Cuonzo Martin left Cal for Missouri in March 2017, immediately assembled a top-five recruiting class and seemed on his way to a string of NCAA Tournament appearances.
Then came the injuries.
Michael Porter Jr. only played three games in the 2017-18 season because of a back issue. Jontay Porter missed the entire 2018-19 season with a torn ACL. Mark Smith and Jeremiah Tilmon both missed time last season. It's just been one thing after another after another. Bad luck multiplied by a million.
"We've taken our lumps," Martin said Saturday.
But this season has gotten off to a healthier/better start. So far, every meaningful Missouri player has appeared in every Missouri game. The result is a 5-0 record highlighted by Saturday's 81-78 upset of Illinois that pushed the Tigers into Sunday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
Missouri debuts at No. 16.
Whether the Tigers are legit contenders in the SEC remains to be seen. But, as I noted on Friday's episode of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast, Missouri's top five scorers are three seniors and two juniors. So this is an older team. And if there's one thing we've learned through the first three weeks of this unusual season, it's that the best teams are largely older teams filled with players who have performed at this level before. So that's a good sign, undeniably.
Missouri going from unranked to No. 16, and Illinois falling from No. 7 to No. 17, caused Rutgers, Duke, North Carolina, Richmond, San Diego State, Florida State, Louisville, Michigan, Saint Louis and LSU to be pushed down one spot each, no fault of their own. That means LSU has gone from No. 26 to the first team out. And, before anybody asks, yes, Clemson is very much on my radar. Brad Brownell's Tigers improved to 5-0 with a 64-56 victory over Alabama on Saturday. So they're definitely knocking on the Top 25 And 1's door.
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Sunday's Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Gonzaga's perfect record features wins over Kansas and West Virginia. The Zags have temporarily suspended basketball activities because of COVID-19 issues. | -- | 8-3 |
| 2 |  | Baylor's perfect record is highlighted by double-digit wins over Illinois and Washington. The Bears have temporarily suspended basketball activities because of COVID-19 issues. | -- | 7-3 |
| 3 |  | Luka Garza made six 3-pointers and finished with 34 points in Friday's 105-77 victory over Iowa State. The Hawkeyes' 5-0 record includes a double-digit win over North Carolina. | -- | 8-3 |
| 4 |  | Ochai Agbaji finished with 18 points and five rebounds in Friday's 95-50 victory over Omaha. The Jayhawks' lone loss is a neutral-court loss to top-ranked Gonzaga. | -- | 8-2 |
| 5 |  | Joey Hauser made six 3-pointers and finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds in Sunday's 79-61 victory over Western Michigan. Aaron Henry added 12 points and five assists. | -- | 9-2 |
| 6 |  | Marcus Zegarowski finished with 22 points, five assists and four steals in Friday's 98-74 victory over Nebraska. The Bluejays' lone loss is a one-point loss at Kansas. | -- | 7-5 |
| 7 |  | John Fulkerson finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 65-56 victory over Cincinnati. The Vols' 2-0 record also features a win over Colorado. | 1 | 11-0 |
| 8 |  | Collin Gillespie finished with 18 points and six assists in Friday's 79-63 victory at Georgetown. The Wildcats' 5-1 record includes wins over Texas and Arizona State. | 1 | 8-4 |
| 9 |  | Sean McNeil finished with 15 points and two rebounds in Friday's 62-50 victory over North Texas. The Mountaineers' lone loss is a single-digit loss to Gonzaga. | 1 | 8-2 |
| 10 |  | Virginia's lone loss is a one-point loss to San Francisco. The Cavaliers have temporarily suspended basketball activities because of COVID-19 issues. | 1 | 6-5 |
| 11 |  | Houston's perfect record features a double-digit win over Texas Tech. The Cougars have temporarily suspended basketball activities because of COVID-19 issues. | 1 | 7-3 |
| 12 |  | Greg Brown finished with 18 points and three blocks in Wednesday's 74-53 victory over Texas State. The Longhorns' 5-1 record features wins over North Carolina and Indiana. | 1 | 10-2 |
| 13 |  | Terrence Shannon finished with 15 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 77-57 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christie. The Red Raiders' lone loss is a neutral-court loss to Houston. | 1 | 8-2 |
| 14 |  | Brad Davison finished with 23 points in Wednesday's 73-62 victory over Rhode Island. The Badgers' next scheduled game is against Northern Iowa. | 1 | 9-3 |
| 15 |  | E.J. Liddell finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds in Tuesday's 90-85 victory at Notre Dame. Three of the Buckeyes' four wins have come by double-digits. | 1 | 7-4 |
| 16 |  | Xavier Pinson finished with 17 points and five assists in Saturday's 81-78 victory over Illinois. Missouri's 5-0 record also includes a win over Oregon. | NR | 10-1 |
| 17 |  | Ayo Dosunmu finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds in Tuesday's 83-68 victory at Duke. The Illini's lone loss is a loss to No. 2 Baylor. | 10 | 7-3 |
| 18 |  | Ron Harper Jr. made five 3-pointers and finished with 26 points in Tuesday's 79-69 victory over Syracuse. The Scarlet Knights' next three scheduled games are against Maryland, Illinois and Ohio State. | 1 | 7-4 |
| 19 |  | The Blue Devils missed 17 of the 22 3-pointers they attempted in Tuesday's 83-68 loss to Illinois. Duke has now lost two non-league games at home for the first time in nearly 40 years. | 1 | 9-2 |
| 20 |  | Armando Bacot finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's 73-67 victory over North Carolina Central. Both of UNC's losses are to teams ahead of them in the Top 25 And 1. | 1 | 6-5 |
| 21 |  | Tyler Burton finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds in Wednesday's 78-68 victory over Northern Iowa. The Spiders' perfect record features a double-digit win at Kentucky. | 1 | 4-7 |
| 22 |  | Jordan Schakel finished with 25 points and six rebounds in Thursday's 80-68 victory at Arizona State. The Aztecs' 5-0 record also features a win over UCLA. | 1 | 7-2 |
| 23 |  | Scottie Barnes finished with 17 points and five assists in Saturday's 83-71 victory over Florida. The Seminoles also own a win over Indiana. | 1 | 9-3 |
| 24 |  | Dre Davis finished with 21 points and two assists in Tuesday's 75-54 victory over Western Kentucky. The Cardinals' 4-0 record also features a win over Seton Hall. | 1 | 6-5 |
| 25 |  | Hunter Dickinson finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and four blocks off the bench in Wednesday's 91-71 victory over Toledo. The Wolverines' next scheduled game is their Big Ten opener against Penn State. | 1 | 8-3 |
| 26 |  | Gibson Jimerson finished with 21 points in Tuesday's 88-65 victory over Central Arkansas. The Billikens' 4-0 record features a win over LSU. | 1 | 6-5 |
OUT: LSU IN: Missouri
