Oread Boom Kings recently posted Jayhawk Pros – a look at Kansas Jayhawks playing pro basketball.  In light of Big Monday being right around the corner, I thought I’d drop some Tiger basketball knowledge on our loyal readers.  As you may recall, I have taken a couple looks at former Tiger football players in the NFL, so it makes sense that I take a few minutes and track down former Tiger hoopsters now getting paid to ply their trade.  Unfortunately for us, it only took a few minutes.

Keyon Dooling – In his ninth year(!) in the NBA, and this one might be his best.  He’s with the Nets and is averaging more minutes and points than he has in any other season.  Twenty-six minutes, 9.6 points, and 3.4 assists.

Kareem Rush – In his sixth year (but seventh out of Mizzou – he did not play in the League in ‘06-07), he’s at the end of the Sixer bench averaging 8.3 minutes and 2.3 points a contest.  At Mizzou, he hit from over 42% of this three point shots – in the NBA it’s only been 35.8%.   Without his special skill, he’ll be clinging to a roster spot the rest of his career.

Linas Kleiza – In his fourth year with the Nuggets and still making some noise averaging 23.5 minutes, 11 points, and 4 rebounds a game. 

Thomas Gardner – In ‘06-07, Gardner played in Belgium and did well enough to hook on with the Bulls for a time in ‘07-08.  He’s now with the Hawks averaging 5.5 minutes and 2 points per game. 

Other Tigers have made a name for themselves overseas. 

Clarence Gilbert played the ‘07-08 season in Turkey and put up more than 14 points per game.  This season Gilbert is playing in the Spanish league where he’s averageing nearly 14 points per game.  In his Mizzou career, he averaged 14 points per game.  I think he’s found his handicap.

Arthur Johnson played in Greece for at least a year after Mizzou, but I have no idea if he’s still playing anywhere.  If you know, please share.

Finally, Rickey Paulding is tearing up Germany with his exciting style of play recently starting for the North All Star Team.  If you’re a Tiger fan and haven’t seen him in a while, his exploits overseas during the ‘07-08 season will remind you why you loved him so.

Of course, his time at the University of Missouri is most famous not for what he did on the boards at Hearnes, but what he did on the chalk boards in the math department.   When he gets done playing basketball, he plans to replace Euclid here at Atomic Teeth.

If I missed any former Tiger hoopsters, let me know and I’ll try to track them down.  Of course, I use Google to track them, so it’s not like you couldn’t do it yourself.