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 Final Four, here's how we got to this point.
FINAL FOUR MATCHUPS
1) Derrick Chievous vs 1) Steve Stipanovich: 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 and taking down John Brown in the Elite Eight. 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.]
Stipo dominated Jeff Warren and Keyon Dooling in the first two rounds, then got 93% of the vote in beating Arthur Johnson. In the Elite Eight, he got 81% of the vote against Willie Smith, arguably the strongest two seed in the field. Stipanovich 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.
1) Doug Smith vs 1) Anthony Peeler: 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 and then just a little more in an Elite Eight win over Melvin Booker. 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.
Peeler was the most dominant individual in the Sweet 16, getting more than 97% of the vote over Rickey Paulding, but then had the closest Elite Eight matchup, picking up 68% in beating Jon Sundvold. 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.
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