us with excitement and it should
make us even more committed. ” |
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— Quin Snyder,
Missouri coach |
Illinois outlasted Missouri in overtime, 86-81, and went on to win a
share of the Big Ten regular-season title. Roberts believes the rest of the Big 12
will see an even more imposing Missouri team this season.
"They're quick, so they can guard the perimeter," he said. "And they can
score in so many different ways. And they can score easy. Gilbert, everybody
knows he will shoot it from heaven.
"Quin does a good job of having those guys have no conscience at all.
They'll just shoot it."
Though the season opener is still months away, the Tigers already have
trained their sights on some rather formidable targets. Those include a Big
12 title and perhaps a deeper run into the NCAA Tournament.
"The thing that is funny about the preseason ranking is that obviously
it is about expectations," Snyder said. "People say, 'Well, it's only a
ranking.'
"It's not only a ranking if you're ranked there in March. That means
you've done something over a five-month period. This team hasn't done
anything yet. But the ranking should fill us with excitement and it should
make us even more committed."
Offseason brings good news for KU
Kansas' fans needed some good news after seeing their Jayhawks bow out of
the NCAA Tournament with an ugly loss to Illinois in the Midwest Regional
semifinals.
The first dose came in April, when Drew Gooden announced he would return
for his junior season. The second came recently when Nick Collison, also a
junior-to-be, was selected to play for the 2001 USA World Championships for
Young Men team.
Collison blossomed into a dominant performer as a sophomore, averaging
14.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. The opportunity to represent the U.S. in
the 2001 FIBA World Championships in Japan Aug. 3-12 should make Collison an even more dangerous player.
"I'm excited to play for another U.S. team," said Collison, who is playing on his fifth USA team the last four years. "I'll have the chance
to play with and against some of the best competition in the world."
Ironically, Collison wasn't even on the original list of 45 players invited to the tryouts in Colorado Springs. However, he was later selected to attend the training camp -- which runs through July 30 -- by Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who will guide the U.S. team in Japan after cutting the roster from 16 to 12 players.
Don't I know you?
Bobby Knight needed just one news conference to inject a dose of
enthusiasm into the Texas Tech program. Rest assured that Knight, who signed
four junior college players and one high school player, will provide plenty
of highlights for victory-starved Tech fans -- as well as plenty of good
copy for the reporters who cover the team.
The fun should start in the second game of the season, the title game of
Tech's tournament. If San Diego State and Tech win their respective
first-round games on Nov. 16, the teams will meet in the final the next
night. That would reunite Knight with former Michigan coach Steve Fisher, who
is preparing for his third season at San Diego State.
Fisher doesn't have another Fab Five at San Diego State, but he will have
six new players and is expected to improve on the team's 14-14 mark from last
season. Knight's Indiana teams, by the way, met Fisher's Michigan teams 16
times. The Hoosiers won 10 of those games.
Support group
Iowa State guard Jake Sullivan will be peppered with questions this
season in the wake of his revelation that he suffers from
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and takes Zoloft to control the condition.
Yet one sports psychologist believes Sullivan, who was diagnosed with OCD
before his senior year in high school and was named Big 12 Freshman of the
Year last season, should find understanding among his peers.
"I would be willing to bet that in most athletic programs that you
probably have athletes in most sports that have had some medication at one
time or another," said Eric Hummel, who is based in Madison, Wisc. "It would
be interesting to see what percentage of Division I athletes have used
prescription medication.
"I think most of the athletes are pretty compassionate about that."
Hummel has seen a growing number of athletes overcome the stigma of
acknowledging they suffer from some type of disorder and follow that up by
taking medication.
"Once they get convinced that there might be some value to trying it," he
said, "a vast majority of them find it is really useful. It's not something
they like to have the whole world know about, even their teammates or
coaches. As long as it is not life-threatening, that is their prerogative.
"I would say it is becoming more prevalent mostly because the
sophistication of the student-athletes has been increasing."
Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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