Mizzou fans flock to see top hoops recruit

By MIKE DeARMOND

The Kansas City Star

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COLUMBIA | The Antlers — that venerable student group that loves to get under the skin of Missouri basketball opponents — was playing nice Saturday afternoon.

Oh, they stood and screamed incessantly inside Mizzou Arena. But they were yelling for, not at, Class of 2009 national recruit Michael Snaer.

“Michael Snaer! M-I-Z! Sign MU!” The Antlers called. Snaer looked up, and grinned.

Which MU coach Mike Anderson would have enjoyed. But he did not attend the open gym workout of his current players, oral commitment Mike Dixon from Lee’s Summit West and Snaer — that would be against NCAA rules.

Snaer — a 6-4 shooting guard from Moreno Valley (Calif.) Rancho Verde High School — is rated the No. 11 overall player in the nation for ’09 by Rivals.com. He’s the No. 5-ranked shooting guard.

He has offers from Missouri, Marquette, Florida State, Cal, Arizona, USC, UCLA, UNLV and Washington, as well as interest from reigning national champ Kansas.

Matt Lawrence, senior guard for Mizzou, marveled at the scene late Saturday afternoon at Mizzou Arena.

“We’ve never had a crowd like this before a football game,” Lawrence said.

There were nearly 2,000 people for the open gym session. Most were there because of Snaer, his visit hardly a secret around the Internet recruiting and message board sites.

Elvert “Kool-Aid” Perry — Snaer’s coach and the same AAU coach who helped guide Antoine Wright to Texas A&M when MU associate head coach Melvin Watkins was the head coach of the Aggies — took it all in with a smile.

“He’s going to take all his visits,” Perry said.

Posted on Sat, Sep. 06, 2008 05:53 PM

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