Missouri Basketball

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So, Now What?

by Todd Donoho

Columbia, Mo. - Missouri guard Stefhon Hannah is knocked unconscious and gets his jaw broken outside of a Columbia bar at closing time early Sunday morning.  He goes to the hospital and has surgery.  Reports say he is out for 4 to 6 weeks.  So, now what?

Well, on the basketball court, Mizzou loses its leading scorer, leading assist man, leader in steals, and overall floor leader.  It will be a damaging blow to the Tigers' hopes of making the NCAA Tournament or the NIT.  Obviously, it means more minutes for Jason Horton, Keon Lawrence and J.T. Tiller.  The additional minutes will allow sophomores Lawrence and Tiller to grow and improve.  It's time to step up.  Who will step up and fill the void left by Hannah's absence remains to be seen.

And then there is the problem of perception for Mizzou's basketball program.  In the last year, Mike Anderson Jr., Kalen Grimes, DeMarre Carroll, Darryl Butterfield, and now Stefhon Hannah have had off the court problems.  I won't detail the violations.  I consider all of them serious.

Grimes was dismissed from the team after Head Coach Mike Anderson issued a zero-tolerance policy for his team following the Carroll incident.  Because of that, I would assume (perhaps incorrectly) that Hannah's Mizzou basketball career is over even if he recovers in time for the Big 12 Tournament.

Add this to the perception problem.  Of the eight players who have come into the Missouri basketball program under Mike Anderson, four (Anderson Jr., Carroll, Butterfield, Hannah) have had off the court problems.  Even if a player "is in the wrong place at the wrong time," it's a perception problem.  When half of the players that you have brought in, have off the court problems, the coach has an embarrassing problem on his hands. 

I want to give Hannah the benefit of the doubt.  I was a college student at Mizzou once.  I closed up the campus bars on many occasions.  A lot of college students do.  But, few students are in places where there are fights and jaws are broken.  No one ever issued a zero-tolerance policy on me.  College athletes are held to a different/higher standard than the student body at large.  College athletes are public figures, especially the players on the men's basketball and football teams.  If I got into a fight outside of a bar when I was in college, nobody would have noticed because nobody knew who Todd Donoho was.  If Stefhon Hannah, Chase Daniel, Leo Lyons, etc., gets into a bar fight, it makes news all over the state.  In fact, depending on which athlete got in trouble, it would make national news on ESPN.

I wish Stefhon Hannah well.  I hope he has a full recovery from his surgery.  If his Mizzou basketball career is over, I wish him well with the rest of his life.

I also wish Mike Anderson well.  While Hannah recovers from a fractured jaw, Anderson must deal with a fractured team.  He has lost his on court leader in the middle of the conference schedule.  He also must deal with the latest in a string of embarrassing off the court problems.