****Official 2017-2018 Missouri Tigers Basketball Thread****
 

Back up in your ass with the resurrection. Follow the Cuonzo Martin era here.

Recruiting Commitments:

2017:
Michael Porter Jr., SF, *****, Gatorade National Player of the Year
CJ Roberts, PG, ****
Blake Harris, PG, ***/****
Jeremiah Tilmon, F/C, ****
Kassius Robertson, Grad Transfer
Jontay Porter (possible re-classification from Class of '18), ****

Departures: No one that matters
Returning Players: No one that matters

Overall class ranking: #6 nationally.

FIRST

In all seriousness, good luck guys. Hope the KU-MU rivalry is brought from the dead soon. With Porter you guys could take it to us in the Big 12-SEC classic in Columbia next year.

A new and hopeful beginning for Mizzou basketball.

Martin, like Rogue One, has brought us hope.

Still not 100% sold on CM as coach, but he IS a million times better than Kermit! Thank god that era is over!!

Time to march back towards respectability, at least to start.

IF CM can recruit as good as they say he can, maybe it can make up for some of his coaching deficiencies.

Time will tell . . . . .


(at least optimistic for the future now)

Kinda nice that a top 150 recruit rescheduled (see: cancelled) and it wasn't because we were selling him a shitburger.

By many accounts, he thought he'd have a hard time getting run behind Roberts. We're getting turned down by a quality recruit for the right reasons. For the first time in, what, a decade?

I still stress patience here - it's taken a lot of good coaches 2-3 years to get a program turned. Howland is just now showing some traction and I think he's probably among the 20 best coaches in the NCAA. Frank Martin showed progress but not results in his first 3 years.

This team can/should play .500 ball and challenge 20 wins if the recruiting class gets another piece or two. But I think Duncan's expectations of an NCAA bid and actual run are pretty unreasonable. Kentucky gets 5 McDonald's All-Americans every year (to add to their stable of already existing 4 star recruits that couldn't get PT the year before) and still spend a month or so finding their form.

Young teams take time and that time will be when they're going through the softer part of their schedule where you'd hope they can bank wins. It may not happen like we hope.

First page spot for sale

http://cdn.chatsports.com/cache/be/2...e-original.jpg

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/col...t%20Basketball

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I would expect this team to struggle as they jell, later becoming dangerous late in the season as they get used to playing with one another. An NCAA berth is too optimistic at this point, IMO. Too much detritus on the roster.

My expectation level is set at making the tournament. NCAA, not NIT.

Roberts should have an actual asterisk (instead of stars), as he hasn't yet reaffirmed his commitment.

Why?

Christ alive man, look at this roster. 1 superstar can make that kind of difference in basketball, yes, but even the very best recruits take a little time to get humming at this level. When selection Sunday comes and Mizzou is 3-4 wins shy because of some early season losses that happened when the (hopefully) massive influx of youth comes in, you'll feel that pinch.

To call that an expectation is just not fair. You're either looking at a team with a bunch of slag on the roster (worst case scenario) or a team that managed to find 5 scholarships and fill them with 4 star or better recruits that are going to take a month or more to come together.

Because that's basketball. Hell, even the 3 quality holdovers are going to be dealing with an entirely new system and new coach. There's nothing that's going to be smooth about the first month here - it's the nature of the beast.

Not formally, but he hasn't requested to be released from his LOI (he has to be proactive here, IIRC). Moreover, I think Blake Harris rescheduling is EXTREMELY telling. Harris looked like a fall-back in case they lost Roberts.

Martin's coaching job in Tennessee was the very definition of making chicken salad out of chicken shit. The only issue I see is he has basically the exact same record everywhere he goes. Either he has a ceiling or he hasn't stuck long enough to really fine tune the system and get over that 23-25 win hump.

I'm an optimist. It may be unfair to have a tournament berth as an expectation, but I don't think it's that unfair. Maybe Mizzou's futility these past few years make getting into the tournament seem really hard, but with 72 teams in the field, it's not all that exclusive.

Really, I just needed to post something to subscribe to the thread though.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2017 4-star PG Jemarl Baker, Jr. has informed me that he has asked out of his LOI with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cal?src=hash">#Cal</a>.</p>&mdash; Ben Parker (@slamdunk406) <a href="https://twitter.com/slamdunk406/status/846467940358668288">March 27, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Seems like he wants to stay in California, though.

Could be wrong, but I'd guess that he's still more likely to land at UCLA or something like that. I think he's a Cali kid that wants to stay there if he can find the right fit. Shouldn't be hard for a top 100 recruit to get plenty of in-state attention.

Bring them all in. We need all the talent we can get even if they are all guards. Anybody that has to be let go can go to Pitt State with Kim.

Lol that'd look good to future recruits

I'd be fine with pushing one of the columns outside of Jesse Hall onto Cullen VanLeer.

I wish you all the best of luck. Wasn't tryna troll you with the Porter stuff wish he would have gone to OU so they could have ended that dumbass KU conference title streak. I think you guys could have a Kstate turn around when they hired huggy and pulled in Beasley, Walker, Pullen etc.

Good luck next year Tiger fans.

Nah, we won't win a title when you want to, but we also likely won't lose a conference title when you want us to either.

It's what KU has at this point.

Hope the SEC-Big 12 challenge pits MU and KU against each other next year. Hard to think that the hype from that wouldn't force KU into continuing the series.

It's funny that people think they'd give a shit.

"Why'd you chase Jordan Geist, Reed Nikko and Cullen VanLeer off the team?"

"Because they were Division II caliber players brought in by a Division II caliber coach who you'd have never bothered speaking with. Make sense?"

"Yeup"

I'm betting you thought Kermit deserved another year. You just have that sound to you.

Seriously - the Tigers could broom all but 3-4 of these guys and unless it put them back in APR trouble (and it could), nobody worth having would care one whit. Game recognizes game and the kids that might be a part of an actual tournament team will look at the chaff that got run out of there and they'd absolutely understand it.

Don't know why youre getting so butt hurt over that comment? And no I never liked Kermit and you can tell from one comment that I thought Kermit needed another year? Are you spazzing out at the moment or just completely hating your life?

I'm in.

My NCAA tourney expectations would be based on getting Porter, Tilmon, smith, Jontay Porter and retaining the role player types (Puryear, Phillips) and solid high major starter (Barnett).

Expectations will be based on the final roster. They add enough around Porter, and it should be an NCAA tourney team.

Fun to debate, at least.


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I would change "could" to "would" if that many were sent packing.

PG Alex Lomax out of Memphis 2018 offered from Mizzou. 3 star.

Re: APR, pretty sure they've got room to get rid of 3 without APR trouble. As long as Cullen VanLeer is one of the three.

You need your guys to go to a Four-year school, and you need them to have a 2.6 GPA or better.

They can't afford to have more than two guys who fail to meet those qualities transfer.

So you could easily bounce VanLeer, Kemp, and one of Geist/Nikko.

Problem is... are those guys willing?

I've heard there are some players on the team that are so happy just to be a member of the Missouri basketball team, they don't care how little they play.

I suspect VanLeer is one of those.


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You intend to back up your comment at all? Do you really think potential scholarship players are going to be upset that a bunch of MIAA caliber players were 'encouraged' to follow their MIAA coach?

Depends on who.

And if Kim Anderson was the 'developer of student athletes' that his backers claim, the 2.6 GPA threshold shouldn't be that tough. I mean it's Mizzou. It's a state school with any number of Underwater Basketweaving kind of courses that should allow somebody to keep that GPA at a reasonable level.

If the transfers are 2.6 or better (yes, I'm looking at you, VanLeer), they should be fine. And it's my understanding they have a little bit of latitude (maybe 2 players) that are under that mark that can move out as well.

I mean if this is a team that can't win 10 games OR manage to keep a 2.75 GPA, just exactly what the hell was Anderson recruiting? Bad AND stupid? That's a tough combo right there.


EDIT: It would appear Duncan has already spoken to this.

I guess I just didn't think it through and honestly I didn't think the comment was that big of a dea or that it would rile anyone up so bad. I haven't followed Mizzou basketball at all the last couple of years, so I didn't know that all of our guards were MIAA junk.

Has anyone seen what that dipshit Kim Anderson said about how everything went down? For a person who doesn't wanna make any excuses he sure makes alot of excuses.

Y'know, people have given Mizzou some shit about the whole 'hiring dad to get the sons' thing and say that clearly Porter Sr. is unqualified.

Man - look at that release on MPJs shot, though. That's just silk and it is automatic. He's been taught that from a young age - Porter the elder clearly knows something about the mechanics of a jump shot.

I'm not sure that there's anyone short of Anthony Davis he couldn't get that shot off against. At 6'10'' with a high release, he can just go up and over anyone that tries to get into his body. He brings it down to 'load up' and he'll have to stop doing that or some of those quick little guards will knock it out of his hands, but once he gets it back up, I just don't see a way to stop that shot. Once his legs coil, the ball's at/above his eyes. There's just not a good way to get to that shot without getting into his body.

Yes, if it was the short video of him with the Pitt State background. It wasn't awful, but he's still trying to defend himself. He needs to stop focusing on the challenges at Mizzou (he's not the first coach to inherit a shitty situation), stop calling out message board posters (mentioned all the people complaining on Tigerboard), wish Mizzou well and move on. I know he can't control the questions he's asked, but he should just direct them all to something positive at Pitt State.

On the other hand, I don't really give a shit. He's gone, Mizzou has what appears to be a coach who will return the team to relevance, and I'm almost assured of seeing CVL get less minutes.

Kentucky and Texas A&M also offered Porter a job.

He inherited the number 11 recruiting class. It wasn't that bad of a situation

To go along with J3 and Clark. Maybe Biedscheid was really a dope fiend, but he didn't do much to try and save him, either.

Right, that's what I'm saying. He needs to quit talking about the challenges as if he was taking over for Neville Chamberlain during WWII.

I just hate how much he made me hate Mizzou basketball. I used to love watching them.

The Kimsters have convinced themselves that he came into a post-Bliss Baylor/post-Sampson Indiana situation.

For someone who supposedly is about being tough and working hard and being "stand-up," Kermit sure does make a lot of excuses.

Oh, you inherited a minor NCAA investigation that led to losing ONE scholarship you could take over a two-year period? Boo hoo!

Oh, you didn't like the kids you inherited? Boo hoo (and don't give me that shit when you ran off just as many of your own guys).

Stop making excuses. It clearly permeated throughout the team's attitude. No wonder they lost so much.

But what should we expect from a guy who, as an assistant, couldn't make sure his boss knew a guy's name before an in-home visit you drove an hour to get to (Cookie Belcher, or as Norm called him shortly before Cookie decided to play for ****ING Nebraska: "Corky.")


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Yeah, his falling on the sword act is getting old. Own it and move on.

That's really ****ing embarrassing. I don't blame him for going out of state after that.

Kermit will be coaching about 30 miles from me. Caught his introduction at PSU. Sad human being.

Or as the head recruiter under Norm couldn't land:
Larry Hughes
JaRon Rush
Loren Woods
Chris Carrawell
Ryan Robertson
Tyrone Lue
Gary Buchanan
Cookie Belcher
Derek Hood

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colum...cc3efb059.html
CHICAGO • Michael Porter Jr. is recruiting other Michael Porter Jrs.

Porter, the nation's No. 1-ranked high school basketball player who is headed to Mizzou, “has been in my ear every since he committed,” said Kevin Knox, another McDonald's All-American in Chicago for Wednesday's showcase game.

Knox, the No. 7 player per ESPN.com, said playing for Mizzou next season is “a possibility – I have one more official visit (I'm allowed to make), that could be it. … My dad has talked to (coach Cuonzo Martin) a couple times, and he recruited me when he was at Cal.”

Knox is currently undecided, and he said Tuesday he'll make his college decision after the April 14th Jordan Brand Classic, another showcase game featuring the nation's elite.


Knox is a 6-foot-8, 203-pound small forward for Tampa Catholic High School in Florida.

“Mike said that me and him would be unstoppable on the wings together (at Mizzou,” Knox said. “I'm just listening to see what they have to offer, and possibly make a visit. … Every day, he's been texting me, making sure I stay in touch with him.”

Knox has already taken official visits to Duke, North Carolina, Florida State and Kentucky.

Porter Jr., whose dad is a new Mizzou assistant coach under Martin, announced last week that he'll play for the Tigers.

That would literally be insane

Duke, UNC, Kentucky.....Mizzou. Even getting a visit would be something to talk about.

The ability to star next to MPJ and to play in front of more NBA scouts than anywhere else has to be at least somewhat enticing.....

Those two would be ridiculous for a year.

But if you're Jordan Barnett, present power forward who busted his ass playing for this shitty team last year and is a damn good player in his own right, don't you kinda look at MPJ recruiting fellow one-and-done kids to come bury you your senior year and think to yourself "Man...what the ****?!?!"

Barnett's a very good player and there are a whole slew of guys that aren't. I think you have to be cognizant of that when you may only free up a couple more scholarships that could be better utilized at C or the 2 spot. Because Barnett and Porter at 3-4 seems like a pretty nice fit. Unless Porter sees himself as a 2 which...hell, he might be. Then you put Knox at the 4 and Barnett at the 3.

Eh, getting a bit ahead of myself here. I'd just hate to see Barnett be a good soldier for a year and then get ****ed.

He was fine coming off the bench for s terrible team he was he best player on. I think Barnett would be OK with it.

Also think you can start all three. Porter handled the ball well enough to play a 2 guard spot in college. Would give you an interesting array of length and flexibility, basically giving you three interchangeable guys on the floor at all times (two super freak athletes, one above average).


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@todpalmer: Porter Jr. said Mizzou still needs to add size. Hasn't given up on East St. Louis' Jeremiah Tilmon: "I'm on him hard."

@hochman: Just talked to McDonald's All-Am Kevin Knox II - said going to MIZ is "a possibility" and Porter Jr has been recruiting him hard to join him

@MizzouHoops: .@CuonzoMartin out around St. Louis today, visiting the @stltoday offices this morning.

#MIZ #ShowMe 🐯🏀 https://twitter.com/MizzouHoops/stat...187841/photo/1

For him to even consider Mizzou is amazing.


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There would be a whole section of scouts.



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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2c1bf4d290.jpg


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Don't let the damn dirty beakers know it, but who I want isn't the next Josh Jackson - it's the next Frank Mason.

That kid was a 4-year player for them that improved every year. By this season he was a dead-eye 3-point shooter and defensive stalwart. He bled for that team and he'll call himself a jayhawk until the day he dies.

Josh Jackson? Wiggins? Embiid, McLemore, Oubre, etc....those guys can say all the right things but they'll never have the attachment to Kansas that Mason will have. Or guys from my younger years like Jacque Vaugh, etc...

That's who I hope we can start bringing again - guys that belong at this level, want to be here, want to improve and care about the University as more than just a stepping stone to the NBA. Those were the guys we were able to win with in the past.

It's hard not to like Frank Mason, regardless of who he plays for.

I'm just glad I have a desire to care about MU basketball again.

True story: I almost ran over* him on campus the day of his senior game.




*I was driving like 5mph on campus and he stepped off the curb in the middle of a street as I was approaching.

You could have been a hero. :p


I like the guy too though.

Doing a facebook live interview with the KC Star right now (not sure if it's on the radio anywhere).

G'damn, no wonder recruits love this guy. He's just amazingly relateable and would be for a ton of walks of life. His upbringing in some damn poor areas, family issues (brother in prison), tenacity and drive to get out of there. His time in at Purdue with Keady, time in the NBA and Europe, the cancer and recovery. His wears his faith on his sleeve.

And it's not slick, that's the thing. He face can be pained and you can see him struggle with answers here and there. He's thoughtful and expressive. His candor comes across as a guy that is completely genuine.

I really like this guy.

It just ended, here's the embed:

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fkansascitystar%2Fvideos%2F10154650620294094%2F&show_ text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>

I really like him too. I think it's a perfect fit for Mizzou.



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This is the kind of noise normally reserved for little kids getting hit by stray foul balls...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mizzou?src=hash">#Mizzou</a> commit Michael Porter Jr. showing he can fly in warmups for the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/McDAAG?src=hash">#McDAAG</a> <a href="https://t.co/BO0XbJyro5">pic.twitter.com/BO0XbJyro5</a></p>&mdash; Power Mizzou (@PowerMizzoucom) <a href="https://twitter.com/PowerMizzoucom/status/847221840464547841">March 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
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There is an audible 'woah' in the arena. G'damn I hope he's as advertised. I don't know that I can handle him being DGB.

Please just be a good kid and give us 18/7/4. I don't think that's asking too much.

He's telling people he may not be a one and done....we'll see

Sure.

The NBA is going to come calling with a guaranteed $20+ million and he'll decide 'nah, wanna play with my brother'...

Look, there are times when I'll say "good for the kid for sticking with the school' but in this instance I'd just have to call him stupid. There's no way in the world he should stick around if he's a top 3 pick (as he almost certainly will be).

Yep, as a KU fan, I too prefer it when we can land the Frank Masons of the world.

But I've never, ever blamed the 1 and done's for jumping ship when the NBA came calling.

Though it doesn't appear that he or his family needs the money, I have to agree with you. It sure would be nice to get 2 years though...

Bonus: He's also looks like former WWE and Stampede Wrestler Bad News Brown, a guy so tough that he once threatened to whip Andre the Giant's ass for dropping a racial slur, and Andre immediately apologized.

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/og_image..._Brown_bio.png

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">No. 1 recruit Michael Porter Jr. got way �� for this alley-oop. <a href="https://t.co/OdF2x4Xsxg">pic.twitter.com/OdF2x4Xsxg</a></p>&mdash; ESPN (@espn) <a href="https://twitter.com/espn/status/847240331301052418">March 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Zo's awesome. You will love him to death. Springfield loved him.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just received an offer from Mizzou ������‼️ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MIZ?src=hash">#MIZ</a></p>&mdash; Torrence Watson (@TorrenceWatson) <a href="https://twitter.com/TorrenceWatson/status/847231022454382592">March 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
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He seems excited. Bet he accepts

MPJ MVP

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">M-I-Z chant breaks out as Porter Jr. is announced as game MVP.</p>&mdash; Tod Palmer (@todpalmer) <a href="https://twitter.com/todpalmer/status/847252232194015232">March 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
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He's better than a good kid...he's a great kid from a great family.



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Rivals has him in the top 100 at 93. A 4-star kid out of STL MO. These are the kids Mizzou should be grabbing every year.

I'm hoping that MPJ kills it and other 5-star recruits see they can be the marquee player here for a season then move on (being realistic that they would jump to the NBA). I will be moving back to Columbia this fall, and look forward to being able to go to some games for once.

First time watching Porter last night. What a ****ing stud. He's like Beasley without the drug problem.

I will be getting to some games this year for the first time in a long while.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...456a505999.jpg


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Well I would always prefer first or last. Last would be ideal, IMO but it never hurts to get the first shot at a kid either.

Then again, I can't recall a highly touted recruit ever NOT taking all his official visits just because it's fun to be pursued (and to **** as many 'tutors' as you'd like).