Mizzou’s athletic department got the latest Academic Progress Rate scores in yesterday, and given all the trouble men’s basketball has had in the past few years, things were sure to be tight. Just how tight?

[breaths huge sigh of relief]

That 851 from 2013-2014 is still dragging down the four-year score by quite a bit, but thankfully it won’t be able to hurt the program after this year. This past year’s score won’t be anything to write home about with several transfers on the docket, but it can’t get much worse than 851... at least, I hope not.

Still, there doesn’t seem to be much to worry about moving forward. Cuonzo Martin’s creed of wanting to be an example in life for the young men he coaches would hopefully extend to dedication in the classroom. With a few good scores on the card, he can start to earn those bonuses, and Missouri fans don’t have to dread APR score days anymore.

Yesterday at Rock M

• Missouri loses first SEC Tournament game, now awaits NCAA fate

Ryan Herrera has done a great job covering the baseball team for us this year, and hopefully he has more to do. Missouri’s resume looks pretty good in a lot of ways: 14 RPI Top 50 wins; Top 60 strength of schedule; and playing in the tough SEC conference. However, a 12-18 conference record isn’t great, especially after the Tigers had to sneak into their own tournament to get another chance at postseason life. Never say never I guess, but it’s not looking good for the Tigers in Steve Bieser’s second year.

I’ll have more this summer on what happened to the Tigers’ promising start this year, but T.J. Sikkema has a lot to do with it. The dominant southpaw looked much more human this season, failing to display that pristine control that was so key in his freshman year.

More Links:

• Dave Matter and Alex Schiffer each gave their takes on the end of the baseball season and Missouri’s chances at making the tournament. Neither seem too confident.
• Matter also released a pretty amazing profile on Mizzou long-distance runner Megan Cunningham. Powerful stuff. (ABC 17’s Tyler Murry also did a profile on Cunningham about a month ago, which you can watch here.)
• Aaron Reiss at the KC Star detailed why Barry Odom doesn’t like the early recruiting period and why some are (and aren’t) with him.
• Gabe DeArmond published his weekly mailbag, which is always chock-full of good information and humor.
• Torrence Watson is getting excited to be in Columbia (at least that’s what I assume this is about.)

Maybe in that time he can convince Jontay to stay another year? No movement on the impending Jontay decision, either.

• Jordan Clarkson has 8 points and 2 rebounds off the bench for the Cavaliers in last night’s Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs ended up losing 96-83, but it wasn’t because of Clarkson, who was actually a plus player (+2) during his time on the court. Maybe he could’ve helped his team out by shooting better than 3-10 from the field, though.