UPDATE: I can't close the polls, but after 78 votes, Chievous wins 67%-32%.
It's Mizzou 25, the tournament to decide the best, most influential, most likable Mizzou athlete of the past 25 years! It's like Who's Now or The Greatest Highlight, only, uhh, cool.
Mizzou 25 is set up in four 8-athlete regions: the Norm Stewart Region (basketball), the Larry Smith Region (football), the Joann Rutherford Region (all sports), and the Harold "Spider" Burke Region (fan favorites).
As a result of yesterday's polls and comments, the following players qualified for the Spider Region: Devin West (winner of the Play-In Game), Jed Frost (over Brian Dailey--we only needed one walk-on), Matt Pell (because Pell has some super-fans here), and Demontie Cross (because he kicked ass). An overall bracket will be posted tonight.
Without further adieu...you're looking liiiiiive from Shelbyville, MO, as Round One of the Norm Stewart Regional begins today! Here are the matchups.
(So as not to bias the process, seedings were done chronologically. The matchups you see below are therefore oldest vs newest, second-oldest vs second-newest, etc., in typical 1v8/4v5/3v6/2v7 setup.)
2/27: Derrick Chievous (1984-88) vs Arthur Johnson (2000-04)
2/28: Melvin Booker (1990-94) vs Jason Sutherland (1993-97)
2/29: Anthony Peeler (1987-91) vs Clarence Gilbert (1998-02)
3/1: Doug Smith (1987-91) vs Kareem Rush (1999-02)
Let's get to it!
Derrick Chievous vs Arthur Johnson |
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1984-88 |
2000-04 |
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Stats 84-85: 13.1 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.4 APG 85-86: 18.8 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 1.4 APG 86-87: 24.1 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 1.9 APG 87-88: 23.4 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.6 APG Record: 82-49 NCAA Tourney Wins: 0 |
Stats 00-01: 9.0 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 2.0 BPG 01-02: 12.2 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 2.0 BPG 02-03: 16.1 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 1.8 BPG 03-04: 16.4 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 1.6 BPG Record: 82-50 NCAA Tourney Wins: 5 |
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| Michael Atchison: "A notoriously quirky 6’7" forward from New York City’s Jamaica, Queens, neighborhood, Derrick Chievous was nearly as famous for always wearing a Band-Aid as for being one of the great pure scorers in Mizzou history. Chievous began filling the hoop from the moment he set foot on campus, scoring a freshman-record 32 points against Arizona just one month into his career. As a sophomore, he led the Tigers in scoring with 18.8 points per game, and his season total of 640 points was then the second most in school history. Chievous elevated his game as a junior, earning first team All-Big Eight and second team All-America honors, leading the conference in scoring, guiding the team to a league title, and showing a remarkable ability to get to the free throw line (for his career, he made more free throws than any other Tiger attempted). His season total of 821 points remains a Missouri record, and his three-year total of 1,879 made him the Tigers’ all-time scoring leader with a full season left to play. All-Big Eight again as a senior, Chievous scored a career-high 42 points in a win over Virginia Tech. He closed his career with 2,580 points (still first by a huge margin), 979 rebounds (then second, now fourth), and a career 19.9 points per game average, second only to Willie Smith." | Michael Atchison: "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)." | |