BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Jake Laravia--Mitchell caught up with the former SIU-Edwardsville commit earlier this week, and LaRavia said his top three schools are Indiana State, Missouri and Purdue. He currently only has an offer from one of those schools, Indiana State, which he plans to visit the weekend of April 12. Our feel on LaRavia is that if Purdue offers, he will almost certainly take the Boilermakers up on it. He has talked repeatedly about his desire to stay close to home, and his Twitter feed indicates he is a Purdue fan. If Purdue doesn't offer and Missouri does, he will likely at least take his final official visit to Missouri, and we would expect the Tigers to be the favorite at that point. That offer would appear to be a big if right now, though. Given the number of high school prospects, transfers and graduate transfers on the market, LaRavia feels like a backup plan at this point.
Shortly after 6-foot-8 forward Kareem Reid reclassified from the 2020 class to the 2019 class, it was reported that Missouri would visit Reid. We don't know for sure if that visit ever materialized, but we have been told that the Tigers are moving on from the big man. We don't know whether that's because Reid told Missouri he wasn't interested or the coaching staff didn't like what it saw, but it doesn't really matter now. Missouri will find someone else to fill one of its final roster openings.
The profile above is Justice Sueing's high school profile from a couple of years ago. He's been at Cal for his first two years, but is transferring. Sueing has averaged 14 points and 5.7 rebounds in his first two college seasons. He committed to Cal when Cuonzo Martin was still the head coach. At this point, we do not know if Missouri is expressing interest, we're just connecting dots. We've reached out to Sueing, but at this point have not heard back. We're trying to dig up more. A transfer who has to sit a year doesn't make a ton of sense, but the truth is, they hand out waivers like candy these days so it's worth taking a shot on getting a guy immediately eligible if you think he's a big upgrade over what you've got on other fronts.
BASKETBALL TEAM NEWS
Consider this your weekly "Nothing has changed on the Jontay Porter front and he's still going pro, we're just waiting for him to announce it" update.
On that front, there's at least a small possibility Martin is going to have to replace more than one big man. We're hearing that there's a strong possibility Jeremiah Tilmon is going to explore the NBA Draft process. Now, that doesn't mean he's gone. In fact, even if he does go ahead and put his name in, the likelihood is that he isn't gone because it just doesn't seem incredibly likely he's a guy that's going to get drafted at this point in time. There's really no reason not to at least go through the process and get some feedback. Players can go through workouts and meetings and the draft combine and then come back to school by May 29th. In fact, due to recent rule changes, players can even sign with agents and still come back as long as they sever the relationship when they return to school. So the upshot is, we believe based on what we're hearing that Tilmon is likely to go through that process. If we were betting, he comes back to school, but nothing's for sure (it's not even sure he's going to declare at this point). If he were to stay in the draft, oh man, things get interesting. He's the only player over 6-5 who played more than 28% of the minutes this year who is supposed to come back. Regardless of the frustrations and the foul problems, if Missouri doesn't have him next year, it drastically changes the outlook. But again, we need to stress, we think the safe bet is that he's part of the team next year.
We mentioned a couple weeks ago that Missouri could have an assistant coach or two leave the staff, including former Iowa State assistant Cornell Mann. That was mostly speculation at the time, but since Mann's former boss, Fred Hoiberg, has begun to settle in at Nebraska, we have heard more talk that Mann could reunite with Hoiberg in Lincoln. Hoiberg has already hired two former staffers from his Iowa State tenure, so it wouldn't be surprising if he has also reached out to Mann, who coached under Hoiberg from 2011-2015. We checked with our colleagues in Lincoln and they hadn't heard Mann's name to this point, but they're also just getting to know a new staff and that doesn't mean nothing is happening. Hoiberg has filled two of the three spots on his staff but still has an opening. Certainly nothing is concrete yet, but don't be surprised if Cuonzo Martin has to find a replacement for Mann this offseason.
The second opening could come with Michael Porter Sr. as we've talked about for quite some time. We expect Porter to be on the staff at Missouri in some capacity next year. We've been told that he isn't likely to resign (unless he were to happen to get another coaching job somewhere) and we've also been told that Cuonzo Martin isn't going to fire him. However, a possibility that we've heard is reassigning his role. In other words, he'd go from being a full-time assistant to being in more of an administrative role of some sort. No specifics on what that might be, but it would keep Porter involved with the program while at the same time freeing up one of the three full-time assistant positions. The three possible outcomes are: full time assistant at Mizzou, coaching somewhere else, different role at Mizzou. If we were to guess today, we'd bet on the different role at Mizzou.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
- Rivals.com analyst Rob Cassidy caught up with the top Mizzou WR target at the Adidas 7on7 event in Tampa this past weekend. Official visits are scheduled for Notre Dame (April 6th), Texas A&M (April 13th), and Missouri (tentatively scheduled for June 8th). Johnson is planning to make his commitment in July. While there is a lot of chatter surrounding Notre Dame, it seems Johnson is going to do his due diligence with his official visits. Southern Cal and Florida are other programs vying to get officials from the four-star prospect, so it will be interesting if Johnson adds more officials to his schedule and if the Tigers end up getting the last pitch.
- Missouri became the first power five offer for the three-star signal-caller. Holstein is still learning about the Mizzou program, but is aware of the quarterback success and wants to visit. Right now, it's unclear if the Tigers will take another quarterback in the 2020 recruiting class. That picture will likely be clearer once the spring semester is over and see what attrition takes place at the position. Regardless, the coaching staff is getting in on other quarterback prospects this spring in anticipation of potential transfers.
Weekend visitors:
Mizzou will have a couple of notable targets on campus this weekend. Local Rock Bridge linebacker Will Norris is definitely a prospect we feel could commit at anytime. Scott picked up an offer from Missouri back at the beginning of March, he has other notable offers from Arkansas, Louisville, and Mississippi State.
Jake Laravia--Mitchell caught up with the former SIU-Edwardsville commit earlier this week, and LaRavia said his top three schools are Indiana State, Missouri and Purdue. He currently only has an offer from one of those schools, Indiana State, which he plans to visit the weekend of April 12. Our feel on LaRavia is that if Purdue offers, he will almost certainly take the Boilermakers up on it. He has talked repeatedly about his desire to stay close to home, and his Twitter feed indicates he is a Purdue fan. If Purdue doesn't offer and Missouri does, he will likely at least take his final official visit to Missouri, and we would expect the Tigers to be the favorite at that point. That offer would appear to be a big if right now, though. Given the number of high school prospects, transfers and graduate transfers on the market, LaRavia feels like a backup plan at this point.
Shortly after 6-foot-8 forward Kareem Reid reclassified from the 2020 class to the 2019 class, it was reported that Missouri would visit Reid. We don't know for sure if that visit ever materialized, but we have been told that the Tigers are moving on from the big man. We don't know whether that's because Reid told Missouri he wasn't interested or the coaching staff didn't like what it saw, but it doesn't really matter now. Missouri will find someone else to fill one of its final roster openings.
The profile above is Justice Sueing's high school profile from a couple of years ago. He's been at Cal for his first two years, but is transferring. Sueing has averaged 14 points and 5.7 rebounds in his first two college seasons. He committed to Cal when Cuonzo Martin was still the head coach. At this point, we do not know if Missouri is expressing interest, we're just connecting dots. We've reached out to Sueing, but at this point have not heard back. We're trying to dig up more. A transfer who has to sit a year doesn't make a ton of sense, but the truth is, they hand out waivers like candy these days so it's worth taking a shot on getting a guy immediately eligible if you think he's a big upgrade over what you've got on other fronts.
BASKETBALL TEAM NEWS
Consider this your weekly "Nothing has changed on the Jontay Porter front and he's still going pro, we're just waiting for him to announce it" update.
On that front, there's at least a small possibility Martin is going to have to replace more than one big man. We're hearing that there's a strong possibility Jeremiah Tilmon is going to explore the NBA Draft process. Now, that doesn't mean he's gone. In fact, even if he does go ahead and put his name in, the likelihood is that he isn't gone because it just doesn't seem incredibly likely he's a guy that's going to get drafted at this point in time. There's really no reason not to at least go through the process and get some feedback. Players can go through workouts and meetings and the draft combine and then come back to school by May 29th. In fact, due to recent rule changes, players can even sign with agents and still come back as long as they sever the relationship when they return to school. So the upshot is, we believe based on what we're hearing that Tilmon is likely to go through that process. If we were betting, he comes back to school, but nothing's for sure (it's not even sure he's going to declare at this point). If he were to stay in the draft, oh man, things get interesting. He's the only player over 6-5 who played more than 28% of the minutes this year who is supposed to come back. Regardless of the frustrations and the foul problems, if Missouri doesn't have him next year, it drastically changes the outlook. But again, we need to stress, we think the safe bet is that he's part of the team next year.
We mentioned a couple weeks ago that Missouri could have an assistant coach or two leave the staff, including former Iowa State assistant Cornell Mann. That was mostly speculation at the time, but since Mann's former boss, Fred Hoiberg, has begun to settle in at Nebraska, we have heard more talk that Mann could reunite with Hoiberg in Lincoln. Hoiberg has already hired two former staffers from his Iowa State tenure, so it wouldn't be surprising if he has also reached out to Mann, who coached under Hoiberg from 2011-2015. We checked with our colleagues in Lincoln and they hadn't heard Mann's name to this point, but they're also just getting to know a new staff and that doesn't mean nothing is happening. Hoiberg has filled two of the three spots on his staff but still has an opening. Certainly nothing is concrete yet, but don't be surprised if Cuonzo Martin has to find a replacement for Mann this offseason.
The second opening could come with Michael Porter Sr. as we've talked about for quite some time. We expect Porter to be on the staff at Missouri in some capacity next year. We've been told that he isn't likely to resign (unless he were to happen to get another coaching job somewhere) and we've also been told that Cuonzo Martin isn't going to fire him. However, a possibility that we've heard is reassigning his role. In other words, he'd go from being a full-time assistant to being in more of an administrative role of some sort. No specifics on what that might be, but it would keep Porter involved with the program while at the same time freeing up one of the three full-time assistant positions. The three possible outcomes are: full time assistant at Mizzou, coaching somewhere else, different role at Mizzou. If we were to guess today, we'd bet on the different role at Mizzou.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
- Rivals.com analyst Rob Cassidy caught up with the top Mizzou WR target at the Adidas 7on7 event in Tampa this past weekend. Official visits are scheduled for Notre Dame (April 6th), Texas A&M (April 13th), and Missouri (tentatively scheduled for June 8th). Johnson is planning to make his commitment in July. While there is a lot of chatter surrounding Notre Dame, it seems Johnson is going to do his due diligence with his official visits. Southern Cal and Florida are other programs vying to get officials from the four-star prospect, so it will be interesting if Johnson adds more officials to his schedule and if the Tigers end up getting the last pitch.
- Missouri became the first power five offer for the three-star signal-caller. Holstein is still learning about the Mizzou program, but is aware of the quarterback success and wants to visit. Right now, it's unclear if the Tigers will take another quarterback in the 2020 recruiting class. That picture will likely be clearer once the spring semester is over and see what attrition takes place at the position. Regardless, the coaching staff is getting in on other quarterback prospects this spring in anticipation of potential transfers.
Weekend visitors:
Mizzou will have a couple of notable targets on campus this weekend. Local Rock Bridge linebacker Will Norris is definitely a prospect we feel could commit at anytime. Scott picked up an offer from Missouri back at the beginning of March, he has other notable offers from Arkansas, Louisville, and Mississippi State.
