Because one tier was demonstrably weaker than the others, because these two players played the same position and only missed each other by a few years (and, therefore, basically played in the same era anyway), and because one player got more votes while finishing second in his tier than the other got while winning his (weaker) tier, we're going to have our first ever RAFTERS PLAYOFF. One of these two players will be occupying the final spot in the Rafters Class of 2012. Who will it be?

Melvin Booker (1990-94)

Little fanfare accompanied Melvin Booker’s arrival in Columbia. Norm Stewart discovered the unassuming point guard from Moss Point, Mississippi, while recruiting a more heralded peer. Good thing he did, because Booker spent the next four years maximizing his ability as well as any player in the Stewart era. A starter as a freshman, Booker deferred to Doug Smith and Anthony Peeler on the court. But he began to come into his own as a sophomore, averaging 11.6 points and 3.9 assists. With Peeler’s departure after the 1991-92 season, Booker assumed leadership of the team. His 15.8 points per game led the club in his All-Big Eight junior season. But it was Booker’s remarkable senior season that sealed his place among Mizzou’s all-time greats. His averages of 18.1 points and 4.5 assists per game do not begin to tell the story. On his way to becoming the Big Eight Player of the Year and a second team All-American, Melvin Booker imposed his will on each game, hitting every clutch shot in a season that saw the Tigers go a perfect 14-0 in the Big Eight and advance to within one game of the Final Four. Though his career began in virtual anonymity, it ended with Booker ranking among the greats in Missouri Tiger history.

Keyon Dooling (1998-00)

One of the most electrifying athletes ever to wear the black and gold, 6’3’ guard Keyon Dooling had an up-and-down freshman season until the Tigers traveled to Lawrence, Kansas. Dooling scored 15 points as Missouri upset the Jayhawks, who were nearly invincible at Allen Field House. His play helped Mizzou to a second place finish in the Big 12, and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament after a three-year absence. Then, in 1999-2000, Dooling emerged as Missouri’s top player. He scored 15.3 points per game and earned second team All-Big 12 honors as he carried the Tigers to their second straight NCAA appearance. Dooling then cut short his collegiate career to enter the NBA draft, and was taken with the 10th overall pick.

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May means two things at Rock M Nation: Tremendous Stubble and votes. The former will come soon enough; it's time to begin the latter. We start with the third class of inductees into The Rafters, Rock M's celebration of Mizzou's finest basketball players from different eras.

Class of 2010: Willie Smith, Steve Stipanovich, Doug Smith, Kareem Rush, DeMarre Carroll

Class of 2011: Norm Stewart, Jon Sundvold, Derrick Chievous, Clarence Gilbert, Arthur Johnson

Eras for the Class of 2012

Tier I: Pre-Norm (pre-1967)
Tier II: Norm Era I (1968-82)
Tier III: Norm Era II (1983-94)
Tier IV: Norm Era III
Tier V: The 2000s

Today, we make our final selections. Who joins Kareem Rush, Clarence Gilbert, DeMarre Carroll and Arthur Johnson as representatives from the past decade of Mizzou Basketball? Read the bios, do your own research ... and place your votes.

Continue reading this post »

May means two things at Rock M Nation: Tremendous Stubble and votes. The former will come soon enough; it's time to begin the latter. We start with the third class of inductees into The Rafters, Rock M's celebration of Mizzou's finest basketball players from different eras.

Class of 2010: Willie Smith, Steve Stipanovich, Doug Smith, Kareem Rush, DeMarre Carroll

Class of 2011: Norm Stewart, Jon Sundvold, Derrick Chievous, Clarence Gilbert, Arthur Johnson

Eras for the Class of 2012

Tier I: Pre-Norm (pre-1967)
Tier II: Norm Era I (1968-82)
Tier III: Norm Era II (1983-94)
Tier IV: Norm Era III
Tier V: The 2000s

Today, we move to what is inadvertently the shortest era on the board, the post-1994 Norm era (i.e. the "when people my age were in school" era). Read the bios, do your own research ... and place your votes.

Continue reading this post »

May means two things at Rock M Nation: Tremendous Stubble and votes. The former will come soon enough; it's time to begin the latter. We start with the third class of inductees into The Rafters, Rock M's celebration of Mizzou's finest basketball players from different eras.

Class of 2010: Willie Smith, Steve Stipanovich, Doug Smith, Kareem Rush, DeMarre Carroll

Class of 2011: Norm Stewart, Jon Sundvold, Derrick Chievous, Clarence Gilbert, Arthur Johnson

Eras for the Class of 2012

Tier I: Pre-Norm (pre-1967)
Tier II: Norm Era I (1968-82)
Tier III: Norm Era II (1983-94)
Tier IV: Norm Era III
Tier V: The 2000s

Today, we move from the post-Stipanovich era to the 1993-94 season. Still some ferocious names yet to be inducted. Read the bios, do your own research ... and place your votes.

Continue reading this post »

May means two things at Rock M Nation: Tremendous Stubble and votes. The former will come soon enough; it's time to begin the latter. We start with the third class of inductees into The Rafters, Rock M's celebration of Mizzou's finest basketball players from different eras.

Class of 2010: Willie Smith, Steve Stipanovich, Doug Smith, Kareem Rush, DeMarre Carroll

Class of 2011: Norm Stewart, Jon Sundvold, Derrick Chievous, Clarence Gilbert, Arthur Johnson

Today, we move on to Tier II of the Class of 2012 Rafters voting.

Eras for the Class of 2012

Tier I: Pre-Norm (pre-1967)
Tier II: Norm Era I (1968-82)
Tier III: Norm Era II (1983-94)
Tier IV: Norm Era III
Tier V: The 2000s

Today is basically 1970s Day. Read the bios, do your own research ... and place your votes.

Continue reading this post »

May means two things at Rock M Nation: Tremendous Stubble and votes. The former will come soon enough; it's time to begin the latter. We start with the third class of inductees into The Rafters, Rock M's celebration of Mizzou's finest basketball players from different eras.

Class of 2010

Willie Smith
Steve Stipanovich
Doug Smith
Kareem Rush
DeMarre Carroll

Class of 2011

Norm Stewart
Jon Sundvold
Derrick Chievous
Clarence Gilbert
Arthur Johnson

This year, we will approximately maintain the eras as outlined last year. The years for Tiers II and III have changed ever-so-slightly:

Eras for the Class of 2012

Tier I: Pre-Norm (pre-1967)
Tier II: Norm Era I (1968-82)
Tier III: Norm Era II (1983-94)
Tier IV: Norm Era III
Tier V: The 2000s

Five candidates are included from each tier; the last-place finishers from last year's selections have been eliminated, leaving just 25 candidates for five spots.

Here's what I said in the original Rafters introduction:

Does this, like our Wall of Excellence, skew toward recent history? Yeah. But this isn't a poll to choose the five best Mizzou players of all-time (there's no point to that anyway -- Michael Atchison already created the definitive list) -- it is an attempt to recognize both the present and past in a way that generates conversation for RMN readers.

Over the next five days, we will ask you to fill out forms like the one at the bottom of this post. You will be asked to rank your top three selections from a given tier. First place will be given five points, second place will be given three points, and third place will be given one point. Whoever receives the most points is the winner from that tier.

Two years later, that still sums up the intent. So let's start voting! We begin with a group of players to which readers may be less accustomed. Read the bios, do your own research ... and place your votes.

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Arthur Johnson (2000-04)

2000-01: 9.0 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 2.0 BPG
2001-02: 12.2 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 2.0 BPG
2002-03: 16.1 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 1.8 BPG
2003-04: 16.4 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 1.6 BPG

At 6’9" and at least 275 pounds, Arthur Johnson combined impressive size with surprising mobility and became one of the most productive players in Mizzou history. Blessed with soft hands and a deep arsenal of post moves, Johnson surprised on-lookers in his freshman year by becoming the most prolific shot blocker ever at Missouri. In fact, he holds the number one, two, three and six positions for single-season blocked shots in Tiger history. But Johnson could do far more than swat shots. In his first season, he made the Big 12 all-freshman team, and as a sophomore, Johnson was a key player in Missouri’s late-season surge. He recorded 18 points and 14 rebounds in a win over 12th-ranked Oklahoma State that helped the Tigers sneak into the NCAA Tournament field, and later he posted 14 points and 14 boards in MU’s Sweet Sixteen triumph over UCLA. As a junior, with Kareem Rush and Clarence Gilbert gone, Johnson became a full-fledged star, averaging 16.1 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, and capping the season with a 28-point, 18-rebound effort against Marquette in the NCAA Tournament. In his final year, the team struggled, but Johnson continued to shine, especially late the year as the Tigers tried to resurrect their season. He tallied 29 points and 13 rebounds in a crucial win over sixth-ranked Oklahoma State, and he later scored 37 points in his final home game, a heartbreaking two-point loss to Kansas. Johnson holds Missouri’s all-time records for rebounds (1,083) and blocked shots (245), and he ranks fifth in points scored (1,759).

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Clarence Gilbert (1998-02)

1998-99: 4.2 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 1.1 APG
1999-00: 13.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.3 APG
2000-01: 16.5 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 3.5 APG
2001-02: 17.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.2 APG

In Mizzou’s recent history, no player has had a greater flair for the dramatic than Clarence Gilbert, a 6’2" guard from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, famed for his pit bull intensity and freewheeling shot selection. What’s your favorite Gilbert moment? The night in his sophomore year when he made five of seven three-point shots and scored 24 points to lead Mizzou to an upset of Illinois? Or a month later when he went seven of ten from beyond the arc on his way to 27 points in an 81-59 rout of seventh-ranked Kansas? How about the afternoon he took a head-spinning 36 shots in a four-overtime victory over Iowa State? Or the night he drilled a 17-footer at the buzzer to beat Georgia in the NCAA Tournament? There was the 2001 Guardians Classic tournament where Gilbert won MVP honors after leading Mizzou from eleven points down with 2:15 to play to beat Iowa in the championship game. And there was the day in Colorado when he sank twelve three-pointers against the Buffs. Add it all together and you get a sensational career that saw Gilbert contribute to four NCAA Tournament teams and score 1,685 points, eighth most in Missouri history.

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