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What's that? A Thursday night Chamber? Well, the shelf life of this thing isn't going to really be all that long. There's going to be news by mid-morning tomorrow. So why not go ahead and get it done a little early?
BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Aidan Shaw is announcing his commitment at 10:30 on Friday morning. His final six are Maryland, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri. The expectation is that the final three are Oklahoma State, Kansas and Missouri. Our information is that Shaw isn't a take for Kansas at this time. We haven't heard much of anything about Oklahoma State lately.
The announcement will be on CBSSportsHQ and is being broadcast live by a few TV stations in Kansas City. We hope to speak to Shaw shortly after the announcement, assuming it goes the way everyone expects it to go.
So, what’s next for Mizzou in the 2022 class? There’s definitely a chance the Tiger staff will be content with a class of just Shaw and Christian Jones. But it appears they are still pursuing a few more wings and forwards and would be open to adding one of them to the class, as well.
The clear top target is Mark Mitchell. Everything we’ve heard about the No. 11 prospect in the class indicates he is bound for either Duke or UCLA, but Missouri is in his top four and is going to host him for an official visit on Homecoming weekend, Oct. 8-9. If the Tigers can get him on campus again, they have a chance, however slim, and Cuonzo Martin and company would certainly take a commitment from Mitchell.
We believe the Tigers are also still interested in three-star forward Robert Jennings, who took an official visit on the first weekend of September. Jennings has since visited SMU and Texas Tech and will take one more visit, as well, to Ole Miss on the weekend of Oct. 9. We received indication that the Tiger camp felt good about Jennings’ visit, but we remind you that every official visit ever has received a positive review. We wouldn’t expect Jennings to make a decision prior to completing his final visit, unless he cancels the trip.
It appears one more target emerged this week, as well. Mizzou extended an offer to junior college wing Deshawndre Washington on Wednesday. Washington is an intriguing prospect; he started his college career at Robert Morris before transferring to South Suburban junior college and putting up absurd numbers. He averaged 27.5 points, 13 rebounds and 4.1 assists last season and was named the NJCAA Division II player of the year. He’s now at Northwest Florida and will play one more juco season before transferring back to the high-major ranks. He’s picked up quite a few offers of late, including from Alabama, South Carolina and West Virginia. With this recruitment being in its early stages, we can’t yet say with confidence how interested Mizzou is in Washington or vice versa, but we’re working to get ahold of him soon.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Missouri is back on the road this week, checking in on a couple of commitments.
Eli Drinkwitz and DJ Smith will be in St. Charles on Friday night. Marquis Gracial and St. Charles are hosting Warrenton. The head coach will be checking out the Tiger commitment in person.
Offensive line coach Marcus Johnson is scheduled to be in Omaha, where Deshawn Woods and Omaha Central play host to Lincoln High.
We know you want to know about Luther Burden. We'll mention him in every Chamber for the next few weeks, even if there is no news. That's just good business.
There should be some news soon. Burden has said he's releasing his top three on Friday. Missouri and Georgia are going to be in it. The third team is either going to be Alabama or Oklahoma in all likelihood. The general feeling is that it doesn't really matter who the third team is because this is almost certainly a two-team race.
Frank Cusumano tweeted the other day that Burden will announce his commitment on October 20th at East St. Louis High School. So far as we have seen, Burden has not confirmed that publicly himself. There's no reason to think that isn't the day, but we just haven't seen it from the man himself yet.
If Burden was announcing a commitment tomorrow, we'd feel pretty comfortable saying it was Missouri. People around Mizzou are hopeful and optimistic. But that commitment date is still 34 days away. A lot can happen in five weeks. Think how many times a 17 or 18-year-old kid can change his mind in 33 days. Burden is expected to take an official visit to Georgia on October 16th when the Bulldogs host Kentucky. Assuming that visit happens, the Bulldogs will get their shot to win him over before an announcement, assuming the October 20th date remains in place.
TL;DR version: Missouri fans should feel good. The Tigers have an excellent shot at Burden. Those directly involved in the process will feel good once a public commitment is made and probably not before then.
This weekend isn't likely to bring any major visitors to town. Some of the in-state commits may make the trip, but a game against SEMO isn't exactly prime recruiting territory on the calendar. If anything comes up, we'll pass it on, but we don't expect there to be big visit news.
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