So the basketball season is over. And that means while you all sit around and pine your lives away waiting for the start of football season, The Chamber gets to work to give you something else to talk about and fill the void in your souls for the next four months. So let's do it.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
First off, the big "question" right now is what will happen with the Porter Brothers. We use air quotes because, honestly, it's not much of a question, as we posted yesterday. You can close the book on the Michael Porter Jr. era. He ain't coming back. The only question is when he makes it official with an announcement. But you've seen the last of him in a Tiger uniform (allow the Chamber a moment to opine here: Had he not come back and played in the two games he did, he would have no legacy at Mizzou and Tiger fans probably wouldn't even much care about his NBA career. What those two games did is--while he still may not exactly have a legacy--give Mizzou fans a reason to care about what he does going forward. You should care because he cared. For a number of these one and dones, coming back was never a consideration. And had he been healthy all year, it probably wouldn't have been for Porter. But he wasn't and from everything I can gather, he absolutely strongly considered it. But in the end, there's no real logical (see not emotional) reason for him to do so. And so he'll be off to the NBA in short order).
The next question is what happens with Jontay Porter. We don't know yet. We expect him, as we said, to test the waters. However, we also expect him to leave the door open to return. We've said for six weeks, if he is confident he's going in the first round, he'll leave. But if he isn't, he'll probably come back. We can argue till we're blue in the face whether he's "ready" or not, but it doesn't really matter. If an NBA team--just one--thinks he is, he'll go. If not, he'll be back. While there really aren't many (or any) reasons for Mike to return, there are for Jontay. They may not be enough to outweigh the chance at starting his NBA career, but there are reasons. This is not a slam dunk decision.
So how does this all impact recruiting? Well, the Tigers have been tied to quite a few transfers and grad transfers (all of which we're trying to track in this thread, so feel free to add to it if there are names you haven't seen). And then they just offered Blake Hinson yesterday (Keegan wrote a story about him). It's really too early to judge how good Missouri's chances are, but the fact he was offered yesterday and is considering a visit is noteworthy.
That offer indicates to us that Cuonzo Martin is aware at least one Porter isn't coming back. If Jontay also doesn't return, you probably almost have to add a big man who can help immediately, whether that's juco, grad transfer whatever.
The big 2018 story is still Webster point guard Courtney Ramey.
We reached out to Terrell Ramey, Courtney's dad, earlier this week and they're not ready to talk recruiting just yet. What you hear is all over the map. Some are convinced it's when, not if, Ramey commits to Missouri. We aren't there yet. We think the Tigers are very much part of the picture, but we've had a couple of people tell us this week that they think the cart is being put in front of the horse. People who know the family tell us that there's really no feel for what he's going to do. Oklahoma State is a bigger factor than people think. Texas is still involved. Illinois will probably get a visit (though based on our intel, that's not where we think he'll end up). Missouri is absolutely in the mix. It has made an impression that it's been Martin doing the bulk of the recruiting (as opposed to an assistant). He could end up here. But we wouldn't put him on the roster just yet. The situation is best summed up by a source we spoke to earlier this week who said, "I wish I did, but I have absolutely no feel for it."
We think the goal for the 2018 class is Ramey, Hinson and a grad transfer. Whether that's a guard or a big man could hinge on what happens with Jontay Porter, or it could just be a "best available" situation. Some will read this and say "but if Jontay stays, they don't have room." Hopefully, if you've been on this site for more than a week, you understand, they always have room. Room isn't hard to create.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
So how about the football side of things?
First of all, Sean Williams will be in Dallas at the Rivals three-stripe camp on Sunday. He'll be catching up with as many Mizzou targets as possible while there.
One prospect who won't be there is four-star offensive lineman E.J. Ndoma-Ogar. That's because we're told Ndoma-Ogar will be on an unofficial visit at Mizzou that day.
We'll try to catch up with him after the visit.
The progress Mizzou has made with some of these in-state guys has been impressive (this always comes with the warning that a year ago at this time, Mizzou was coming off the Tiger Ten weekend and everybody said nice, rosy things as well). What would be ideal for Missouri would be if they could get what they didn't get last year: Someone to jump on board early and lead the way. Here are the guys we feel like Missouri is in pretty good shape with based on what we're hearing right now:
If National Signing Day were tomorrow, we believe all four of these guys would sign with Missouri. Obviously, it isn't, so that doesn't mean a whole lot right now.
The other thing that can really kick-start a class is a quarterback commitment. The top target on Mizzou's board at this position, without question, is Wisconsin commit Graham Mertz.
Yes, he is committed to the Badgers right now. But the truth is, almost nobody you talk to expects that to last. Should he end up opening it back up, Missouri is in a group of schools that would have a very good shot. We're hearing Mertz could take an unofficial visit on or around the spring game. We'll keep you updated on that.
So that's where we stand as of today. We'll let you know when things happen because that's what we do.
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
First off, the big "question" right now is what will happen with the Porter Brothers. We use air quotes because, honestly, it's not much of a question, as we posted yesterday. You can close the book on the Michael Porter Jr. era. He ain't coming back. The only question is when he makes it official with an announcement. But you've seen the last of him in a Tiger uniform (allow the Chamber a moment to opine here: Had he not come back and played in the two games he did, he would have no legacy at Mizzou and Tiger fans probably wouldn't even much care about his NBA career. What those two games did is--while he still may not exactly have a legacy--give Mizzou fans a reason to care about what he does going forward. You should care because he cared. For a number of these one and dones, coming back was never a consideration. And had he been healthy all year, it probably wouldn't have been for Porter. But he wasn't and from everything I can gather, he absolutely strongly considered it. But in the end, there's no real logical (see not emotional) reason for him to do so. And so he'll be off to the NBA in short order).
The next question is what happens with Jontay Porter. We don't know yet. We expect him, as we said, to test the waters. However, we also expect him to leave the door open to return. We've said for six weeks, if he is confident he's going in the first round, he'll leave. But if he isn't, he'll probably come back. We can argue till we're blue in the face whether he's "ready" or not, but it doesn't really matter. If an NBA team--just one--thinks he is, he'll go. If not, he'll be back. While there really aren't many (or any) reasons for Mike to return, there are for Jontay. They may not be enough to outweigh the chance at starting his NBA career, but there are reasons. This is not a slam dunk decision.
So how does this all impact recruiting? Well, the Tigers have been tied to quite a few transfers and grad transfers (all of which we're trying to track in this thread, so feel free to add to it if there are names you haven't seen). And then they just offered Blake Hinson yesterday (Keegan wrote a story about him). It's really too early to judge how good Missouri's chances are, but the fact he was offered yesterday and is considering a visit is noteworthy.
That offer indicates to us that Cuonzo Martin is aware at least one Porter isn't coming back. If Jontay also doesn't return, you probably almost have to add a big man who can help immediately, whether that's juco, grad transfer whatever.
The big 2018 story is still Webster point guard Courtney Ramey.
We reached out to Terrell Ramey, Courtney's dad, earlier this week and they're not ready to talk recruiting just yet. What you hear is all over the map. Some are convinced it's when, not if, Ramey commits to Missouri. We aren't there yet. We think the Tigers are very much part of the picture, but we've had a couple of people tell us this week that they think the cart is being put in front of the horse. People who know the family tell us that there's really no feel for what he's going to do. Oklahoma State is a bigger factor than people think. Texas is still involved. Illinois will probably get a visit (though based on our intel, that's not where we think he'll end up). Missouri is absolutely in the mix. It has made an impression that it's been Martin doing the bulk of the recruiting (as opposed to an assistant). He could end up here. But we wouldn't put him on the roster just yet. The situation is best summed up by a source we spoke to earlier this week who said, "I wish I did, but I have absolutely no feel for it."
We think the goal for the 2018 class is Ramey, Hinson and a grad transfer. Whether that's a guard or a big man could hinge on what happens with Jontay Porter, or it could just be a "best available" situation. Some will read this and say "but if Jontay stays, they don't have room." Hopefully, if you've been on this site for more than a week, you understand, they always have room. Room isn't hard to create.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
So how about the football side of things?
First of all, Sean Williams will be in Dallas at the Rivals three-stripe camp on Sunday. He'll be catching up with as many Mizzou targets as possible while there.
One prospect who won't be there is four-star offensive lineman E.J. Ndoma-Ogar. That's because we're told Ndoma-Ogar will be on an unofficial visit at Mizzou that day.
We'll try to catch up with him after the visit.
The progress Mizzou has made with some of these in-state guys has been impressive (this always comes with the warning that a year ago at this time, Mizzou was coming off the Tiger Ten weekend and everybody said nice, rosy things as well). What would be ideal for Missouri would be if they could get what they didn't get last year: Someone to jump on board early and lead the way. Here are the guys we feel like Missouri is in pretty good shape with based on what we're hearing right now:
If National Signing Day were tomorrow, we believe all four of these guys would sign with Missouri. Obviously, it isn't, so that doesn't mean a whole lot right now.
The other thing that can really kick-start a class is a quarterback commitment. The top target on Mizzou's board at this position, without question, is Wisconsin commit Graham Mertz.
Yes, he is committed to the Badgers right now. But the truth is, almost nobody you talk to expects that to last. Should he end up opening it back up, Missouri is in a group of schools that would have a very good shot. We're hearing Mertz could take an unofficial visit on or around the spring game. We'll keep you updated on that.
So that's where we stand as of today. We'll let you know when things happen because that's what we do.
