Johnson, Paulding face big decisions

INDIANAPOLIS -- Arthur Johnson and Rickey Paulding had said they would be back for their senior seasons at Missouri. But after the Tigers were eliminated by Marquette in the second round of the NCAA tournament, they didn't sound so sure.

"We're going to address that when we get back to Columbia," Paulding said after scoring a career-high 36 points in Missouri's 101-92 overtime loss Saturday. "Right now, I'm just thinking about the game, not thinking about that."

On March 1, after a game against Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan., Paulding and Johnson both said they planned on coming back.

"(It's) just something I have to talk about with my family and the coaching staff," Paulding said Saturday. "Right now, it's the furthest thing from my mind."

Johnson, whose projected NBA stock had not been as high as Paulding's, also said after the Kansas State game that he was coming back for his senior season.

"I've already answered that question," Johnson said Saturday, after scoring 28 points in Missouri's loss.

But when pressed, Johnson said, "I'm just thinking about this loss right now. I haven't really thought about anything like that."

Missouri coach Quin Snyder didn't clear up the matter.

"We want them to do the best thing for them," Snyder said. "It changes week to week. It changes month to month, year to year.

"I want what they and their families want. They'll have to sit down and talk about it."

Both Paulding and Johnson, however, did look a bit toward next season, when Missouri could have five seniors -- including established stars in Paulding and Johnson.

"I think we showed toward the end of the season that we're a really, really good team," Paulding said. "We'll be a pretty good group next year. We've got some good recruits coming in and we get (transfer) Jason Conley."

Johnson said: "I had a good year this year, just coming from the hard (work) I put into it in the off-season. That's only going to get better with this off-season coming and next year."

Junior forward Travon Bryant, meanwhile, ended his season in especially frustrating form.

Bryant finished with no points and two rebounds before fouling out with 1:38 to play in regulation.

"It was really frustrating," Bryant said. "I felt like I really came on strong at the end of the season. To have a game like this when my team really needed me to come up big is really disappointing. I felt like I just wasted space out there. I got into foul trouble and couldn't be aggressive. I just never could get anything going."