Ultimate Hoops Bracket: Elite Eight
Previously, we polled PowerMizzou.com subscribers to determine the best player in Tiger football history. Now we're taking the tournament to the hardwood.
Over the next six weeks we will run the same tournament for Mizzou basketball players. The brackets will be posted and explained below. Then, on our premium message board, we will start a poll for each matchup. The polls will remain open through the week, closing on Friday night. The winners will move on to the next round, we will update the bracket and publish a new story and new polls the following Sunday. After six weeks, we will have the best Tiger hoops player as selected by our subscribers.
There are no set criteria for the vote. You can vote for your favorite player, the best player, the most important player, the player with the best socks or the best hair or however else you want to choose. As voting moves to the Sweet 16, here's how we got to this point.
THE CHIEVOUS REGION
1) Derrick Chievous vs 2) John Brown: The top two seeds in the region advance for a clash of the titans. Chievous got more than 93% of the vote in each of the first two rounds, beating Mike Jeffries and Clarence Gilbert before beating his college coach in the Sweet 16. He is Mizzou's all-time leading scorer by nearly 400 points, putting up 2,580 from 1985-88. For his career, Chievous averaged 19.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He shot better than 52% from the field and 79% from the free throw line on a school record 963 attempts. He has the highest career scoring average along with the single season and career marks for total points. He was the 16th overall pick in the NBA and draft and spent three seasons with Houston and Cleveland, averaging 7.1 points per game.
Brown, who got more than 95% of the vote in each of the first two rounds, was the first superstar to play for Stewart at Missouri. He survived a close battle with Marcus Denmon in the last round. His 1,421 points were a school record when he left and still rank 16th on Mizzou's all-time list. He averaged 19.7 points for his career, including 21 in each of his final two seasons. Brown averaged a double-double for his career with exactly ten rebounds per game as well. He was a first-team all-Big Eight selection as a senior and is third all-time in career scoring average. In eight NBA seasons with Atlanta, Chicago and Utah, Brown averaged 7.4 points and 4.4 rebounds a game.
THE STIPANOVICH REGION
1) Steve Stipanovich vs 2) Willie Smith: The top two seeds get through again to set a matchup of two players as responsible as any for making Mizzou a national program.
Stipo dominated Jeff Warren and Keyon Dooling in the first two rounds, then got 93% of the vote in beating Arthur Johnson. He started 124 of his 128 career games in Columbia and averaged double-figure points and at least six rebounds every season. He ended up at 14.4 points and 7.7 boards per game for his career. He led the Tigers to four consecutive Big Eight titles and left as the school's all-time leading scorer (he's now fourth) with 1,836 points. He ranks in the all-time top five in field goals made, free throws made and attempted, rebounds, blocked shots and minutes played. He was the 2nd overall pick in the 1983 draft and averaged 13.2 points and 7.8 rebounds with the Pacers before his career was cut short by injury.
Smith, who is the only Tiger to average at least 20 points per game for his career, beat Derek Grimm and Jevon Crudup to advance to the Sweet 16 where he took out Ricky Frazier. His 23.9 per game over two seasons in 1975-76 are the most in school history by four points a game. He was a two-time all-Big Eight selection and was the league's leading scorer and an all-American in 1976 when he scored 25.3 points per game and led the Tigers to their first conference title in 46 seasons and the Elite Eight. He shot 79% from the free throw line and averaged 5.6 rebounds in his two seasons. His 43 points against Michigan in the 1976 NCAA Regional Final are the most points ever scored in a post-season game by a Tiger. He scored 30 points or more 12 times in 58 career games, second-most in school history.
THE SMITH REGION
1) Doug Smith vs 2) Melvin Booker: Two players who made their mark with their versatility match up with an Elite Eight spot on the line.
Smith was the bracket's most dominant player through two rounds, getting 98% of the vote each time. His advantage dipped just slightly in a Sweet 16 match with DeMarre Carroll. He is the second-leading scorer in school history with 2,184 points. He is the only Tiger to have 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for a career. He is in the top ten in school history in each of the following categories: field goals made (1), field goals attempted (1), free throws made (7), free throws attempted (7), rebounds (2), rebounds per game (10), steals (5), steals per game (9), blocked shots (4), blocked shots per game (8), games played (10) and minutes played (8). He was the 1991 Big Eight Player of the Year. He was a first round pick of the Dallas Mavericks and averaged eight points and 4.2 rebounds over five NBA seasons.
Booker was the Big Eight Player of the Year as a senior when he led the Tigers to an unbeaten record in the Big Eight and their last regular season conference championship. He got more than 95% of the vote against Brian Grawer and Lee Coward, then beat Kareem Rush in the third round. He averaged 18.1 points, 4.5 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game that season. That capped a career in which Booker was the No. 7 scorer in school history. He is ninth in career three-pointers made, tenth in field goals made, eighth in free throws and third in assists.
THE PEELER REGION
1) Anthony Peeler vs 2) Jon Sundvold: This matchup completes an all-chalk Elite Eight with the top two seeds making it this far in every region.
Peeler was the most dominant individual in the Sweet 16, getting more than 97% of the vote over Rickey Paulding. That followed easy wins over Kassius Robertson and Malcolm Thomas. He is the No. 3 scorer in school history with 1,973 points. That was capped by a Big Eight Player of the Year senior season in which he averaged 23.4 points per game, bringing his career average to 16.8. AP averaged double figures all four seasons as a Tiger. He is fifth in career field goals made and second in free throws made. He held the school records for both steals and assists when he graduated and still ranks tied for first and second in those categories, respectively. His 43-point game at Kansas is tied for the fourth-most individual points in school history and his nine 30-point games are also fourth.
Sundvold advanced with ease over Jimmy McKinney, Kelly Thames and Larry Drew to reach this point. He is the No. 11 scorer in school history with 1,597 career points and most wonder where he could have ranked if there was a three-point line when he played. Sundvold is the career leader in minutes played at Mizzou and helped lead the Tigers to four consecutive Big Eight Conference titles. He averaged 17.1 points per game as a senior and 12.5 for his career. He was a first round draft pick of the Seattle Supersonics and spent nine years in the NBA, averaging 7.7 points and shooting 39% from three-point range. Sundvold is also second in career free throw percentage at Mizzou.
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