Laurence Bowers tears acl, Mizzou's Big 12 title hopes take a hit

Its now official.

Missouri forward Laurence Bowers will miss the rest of the season after tearing an acl in a pickup game on Monday afternoon.

This is just difficult news for an outstanding young man and representative of our athletics department," head coach Frank Haith said in a statement a couple hours after news of the injury broke. "I have had a chance to talk with Laurence a few times and he is doing well. I know he is anxious to get started on his rehabilitation and he will continue to be a big part of the 2011-12 team. It's obviously a tough loss for us as a basketball team. He's an All-Big 12 type player. He's one of our best defenders and he brings a great deal of versatility, but our primary concern is to help Laurence through the recovery process."


Bowers is a genuinely liked kid, the kind of player that turned himself from an under-heralded recruit into an NBA prospect. Seeing him lose his senior season -- a chance to end his playing career with guys like Kim English and Marcus Denmon, who he has been teammates with for four years -- is certainly not pleasant.

The loss is a huge blow to the Tiger's hopes of winning the Big 12 this season. Already thin up front, Bowers was the team's best rebounder, second-leading scorer and most versatile defender. Given the lack of size on this season's roster and the struggles they have had defensively, there is an argument to be made that he was the most valuable player on Mizzou. How important does George Goode's decision not to enroll at Missouri and to instead finish his career at FDU appear now?

With Kansas reloading, Texas rebuilding and Baylor, well, being Baylor, this was supposed to be Missouri's season to win the league.

But between Bowers' injury, the head coaching change, the potential NCAA violations facing Frank Haith and the ever-present rumors swirling about Mizzou's involvement in conference realignment, it seems like destiny is just not on the Tiger's side.
Continue reading...

POSTERIZED: Laurence Bowers does it again

Missouri's Laurence Bowers is making a strong case for the addition of "Human Highlight Reel" to his occupation line.

Last week, he had a rediculous baseline jam against Nebraska (We've been looking for highlights of this dunk for days to no avail)

He followed that up with a great tip jam against Texas A&M and tonight, against Kansas State, he completed the trifecta, with a nasty alley-oop from Phil Pressy





A view from the baseline

But was it as good as one of these?
POSTERIZED - Drew Gordon, New Mexico
POSTERIZED - Tony Mitchell, Alabama
POSTERIZED - Jeffery Taylor, Vanderbilt
POSTERIZED - LaMarcus Reed, UT-Arlington
POSTERIZED - Marcus Morris, Kansas
POSTERIZED - Jared Cunningham, Oregon State
POSTERIZED - Langston Morris-Walker
POSTERIZED - Chris Wright and Juwan Staten, Dayton
POSTERIZED - D.J Stephens, Memphis
POSTERIZED - Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Reeves Nelson, UCLA
POSTERIZED - Kendall Marshall and John Henson, UNC
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Joe Jackson, Memphis
POSTERIZED - Shay Shine, High Point
POSTERIZED - Harrison Barnes, North Carolina
POSTERIZED - Kent Bazemore, Old Dominion
POSTERIZED - CJ Fair, Syracuse
POSTERIZED - LeBryan Nash
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Georgia
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Marcus Jordan, Central Florida
POSTERIZED - Lorenzo Brown, NC State
POSTERIZED - Tai Wesley, Utah State
POSTERIZED - Trent Lockett, Arizona State, and Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Brandon Paul, Illinois
POSTERIZED - Jordan Hamilton, Texas




Continue reading...