Cuonzo Martin

[stlfisher]

Tilmon committed today. We now have the 6th ranked recruiting class in the country. I almost feel bad for Kim Anderson...ok not really

 

[Al Agnew]

And there's an open scholarship left now that Kemp is transferring, and there's a good chance that Jontay Porter will reclassify and play for Mizzou next year as well.  Last anybody knows, he tweeted that he's "55% likely" to reclassify.

Even without Jontay Porter, who is now ranked in the top 20 of potential recruits, all of a sudden this roster is looking deep and talented.  At point guard you have experience in Phillips and Geist, and a talented freshman in Blake Harris.  At shooting guard and/or wing, Barnett and Vanleer bring the experience, along with grad transfer Kassius Robertson, while of course there's MPJ, along with freshman C.J. Roberts, and at forward/center there's an experienced leader in Puryear, Nikko and Smith will compete for a lot of minutes, and so will Tilmon.  So the big question is, who will be left out in sharing the minutes?  At first glance, Vanleer would project to be the one to get the least minutes, but he's such a smart player, and now experienced, that if his three point shooting improves he could take some minutes away from inexperienced freshmen.  We don't really know how good the freshmen will end up being, or how quickly they will develop, so I could still see Geist playing more minutes at backup point guard.  We just didn't see enough of Smith last year to know how good he can get, but he could turn out to be darned good.  We also don't know how good Nikko can be if he's completely healthy.  So many questions...

Figure Phillips starts at point guard.  Robertson is supposed to be a lights out three point shooter and he has plenty of experience.  Does he start?  MPJ surely starts.  Barnett should either start or see a lot of minutes.  Same with Puryear.  So there are some freshmen who are going to have to prove themselves to see a lot of minutes early in the season, but if they turn out to be as good as advertised, it could get really interesting.

And if Jontay ends up in the mix...

[ozark trout fisher]

After the Tilmon commitment Mizzou has a NCAA caliber roster, in terms of talent, for sure. We needed one more good big man and now we've got the best one that was left. 

It's just a matter of how the team gels. MPJ, Tilmon, Roberts, Harris, and Robertson are all newcomers, and all figure to demand minutes. Will guys like Puryear and Barnett accept reduced, while still hugely important roles? I think Terrance Phillips is not a concern: even with Harris and Roberts I still see him as the starting point guard, he just won't have to play 35+ minutes.

I think Jontay does reclassify, and if so, that is almost too much talent to wholly fail. Almost being the key word.

I can't believe I'm saying this after a 8-24 season,  but I think right now the bar is something like a 8-9 seed in the tournament. With Jontay, if things come together....you cannot rule out anything.

For perspective, Mizzou currently has the 11th best national title odds. That doesn't mean anything, but it gives you an idea what might be on the table if things go well.

[stlfisher]

Looks like Jontay did in fact commit, but hasn't said if it for this year or next.  We should make the tourney with this team, but they are all very young...so I am not yet sold on anything more than that until I see them play.  Regardless, the turnaround is remarkable.

[ozark trout fisher]

2 hours ago, stlfisher said:

Looks like Jontay did in fact commit, but hasn't said if it for this year or next.  We should make the tourney with this team, but they are all very young...so I am not yet sold on anything more than that until I see them play.  Regardless, the turnaround is remarkable.

I hate to pull the "sources" thing......but yeah, I think Jontay is going to be on the roster next season. I am not certain, but I'll  be rather surprised if he stays in the 2018 class at this point. 

I have no idea where to set the bar. With Tilmon and probably Jontay, the tournament becomes more of an expectation than a lofty goal. Still, yeah, our most talented players are all going to be freshmen. We have some veterans, and Phillips/Puryear/Barnett will still get a lot of run on next year's team, but it all comes down to MPJ/Jontay/Tilmon/Harris/Roberts. 

If everything works, this could be the first Missouri team to make the Final Four. We absolutely have that kind of talent. If it completely blows up, and the chemistry never develops an 18-19 win season could follow. I could be wrong, but I just don't see a team this talented doing worse than that. Of course it will probably be somewhere in between. My wild guess prediction is something like a 7-9 seed in the tourney. I bet they struggle early, and we'll all freak out and assume the experiment has gone off-track... but eventually the talent will show and we'll end up in the top 4 of the SEC standings. 

[stlfisher]

Looks like Jontay Porter will in fact skip his senior year and enroll at MU this fall. Top 3 class. If Cuanzo can coach this could be fun for a few years. The only one and done is MP. Jontay will be around for awile.