COLUMBIA, MO. • After three last-place finishes in the Southeastern Conference and three years of empty seats at Mizzou Arena, the Missouri men’s basketball program has grabbed the attention of the coaches around the league.
That’s what happens when you hire an established head coach with SEC ties who then signs the nation’s seventh-ranked recruiting class, including the No. 1 high school prospect.
The same coaches who are always in campaign mode to endorse SEC basketball prowess — you might have heard the league landed three teams in the 2017 Elite Eight, including first-time Final Four participant South Carolina — took turns Monday praising Mizzou’s swift rebuild, which started March 15 when athletics director Jim Sterk hired Cuonzo Martin to pull the Tigers out of the Kim Anderson quagmire.