Honestly I got kinda curious about this after watching Jordan Clarkson ballin’ with Utah Jazz. Dude’s smooth on court, but where’d he actually go to college? Started googlin’ like anybody would.
My Search Begins
First thing, I punched “Jordan Clarkson college” straight into Google. Boom, Mizzou pops up right away – University of Missouri. Okay, cool. But then I thought, “Wait, where do Mizzou even stand basketball-wise?”
Tried lookin’ for some official NCAA rankings, man that was messy. Stats overload! Finally landed on one of those “best college basketball programs” lists. Scrolled… and scrolled… Mizzou wasn’t even top 50. Wild, right? A guy like Clarkson comin’ from a smaller program.
The Deep Dive Stuff
Then I fell into this rabbit hole tryin’ to see where Mizzou was ranked specifically when Clarkson played there (2010-2011). Wayback Machine time! Dug through old forums and cached pages. Found out:
- They were unranked preseason his sophomore year – nobody saw them coming!
- Mid-season they actually cracked the Top 25 for like a hot minute after beating Kansas. Campus must’ve gone nuts.
- Finished outside rankings after NCAA tournament exit. Classic underdog energy.
Funny enough, found a forgotten Bleacher Report article callin’ Clarkson a “steal” for Tulsa (his first commitment) before he flipped to Mizzou. What if…?
Weirdest Fact?
Seriously, nobody talks about this: Mizzou’s arena during Clarkson’s time had a literal Walmart sponsor on the court. Like, center-court logo was the Walmart spark. Imagine draining jumpers over that every game. Peak college basketball chaos.
Finished up cross-checking stats on Sports-Reference. His numbers jumped sophomore year – 12 points to nearly 17 per game. Guy clearly outgrew the competition.
What really matters though? Proves rankings don’t dictate talent. Dude balled out no matter where Mizzou sat on some list.
