COLUMBIA, MO. • When Missouri plays Florida State in the NCAA Tournament’s first round Friday night in Nashville, Tenn., Tigers coach Cuonzo Martin will look down the sideline at Bridgestone Arena and see a man he considers a mentor in the coaching industry.
He’ll also see someone with history against Mizzou.
It was 30 years ago when Leonard Hamilton unleashed an epic tirade at Hearnes Center, a scene he remembered vividly in an interview Monday.
It was Feb. 21, 1988, and Hamilton’s Oklahoma State Cowboys were playing coach Norm Stewart’s Tigers. Hamilton picked up two technical fouls in the first half then got ejected when a young assistant coach named Bill Self — yes, that Bill Self — was slapped with another technical, meaning Hamilton had to leave the court.