COLUMBIA, Mo. — Cuonzo Martin has never tempered his belief that Missouri could challenge for the Southeastern Conference in this, his third season as head coach. In October, he responded to MU’s place in the media’s preseason SEC poll — 13th out of 14 teams — with even more confidence.
“If we finish 13th in this league,” he said, “then this would be one of the best leagues ever to lace them up in all of college basketball.”
Five games into Mizzou’s 18-game conference schedule, the poll looks more prescient than Martin’s expectations, though he always couched his comment with one caveat: “If we’re healthy,” he said many times leading into the season.