Though his career began in virtual anonymity, it ended with Booker ranking among the greats in Missouri Tiger history. On his way to becoming the Big Eight Player of the Year and a second team All-American, Melvin Booker imposed his will on each game, hitting every clutch shot in a season that saw the Tigers go a perfect 14-0 in the Big Eight and advance to within one game of the Final Four. His averages of 18.1 points and 4.5 assists per game do not begin to tell the story. But it was Booker’s remarkable senior season that sealed his place among Mizzou’s all-time greats. His 15.8 points per game led the club in his All-Big Eight junior season. With Peeler’s departure after the 1991-92 season, Booker assumed leadership of the team. But he began to come into his own as a sophomore, averaging 11.6 points and 3.9 assists. A starter as a freshman, Booker deferred to Doug Smith and Anthony Peeler on the court. Good thing he did, because Booker spent the next four years maximizing his ability as well as any player in the Stewart era. Norm Stewart discovered the unassuming point guard from Moss Point, Mississippi, while recruiting a more heralded peer. Little fanfare accompanied Melvin Booker’s arrival in Columbia. "All those recruiting experts, it shows how much those guys know." "Melvin Booker was sensational," Williams said. But Kansas coach Roy Williams praised the kid from Moss Point, Mississippi who had come to Missouri as an unheralded recruit less than four years earlier. "We dug ourselves a hole, and everyone had a part in getting us out," he said. After the game, Norm Stewart focused on the total team effort. Seventeen of Booker’s 32 points came down the stretch of an 81-74 win that clinched at least a share of the conference title. He scored 10 points in a 90-second span to bring MU even with the fourth-ranked Jayhawks. Mizzou trailed by eight points with less than nine minutes to play when Booker took over. At Kansas, he made a case for being the best in the league. Throughout the year, Melvin Booker had been Missouri’s best player. He is a Mizzou legend if ever one existed. He was more efficient than a guard is supposed to be as a senior, shooting 41 percent from 3-point range while still passing first, distributing the ball to Mizzou's many weapons, and becoming the face of Missouri's 14-0 run through the Big 8. He always played major minutes (28.5 per game as a freshman, 34.8 as a senior), scored when he needed to score, passed when he needed to pass, logged nearly 150 steals, and even blocked a few shots. Melvin Booker was the poster boy for the " stars don't matter!" set, a player who went from a pass-first freshman point guard on a team loaded with weapons (Doug Smith averaged 24 points per game that year, and Anthony Peeler averaged 19) to an "everything to everyone" senior. There's Booker, moving forward more quickly than those around him, celebrating an accomplishment rare to both Mizzou and, really, college basketball. It really is a thousand words in a snapshot, describing Melvin Booker's career at once. It is a classic, one I remember seeing (and loving) before I came to school at Mizzou, one I remember seeing at Brady Commons for years, and one I still love now. I almost reserved a spot in the Greatest 100 just for that picture.
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