Catching up with Mizzou basketball recruiting: June 2015 edition (Part 2)

Before we jump in make sure you read Part 1, where we filled you in on everything to do with the 2016 class to date. The post went up on Saturday and the recruiting circles have not been quiet. Things always happen fast with recruiting, a few updates on some of those recruits since my post went up on Saturday:

• Jamal Murray is reportedly going to announce a decision this week. All signs are pointing to Oregon, though it's thought that Kentucky is a dark horse.
• C.J. Walker, who had a Mizzou offer at PG, committed to Florida State over his official visit.
• Joshua Langford, also had a Mizzou offer but was likely never a realistic recruit for the Tigers, committed to Michigan State on his official visit on Monday.

With that out of the way, we can start talking about the 2017 class, which is something we haven't really done to this point. 2017 is a pretty fascinating class because as Mizzou fans already know, there's one very, very big fish who is right in Kim Anderson's backyard. Let's just jump in on him:

Michael Porter, Jr, 6-9, 210, 5-star SF, Father Tolton, Columbia, MO

The Lowdown: If you don't know who Michael Porter, Jr is at this point, I don't know what to tell you. He's been all over the internet for a pretty special dunk he had last season as a sophomore in high school. On top of that his dad is the assistant coach for the women's basketball team, he has two sisters already at Mizzou, and he could quite possibly be the best player to come out of Missouri ever. Porter is a consensus 5-star player and widely considered the second best prospect in the class. All of that and he lives in Columbia. So to say that Mizzou should be falling over themselves to get him to stay in Columbia for a year (he's a certain one-and-done type, if that rule is still in place by the time he's a freshmen). Where Mizzou failed on Jayson Tatum, they really don't want to fail on Porter. He already has keys to the gym, this guy could change everything in just one year.

What y'all think lol pic.twitter.com/znJDVfsKpC

— Michael Porter Jr. (@m1chael_porter) June 20, 2015

The tweet above is of Porter (obviously photoshopped) and his friend Trae Young, we'll talk about Trae in a minute.

Looking at the rest of the 2017 class can't be done without looking at the scholarship situation. For this exercise we'll pretend that there is essentially no roster turnover and if somebody leaves after this season that Mizzou fills that spot leaving them with the 3 scholarships freed up by Wes Clark, Martavian Payne and Russell Woods.

So Mizzou will likely be on the hunt for a point guard, a wing and a post for the '17 class.

As usual, you can always find the most up-to-date information on the recruiting hot board I set up, so bookmark it:

Mizzou Recruiting Hot Board

Player	State	Rating	Rivals	247Sports	Ht	Wt	Offer	Status
POINT GUARDS
Nojel Eastern	IL		41	42	6'4	185	✔︎	warm
David Sloan	KY	-	-	-	5'11	165	✔︎	warm
Quade Green	PA		50	63	5'11	160	✔︎	warm
Matt Coleman	TX		17	21	6'2	170		cool
Chris Giles	TX		-	48	6'3	175		cool
COMBO GUARDS
Trae Young	OK		15	9	6'2	170	✔︎	⬆︎ hot ⬆︎
Victor Bailey, Jr	TX		35	28	6'3	165	✔︎	warm
WINGS
Michael Porter, Jr	MO		2	4	6'9	190	✔︎	hot
Andre Rafus	MD		58	36	6'8	185	✔︎	warm
Jordan Goodwin	IL		-	-	6'3	210	✔︎	warm
Mitchell Ballock	KS		23	38	6'4	175	✔︎	warm
L.J. Figueroa	FL		63	69	6'5	180		cool
Brian Bowen	MI		7	8	6'6	175	✔︎	cool
COMBO FORWARDS
Billy Preston	TX		9	7	6'8	220		⬆︎ warm ⬆︎
Wyatt Yess	MO		-	-	6'8	205	✔︎	warm
POST PLAYERS
Jeremiah Tilmon	IL		11	12	6'10	220	✔︎	hot
Mohamed Bamba	PA		15	6	6'11	205	✔︎	⬆︎ warm ⬆︎
Ikechukwu Obiagu	GA		-	-	7'0	230	✔︎	⬆︎ warm ⬆︎
Garrison Brooks	AL		-	-	6'9	215		cool
Matur Maker	INT		27	60	6'10	200		cool

We're going to focus on the very top of the list right now, basically the dream scenario for Mizzou. Most of the dream scenario involves Michael Porter, because with him, you can probably convince a few other guys to come along just to play with him. The next name on the list, and one who has already talked with Porter about being a package deal is:

Trae Young, 6-2, 170, 4-star CG, Norman North HS, Norman, OK

The Lowdown: Trae played AAU basketball this spring with Porter on MoKan Elite and apparently things went really well. So well in fact that Porter and Young decided that they wanted to keep playing together in college. Young is a great shooter with the ability to play off the ball, but he tends to spend most of his time at the point guard position. And we know how Kim Anderson likes his small ball handling guards. The competition for Young is hot though, with offers from Duke, Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma, Indiana and Kentucky. So if Young and Porter are truly a package deal, it's no longer about just getting Porter to stay home, but convincing his good friend to come to Columbia too. Either way, Young and Porter are two of the top 3 targets for Mizzou in 2017.

Jeremiah Tilmon, 6-10, 220, 5-star C, East St. Louis, IL

The Lowdown: Tilmon is a stud. He's a mobile big-body who has true center written all over him. He's got enough touch to extend out to 15-18 feet on his shot, but is better around the rim where he can utilize his superior quickness and quick feet to an advantage. From East St. Louis, Tilmon plays AAU for the St. Louis Eagles and played under current Mizzou assistant Corey Tate. A year ago he played for MoKan Elite with Michael Porter. So there are all sorts of connections. I don't get the impression that he's anywhere close to a Mizzou slam dunk, however. If they are able to lure Porter and Young, I like their chances of landing Tilmon. They have several backup plans in place just in case though. But Tilmon is clearly the top target at post. He has interest from Kansas, Kentucky and SLU, but the strongest competition right now is probably Illinois.

These are the top three targets for Mizzou, and where the rest fall will be interesting. Mizzou obviously is making the hardest push that they can with Michael Porter, Jr, and hope that he brings a few guys with him. It's the "come play with Michael Porter, Jr for a year" recruiting pitch. Now there are several intriguing "back-up" options after these three. And some that I'm not entirely sure wouldn't be a higher priority should that player want to commit.

Victor Bailey, Jr, 6-3, 165, 4-star CG, McNeil HS, Austin, TX

The Lowdown: Bailey is the son of former Mizzou Football player Victor Bailey ('01) and former Illinois Track Star and Olympic Silver Medalist Tonja Buford-Bailey. So he has some athletic lineage. Bailey picked up a Mizzou offer and it was his first major scholarship offer, so Mizzou is hoping that the combination of his dad being an alumnus and the first offer being enough to pry the athletic combo guard out of Texas. Despite his fathers leanings towards Mizzou, and his mothers towards Illinois, Bailey has said that they won't push him in any direction and the decision on where to go will be his own. He is a consensus 4-star and has been ranked as high as the mid-20s but no lower than 40 by the combined scouting services. So expectations are fairly high for him. Illinois, Texas, Tennessee and Indiana appear to be the best competition for Bailey at this point.

Next time around we'll talk about Mohamed Bamba, Jordan Goodwin, Andre Rafus, Quade Green, David Sloan, Ike Obiagu and more.