Missouri's practicing, sleeping at the gym
Posted: Friday, November 06, 2009 3:39 PM
Filed Under:
Big 12
There are dedicated college basketball players, and then there’s Kim English.
Missouri’s sophomore guard is taking the “practice makes perfect” cliché to another level by spending all of his free time at the gym. In fact, he rarely makes it home to bed.
From the Kansas City Star:
No Missouri basketball player has likely ever spent as much time practicing his game. A year ago English frequently slept at Mizzou Arena, so as to be able to shoot after practice and before class the next day.
The practice has been catching. A lot of players are doing the same thing now.
(It’ll be interesting to see if English’s extra work pays off. He hit just 40 percent of his field-goal attempts last season, and shot almost 38 percent from beyond the arc. Tempo free nuggets: 51.5 TS% and a 101.0 ORtg.)
English has shown this kind of dedication for some time. But perhaps everyone else is following his lead so they can stick to their detractors.
For the second straight season – and despite a 31-7 season that ended in the Elite Eight – Missouri was picked to finish 7th in the Big 12. That’s not sitting well with the Tigers.
Then again, if these guys are sleeping at the gym to fit in some extra practice, maybe we shouldn’t doubt quotes like this from coach Mike Anderson.
"I think we've got some guys who can put it in the hole," Anderson said. "We've got to be that team that is going to be tenacious, scrapping and clawing."
I bet. Sleeping at the gym will do that to you.
(H/T: The Dagger)
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