Doug Gottlieb of ESPN recently wrote up a column detailing a handful of players he believes will break out in the 2012-13 college basketball season, and two local players came up for Missouri and Kansas State. Specifically, Gottlieb like Mizzou's Phil Pressey to take over more of a scoring role for the Tigers now that Kim English and Marcus Denmon have moved on to the NBA. He also believes that Bruce Weber will enjoy Jordan Henriquez in his first season at K-State.
About Pressey, Gottlieb says he'll do less facilitating like he did last year and will assume a greater role within the offense:
"Flip" spent the first season trying to play in Mike Anderson's offense, in which occasionally he would take an ill-timed shot, and there was very little ball-screen action to take advantage of his playmaking ability in the half court. Last year, he fit perfectly into the four-guard look that Missouri used to win the Big 12 tourney, but Pressey facilitated more than he took over. After all, Marcus Denmon is a bona fide late-game killer, and Kim English always had a mismatch at the 4, so Pressey was more passive at times than he should have been. Though he struggled on occasion to finish at the rim against length, Pressey was mostly awesome in Big 12 play, with the exception of four or five games.
When it came to Henriquez, Gottlieb believes he needs the right situation around him under Bruce Weber's coaching, but he could be in for a great season:
JO, as he is known, is a rim protector deluxe. Henriquez has tremendous timing and hands to block shots on or off the ball, and he keeps his blocks in bounds. Additionally, Henriquez has a decent face-up jumper and can finish off penetration. With the need for NBA teams to protect the rim with long, athletic and rangy big men, Henriquez, if used right, can be that guy.