NASHVILLE, TENN. • The emotions were still fresh inside the Missouri locker room as Friday night turned into Saturday morning at Bridgestone Arena. The clock had officially struck midnight on Mizzou’s basketball season and the conversations had already pivoted to the program’s future.
Under first-year coach Cuonzo Martin, the Tigers improved from eight wins to 20 this season, the biggest one-year improvement of any high-major conference team heading into the NCAA Tournament, but a sense of finality swept through the locker room with the 67-54 loss to Florida State.
Martin’s team was vastly undermanned in the postseason, down to just seven scholarship players Friday, including freshman Michael Porter Jr.