Column:
Hannah brings basketball back
Published Dec. 8, 2006
If he doesn't have one already, Missouri point guard Stefhon Hannah desperately needs a nickname. Unfortunately for sports writers and mid-Missouri talk radio hosts, it seems many of the prudent possibilities are spoken for.
For instance, Hannah's ability to blow by unsuspecting defenders might conjure up images of Marvel superhero Flash Gordon. But a guy named Dwayne Wade has already taken the Flash moniker.
Perhaps we could call him Spark for the way he has ignited the incendiary Tigers to the program's best start since Warren G. Harding was elected president in 1920.
After watching Hannah this past month, it seems an apropos epithet is about the only thing missing from his game. It is safe to assume that by the season's end, with or without an on-court alias, the Chicago native will not be anonymous to the national media or opposing coaches.
In his brief Missouri tenure, Hannah has been sensational. He leads MU in points, assist and steals (he is second in the nation in that category.) The junior college transfer has already tied a school record for assists in a game and came within three steals and an assist of becoming the first player in MU history to record a triple-double.
Hannah's presence is contagious in that he is the kind of player who makes others around him better. His lock-down defense has allowed the Tigers to create turnovers that become easy baskets. The seven-point growth in the Tigers field-goal percentage can be directly attributed to Hannah's ability to get his teammates' good looks at the basket.
Although it's no coincidence, the fact that Hannah's arrival came on the heels of Quin Snyder's departure is almost a cruel joke on the latter party. For years, Snyder yearned for a point guard that was a jack-of-all-trades. He was looking for the Duke-system type of floor general who could pass and score with equal procession.
The embattled coach's search for a guardsman resulted in him starting four different point guards in his final five years at MU. The Tigers' lack of continuity at the most important position in the college game was a major reason Snyder's teams struggled in his final years in Columbia.
On the court, Hannah's benevolence has allowed him to find Matt Lawrence at the three-point arc and Marshall Brown for breathtaking alley-oop dunks. In guiding the Tigers to a 9-0 record, he has assisted first-year coach Mike Anderson off the court. The team's surprising start is allowing Anderson to drive up enthusiasm and excitement among a fan base that is still licking its wounds from the inauspicious ending to the Snyder era.
Sure, the Tigers are going to lose eventually. It will probably happen in one of their next two games to Illinois or Purdue. Still, with Hannah keeping the team on-point, a spot in the field of 65 come March, which seemed a pipe dream only a month ago, could be in the Tigers' future.
If that were to happen, we should call Hannah "Tupac." After all, he'll have brought the Tigers "Back From the Dead."