Cuonzo Martin

[ozark trout fisher]

 

Cool, congrats to the Mizzou BB program.  Of course I hope the Hogs beat the stuffing out of Mizzou next year, but in spite of that, it is good to see some talent going to the SEC.  I would be perfectly happy to see 6 SEC teams in the top 25 every year. 

When I am able to think rationally in a few days/hours I'll start looking at what I think this might do for the team next year. My guess is that it will be infinitely better than the last few years and also probably not quite as good as what some fans expect. 

I already heard someone say next year would be a failure if we didn't win 25 games and go to the Sweet 16. Which.....no. But when you can say with some certainty that you should definitely, at the bare minimum, double your win total next year, and have a player that is actually interesting to watch even for people that aren't diehard Mizzou fans, that is still a very good day indeed. 
 

[KCRIVERRAT]

Mizzou needs immediate fortunes such as the one that just befell them. He's a one and done but Counzo will have two or three recruits come in to play with him. We've NEVER landed the top recruit in the country. Things are looking up Mizzou fans.

Now... if we could just get a football coach.

Proven names recruit the best players. It is what it is and always has been.

[Jerry Rapp]

The Martin hire has sure turned out good I guess( I said initially it was a bad hire, but then regressed as this evolved).  But in my opinion, sort of a JoeD endorsement, the signing comes with some concerns.  The NCAA does not have a rule(?) against hiring a parent to lure to their child going to that school.  That should be changed in my thinking.  Would he have come to Missouri if his dad had not been hired?   

[ozark trout fisher]

 

The Martin hire has sure turned out good I guess( I said initially it was a bad hire, but then regressed as this evolved).  But in my opinion, sort of a JoeD endorsement, the signing comes with some concerns.  The NCAA does not have a rule(?) against hiring a parent to lure to their child going to that school.  That should be changed in my thinking.  Would he have come to Missouri if his dad had not been hired?   

It's an iffy situation, ethically, I'll grant you.  But there are NCAA rules that govern this specific thing, and based on what I know I am very confident Mizzou is within them.

In cases like these, the family member must be a "real" assistant and not in a made up position. MP Sr. is a real, honest to goodness coach, at least.

Mizzou would not have done this without looking pretty thoroughly into the NCAA legalities. 

[Quillback]

As a precedent, Danny Manning's father was hired as an assistant at KU the year before his son came there to play. This practice seems a trifle shady to me, but appears to be within the rules.  At least Calipari didn't get his mitts on Porter.

[stlfisher]

The hiring of recruits parents as coaches happens a lot. See Manning example as noted above. Porter Sr was on staff at Washington . He is very well connected to AAU. He is probably more qualified than most, but clearly it is about his son. If a school wants to spend money....I don't care....they can only have so many coaches. It won't change...cause then if your parent was a coach you could never play for them. That wouldn"t be right either. It is a loophole, but it is perfectly within the rules.

[stlfisher]

 

Mizzou needs immediate fortunes such as the one that just befell them. He's a one and done but Counzo will have two or three recruits come in to play with him. We've NEVER landed the top recruit in the country. Things are looking up Mizzou fans.

Now... if we could just get a football coach.

Proven names recruit the best players. It is what it is and always has been.

I think Odom will be fine, but the decision to change defense was a really bad choice.  You gotta know your players better than that. We will be a gap D eventually, but it takes a different type of player that MU does not have yet.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, I really don't think this situation is as ethically shady as many of the hires of parents of recruits have been.  Porter Sr. not only has been a coach before, but obviously has ties to Columbia and Mizzou.  I don't think there is any doubt that it's well within the rules.  Would he have been hired if he didn't have a son that's the number one recruit?  Probably not, but I'm not sure.  Don't know how good he is at his job.

It's also hard to say how good Mizzou will really be next year with Porter.  Way too many question marks yet.  Who else comes in?  There's talk that Jeremiah Tilman is leaning toward dumping Illinois and coming to Mizzou, we don't know the status of CJ Roberts, and there's still some possibility of the younger Porter coming to Mizzou early.  

On the other hand, does anybody transfer out?

And then we don't know how much the present guys will improve with a year of maturity.  Nikko was supposed to be suffering from the ankle all year.  Does he come back more mobile and aggressive and become a legitimate center?  Does Smith come back from his injury and become a serviceable big man?  Who gets minutes?  You figure Phillips as the starting point guard, and Barnett and Puryear should be starters unless more recruits come in and they are really good.  After that, does Vanleer become a consistent three point shooter and become a sharpshooter off the bench?  Does Walton develop some passing ability after penetration, and/or a mid-range jumper?  Where does Hughes fit in?

I figure Porter is worth about 10 more points a game by himself if he's as good as advertised.  That should give them 8 or 9 more wins if nobody else comes in or improves significantly...somewhere around a .500 record.  I think that's the floor.  Ceiling?  Who knows?

[ozark trout fisher]

I think aside from MPJ, Missouri does have more players that are capable of contributing than you'd expect on an 8 win team. Terrance Phillips can be a decent SEC point guard, and Jordan Barnett and Kevin Puryear are honest-to-goodness talents. That's your core right there, and the challenge is finding a second or third guard who can play at a high level. Maybe that is Van Leer or Geist, but I see them as more of come off the bench spark plugs on a good team. Not an insult, they are worthwhile players. Just probably not starters. Frankly I think Missouri needs to add another good guard who can hit threes if they are to be a real contender in the SEC. I wonder if they look to the grad-transfer market. 

There will be some players who transfer out, but I doubt it's a lot. If you follow Mizzou basketball closely, you have a sense for who that might be, but I won't throw them under the bus here.

Right now, with MPJ and better coaching, I see Mizzou as a team that would likely be around .500 or a little better next season. Something in the 16-18 win range. There are still just a few too many holes to contend for a NCAA berth. But I don't think we are done with recruiting, and with the right moves to fill out the roster 20ish wins are absolutely within the realm of possibility. 

 

[joeD]

Porter hasn't played a minute yet. I admit, however, that I was wrong with my predictable skepticism. 

Also, and here's the thing that hasn't been mentioned or been around the BB program: Hope and  a good measure of excitement. 

That alone is worth a lot to us fans and the university itself.