Good call, I botched that one and you are right

Posted on: August 21, 2023 at 14:16:29 CT

Here is a good article about Finner transfering to MU:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-12-20-9204250546-story.html

Marlo Finner has been waiting, thirsting, hungering for Saturday night since March 1990, when he scored 35 points in his final game for Chicago`s Wendell Phillips High.

It`s been so long that he figures his first appearance in his first game for Missouri probably will kill Arkansas senior guard Robert Shepherd.

''It`s been so long, he`ll probably be shocked to see me out there,''

said Finner, who used to match up against Shepherd, also from Chicago, in the summer leagues.

Finner, the leading scorer (37 points a game) and second-leading rebounder (17) in Illinois as a high school senior, has taken more career turns than Pac-Man trying to thread a video maze.

''If I had the grades coming out of high school I could have gone anywhere in the country,'' Finner said. ''But that was one of the things I was immature about in high school.''

So instead of Illinois, or Iowa, or De Paul, or Tennessee or Louisville, Finner, a 6-6, 221-pound swingman, found most college admission gates swinging closed.

He wound up a Proposition 48 casualty at Texas-El Paso, sitting out what should have been his first college season. Two weeks into practice for the 1991-92 season, he felt something in his right knee. Arthroscopic surgery didn`t alleviate the pain.

The UTEP coaching staff wasn`t convinced. Finner said coach Don Haskins started saying things like, ''You big chicken. You`re from Chicago. You should be a lot tougher than you are.''

Finner decided to leave UTEP after a friend claimed to have overheard a conversation in which Finner`s doctor was told Finner had to be able to play because he was a senior.

''They lied completely about my eligibility and everything just to get me back to play,'' Finner said. ''I felt they weren`t loyal to me or the university to rush me back like that.''

So even though it meant sitting out the second semester of last season and the first one of the current season, Finner transferred to Missouri, courtesy in part to the influence of the parents of former Tiger Byron Irvin. A second arthroscopic surgery was needed in May.

So what can be expected after such a long layoff from organized ball?

A lot, according to Missouri coach Norm Stewart.

''We`re good rebounding now, and we`ll be better with him,'' Stewart said, then added, ''I say that, and he`ll get one.''

Teammate Melvin Booker is convinced.

''He`s somebody we can go to in the post,'' Booker said. ''He`s strong. In practice, there hasn`t been anybody who can stop him yet.''

Stewart hopes Finner will extend his shooting range as he becomes more familiar with the Missouri system. But Booker, asked to compare Finner with another Missouri newcomer, mad bomber Mark Atkins, said, ''He doesn`t shoot as well as Mark-or as much as Mark.''

Finner, who exudes a quiet, sometimes mistaken for brooding, demeanor off the court, has been the focus of some kidding from the Tigers this week over his obvious anxiousness to play in a real game.

''They tease me about getting in the game and probably fouling out because they think I`m so hyper,'' Finner said, chuckling.

Finner won`t break in as a starter against Arkansas. But whenever he makes his first appearance as a collegian, as a 21-year-old sophomore, Finner will have a familiar cheering section.

''My whole family,'' Finner said. ''My mother, sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews.''

Eleven or 12, depending if everybody makes it.

''It`s a big game for them, too,'' Finner said.