One year later, the story sticks with me. I’ve been around a lot of athletes, and few cared more about his or her team than this guy did. Jordan Barnett was the leader of the resurgent Missouri Tigers basketball team. He was averaging the second-most points and the second-most rebounds, too. He was a feel-good local story — a kid from St. Louis now playing for his state school. And he’d never played on a team that made the NCAA Tournament — until his senior year, when Mizzou got in, one March ago.
How can someone care so much and yet do something that could jeopardize the thing they care for?