COLUMBIA, Mo. •The Missouri men’s basketball team held its first official preseason practice Monday. On Tuesday, Frank Haith and several players met with the media to discuss the upcoming season. We’ll have more in Thursday’s Post-Dispatch, but some news and notes to pass along …
• I’ll touch on this more in the print edition, but Haith is clearly excited about his possibilities at point guard. Tulsa transfer Jordan Clarkson is the clear starter going into the season, but freshman Wes Clark will see “plenty of minutes at the 1,” Haith said. They’re replacing the school’s all-time assists leader in Phil Pressey, now with the Boston Celtics, but the combination of Clarkson and Clark could give the Tigers more scoring punch and better play defensively at the position.
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Clarkson might not be an elite playmaker like Pressey was at his best, but Haith believes he’ll be a productive player in the pick-and-roll game, especially with his ability to drive the ball.
“I mean Phil’s as great a passer as I have ever been around, but I think Jordan does have a feel to hit open people,” Haith said. “You look at his size at 6-5. I think ,with Jordan, we have looked at the angles of our ball screens because when he gets going downhill, he is a great finisher at the basket. At times, Phil kind of struggled sometimes doing that. With pick and roll, you have to pick how you are going to defend it in terms of what you’re going to try and take away. I think Jordan will do a good job of finding, in terms of taking advantage of the defense, what they give him."
• Also, Haith said Clarkson is “by far” the team’s best defender. The team’s runner-up in that department is Clark. Both guards will be on the floor together at times, with Clark at the point and Clarkson playing on the wing.
“Wes is very, very good,” Haith said. “There’ll be a lot of teams Wes would probably start for. Jordan has really thrived and learned at that (point guard) position last year going against Phil every day. But Jordan Clarkson, don’t discard his greatest asset is he can score the ball, too. He’ll play off the ball some, too.”
• Clark underwent arthroscopic knee surgery this summer, forcing him to miss the bulk of the team’s summer workouts. He said his knee’s about 75 percent right now.
“I’ve just seen this as an opportunity to get better, the little obstacle I had to overcome,” he said. “I’m doing better now and making my way.”
• In the frontcourt, the Tigers will have to replace the 25-plus points per game and, more important, the 14.5 rebounds supplied by departed senior forwards Alex Oriakhi and Laurence Bowers. Who fills that void? Post production starts with the aptly named Keanau Post, the 6-11 junior college transfer.
“The thing that I will point to that Alex really gave us that we have to find, he did this as well as anyone in the country, was rebound in traffic and going to get tough rebounds,” Haith said. “We’re hoping a couple of guys can go do that, Keanau and Ryan (Rosburg). Ryan has had a great fall and summer. He has made great strides and we anticipate him being a guy that will give us some really good minutes.”
Returning forward Tony Criswell will be part of that mix, too, and Haith is especially high on rugged 6-8 freshman forward Torren Jones.
“He is a specimen,” Haith said. “He reminds me so much of a young man that we had at Miami, who played football last night, Jimmy Graham, in terms of his tenacity and going after loose balls. He doesn't know what he is doing. He doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. But in terms of toughness, grit and physicality, he has all those intangibles."
• A wild card in the rotation is 6-11 sophomore Stefan Jankovic, a gifted scorer with range who struggled defensively as a freshman. Can he contribute inside? Is he more of an outside player?
“I see him as being a combo,” Haith said. “He’s really worked hard at guarding on the perimeter. … I do think he brings some things to the small forward spot even though he’s 6-10, 6-11. If he can rebound from that spot he’d be great. If he can defend from that position, that’d be great. From the four spot he probably has a chance to get open more because big guys aren’t used to guarding guys away from the basket like him. I think he’s got to be versatile to play both spots.”
• What about expectations for this club? The Tigers return just one player who started more than 10 games last year, guard Jabari Brown, but bring back enough role players whose roles will expand, that Haith isn’t diminishing his standard.
“Our goals are the same every year,” he said. “We want to play in postseason. … That is our goal every year. We are not backing off of that for this year's team. Now, this year's team we only have two seniors, we’ve got a lot of unproven (guys). Our front line, I think, is talented, but we still have to see those guys do it with the lights on. Until we do, I’ll have a better feel for how this team can finish.”
Here’s the official team roster heading into the season, which begins in three weeks with an exhibition game against Oklahoma City Oct. 25 at the Hearnes Center:
1 Wes Clark (6-0, 171) G FR Detroit, Mich./Romulus H.S.
2 Tony Criswell (6-9, 240) F RS SR Oklahoma City, Okla./Independence C.C.
3 Johnathan Williams, III (6-9, 208) F FR Memphis, Tenn./Southwind H.S.
4 Corey Haith (5-10, 174) G SO Miami, Fla./Rock Bridge (Mo.)
5 Jordan Clarkson (6-5, 193) G RS JR San Antonio, Texas/Tulsa
10 Deuce Bello* (6-4, 177) G JR Greensboro, N.C./Baylor
11 Shane Rector (6-1, 171) G FR Bronx, N.Y./South Kent School (Conn.)
24 Torren Jones (6-8, 234) F FR Chandler, Ariz./La Lumiere School (Ind.)
25 Zach Price* (6-10, 250) F JR Cleveland, Ohio/Louisville
31 Danny Feldmann (6-9, 225) F RS JR Jefferson City, Mo./Columbia
32 Jabari Brown (6-5, 214) G RS JR Oakland, Calif./Oregon
33 Earnest Ross (6-5, 228) G RS SR Cary, N.C./Auburn
35 Stefan Jankovic (6-11, 242) F SO Mississauga, Ontario/Huntington Prep
42 Hayden Barnard (6-10, 215) F FR Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley H.S.
44 Ryan Rosburg (6-10, 252) F SO Chesterfield, Mo./Marquette H.S.
45 Keanau Post (6-11, 268) F JR Victoria, British Columbia/Southwestern Illinois C.C.
*eligible in 2014-15