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Last week we started by telling you guys the next ten days had the chance to be the best combined run in the history of Mizzou recruiting. Over the next four days, we find out if that comes to fruition or if it's just a really good stretch for Dennis Gates and Co.
The Chamber is focusing on quality over quantity today. We're only talking about four players, but they're four big ones.
Let's start with hoops because why not? First off, that's where the news is expected today. Second (actually first, it makes you guys work a little bit to get to the stuff most of you are really here for today).
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Marshall is announcing his commitment tonight at 5 p.m. Barring a late surprise, he will commit to Missouri this evening. That would give the Tigers three commits, all in the top 114, with T.O. Barrett and Marcus Allen already on board. That's a borderline top ten class already (as of tonight, I believe North Carolina will be the only other program with three players all that highly ranked already on board for 2024. But the good news is, it looks like it has a pretty good chance to get better.
Rivals.com confirmed earlier this week what we reported last week: Little Rock shooting guard Annor Boateng will take an official visit to Missouri at the end of the month (August 25-27). The truth is that traditionally, Arkansas kids with Arkansas offers (and, yes, no matter what you read, the Razorbacks would take him and want him) are really tough to get to go anywhere other than Arkansas. But Kyle Smithpeters has built a really good relationship with the family and Missouri has felt they were deep in this one for a long time. We aren't quite ready to dive into a FutureCast, but we really like where the Tigers stand. Getting Boateng and his parents on campus for an official visit (his previous visit was going to be an official, but became an unofficial because family matters kept his parents from attending) is big. It's possible Boateng takes a couple more visits in the month of September, but Missouri is in excellent shape right now and very well could emerge from that end of the month visit as a leader.
If they can add Boateng it's a class that would definitely be in the top ten and would border on the top five (last year's No. 7 class had a five-star, three four-stars and a three-star). At that point, you're looking at only taking another high school player if it's someone that's just so good you can't turn down, a guy that shows up on campus and is ready to help day one. Missouri still might go ahead and host some more visitors, but for all intents and purposes, Boateng and Marshall jumping on board would make quite a few other offers uncommittable.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Okay, so is there something big happening?
The first development of the weekend will be the commitment of Jeremiah McClellan on Sunday at 2. Despite an odd Instagram post last night, we do not believe McClellan has committed to Missouri. And we don't expect him to on Sunday. While the Tigers have made a charge and definitely given him something to think about, our expectation is still that the four-star receiver commits to Ohio State this weekend. In fact, @GabeD (sorry, always wanted to tag myself in the chamber) even put in a FutureCast for the Buckeyes earlier this week and everybody was so preoccupied with other things that nobody even noticed. Missouri's chances aren't dead on Sunday, we just don't think they'll be the choice. But just because they don't get him Sunday doesn't mean they couldn't get him in December...especially if a couple of other things go their way in the coming months.
We've made you wait long enough. Let's talk about Williams Nwaneri.
We know what you've read. We are here to tell you one thing off the top: Do not believe that Missouri's momentum has stalled in this recruitment. That does not mean he is definitely committing to Mizzou on Monday afternoon. It does mean that any reports of demise were premature. The Tigers are alive in this. Eli Drinkwitz has been in regular contact with Nwaneri this week (we'd assume Kevin Peoples has too and probably Blake Baker).
Oklahoma feels good. Missouri also feels good. We can't speak for Oklahoma, but we can tell you that Missouri is not acting as if it has him sewn up. This will go up till Monday afternoon at 2:59. Then it will take a break for him to make his announcement and celebrate his commitment. And then it will pick up again probably on Tuesday morning. The winner won't relax and the loser won't quit.
The FutureCast went in early this week for Nwaneri to Mizzou. There was a 12-24 hour period where the confidence in that pick waned some. It didn't go completely away, but we heard some things that gave us doubt. And then we heard some things that made that confidence increase again. As we told you last week, there are people who we believe have solid information who have told us this is all but officially done to Missouri. There are obviously people our counterparts at Oklahoma trust who have told them that this is all but officially done to the Sooners. We need to stress again, both things can be true. These kids don't have any problem saying yes to someone, but saying no is significantly tougher. So even if he has told one or both staffs he's coming, nothing really matters outside of what he says on Monday afternoon.
We'll close with this: If a FutureCast hadn't been made earlier this week and someone told us we had to put one in this morning, we'd still go with the one we made earlier this week. We can almost guarantee you are going to hear things that make you feel more confident about Missouri's chances in the next three days. You're also going to hear things that make you less confident. It's all noise. The only thing that matters is what you hear from Nwaneri in about 78 hours. We're planning to be there to bring you coverage and hopefully a live stream.
Stay tuned, it's getting fun.
