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Missouri's State Alize Johnson was tabbed the top player in the Valley's 1st week. While the competition was weak, Johnson's stats were still eye opening as he shot .824 from the field, 60% from 3pt, was perfect from the foul line and averaged 18pts and 8 rbs . Given the competition, the real encouraging factor was his demonstration of all facets of his game as his ball handling and ability to score inside and out were on full display. At almost 6'9 he is a true stretch four who also rebounds. He needs to improve his interior defense, but offensively he is a pretty tough matchup for most teams because of that versatility.

MSU's other top juco , Ronnie Rousseau has also shined even though he hasn't shot the ball as well as he probably will to date. What has been encouraging is despite a history of being a prolific scorer, he has showed excellent pg mentality preferring to run the offense, using his ulta quickness and good handles to both get to the rim but also set his teammates up off the dribble. He has 12 assists vs just one to.

Tonights game won't show much as it's one of those we couldn't get a decent D-1 game so we went with a lower division to avoid any worse RPI than we already have, in a very weak noncon schedule. We do have a roadie vs DePaul coming up, a 1st round tourney game vs Southern Cal, and a home game against Valpo as probably most valid tests to see where we're at.

Looks to be a legitimate higher level talent with so many apparent skill sets. If he displays them against high level competition then MSU could well be a top 3 team this year in the MVC.

I like watching Azize run the break! I'd watch them play D-III bonefonte pr whatever, but I'm pretty sure my wife keeps tabs on me during basketball season and I'm restricted to some unknown finite number of games. I hate to waste one of those on a D-III drubbing instead of a UNI/ISUr game in February.

It's incredible how good a ball handler and playmaker Alize is at 6' 9".

shockalot wrote:Looks to be a legitimate higher level talent with so many apparent skill sets. If he displays them against high level competition then MSU could well be a top 3 team this year in the MVC.

We saw some nice offensive proficiency from the Bears last year. The question will always be defense. Scoring 90 is nice, but not if you can't keep your opponent below there.

RoyalShock wrote:

shockalot wrote:Looks to be a legitimate higher level talent with so many apparent skill sets. If he displays them against high level competition then MSU could well be a top 3 team this year in the MVC.

We saw some nice offensive proficiency from the Bears last year. The question will always be defense. Scoring 90 is nice, but not if you can't keep your opponent below there.

Well they held Fontebonne to 27!!!! ... Fontbonne sounds like a delicious French Dessert.

RoyalShock wrote:

shockalot wrote:Looks to be a legitimate higher level talent with so many apparent skill sets. If he displays them against high level competition then MSU could well be a top 3 team this year in the MVC.

We saw some nice offensive proficiency from the Bears last year. The question will always be defense. Scoring 90 is nice, but not if you can't keep your opponent below there.

Must have been watching a different Bears team than me last year... The MO State Bears haven't been proficient since 'Zo's days

MSUDuo wrote:

RoyalShock wrote:

shockalot wrote:Looks to be a legitimate higher level talent with so many apparent skill sets. If he displays them against high level competition then MSU could well be a top 3 team this year in the MVC.

We saw some nice offensive proficiency from the Bears last year. The question will always be defense. Scoring 90 is nice, but not if you can't keep your opponent below there.

Must have been watching a different Bears team than me last year... The MO State Bears haven't been proficient since 'Zo's days

There's a good chance I'm not remembering them correctly. I thought I recalled them having some stretches of good offense but having trouble stopping their opponents. But when I look back on their schedule/results, I'm not seeing the scores I would have expected, were my recollection true. So, nevermind!