Mizzou Basketball Recruiting update: Who is Kim Anderson pursuing?

We haven’t published one of these in a while, so this is probably going to be a mess of updates, offer talk, scholarship breakdown and recruiting profiles. If you follow me (and other Missouri recruiting folks) or subscribe to PowerMizzou or Scout, some of this is going to be rehash, that is the idea of an “update” after all. It’s been since March that we last posted a Recruiting update, instead lacing smaller updates inside other stories. It’s been so long, we were talking about Deshawn Corprew and Cheickna Dembele back then... remember that? But this is going to be one my old school Recruiting Updates, so buckle up and let’s get to it.

Let’s start by wrapping up 2016

Missouri had toyed with the idea of adding one more graduate transfer, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are still looking, but the pickings are pretty slim at this stage, and for what the Tigers need there just isn’t a lot available. In the 2016 class Missouri signed six players, three post players (Mitchell Smith, Reed Nikko and Jakoby Kemp), two wings (Willie Jackson and Frankie Hughes) and a ball hander (Jordan Geist). Add to that class the previous one, and your scholarship makeup is basically taken up by two classes with only Russell Woods and Jordan Barnett left over.

For the breakdown of the roster by position...

So now lets talk about 2017

There’s been good developments and bad developments in 2017. Right now Missouri is looking at two scholarships to give out, and they’re looking for an impact scorer at least for one of the positions. First, here are the players Mizzou has missed out on in recent times:

• Mamoudou Diarra, CF - Washington
• Trae Young, CG - Cut from list
• Quade Green, PG - Cut from list
• JayJay Chandler, CG - Cut from list
• Parker Stewart, CG - Cut from list
• Collin Sexton, CG - Cut from list
• Michael Porter, Jr, WING - Washington
• Jeremiah Tilmon, POST - Illinois
• Ejike Obinna, POST - Cut from list

So missing out on those players didn’t make for a very fun month, but Missouri did offer three point guards, so let’s talk about them:

Wabissa Bede, 6-1, 190 lb, 3-star PG from Cushing Academy, Lowell MA

Bede is a strong physical presence at Point Guard who has seen his stock soar this summer with a strong performance on the Adidas circuit. Missouri offered, however so have a lot of other programs. Bede is exactly the kind of player you want as your lead guard, he’s a vocal leader, he can score at all three levels, but he’s most at home setting the table for his teammates. It won’t be long before he earns 4-stars from all the recruiting services, but he currently sits at three from 247sports. Butler, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M and Seton Hall are amongst the other schools in pursuit. If I had to estimate the likelihood he ends up in Columbia, I’d say extremely unlikely.

C.J. Roberts, 6-2, 180 lb, 3-star PG from Richland High, North Richland Hills, TX

Roberts has been on the radar a bit longer than Bede, so his offer list is a bit more rounded. The Texas Point Guard is a fluid shooter with good quickness and a compact body that should make him an effective lead guard at the college level. Missouri is in solid position with Roberts, who boasts offers from Alabama, LSU, SMU and Baylor amongst others. It won’t be easy to land Roberts, but the Tigers are in good shape right now to land an official visit, which is a good step.

Marcus Carr, 6-2, 170 lb, 3-star PG from Montverde Academy, Toronto, Canada

Carr is the brother of one of the more underrated players in the SEC, South Carolina’s Duane Notice, and a guard who has flown a bit under the radar due to a knee injury that sidelined him much of last year. Now healthy, Carr is gaining attention around the country and is likely to attract more playing for Monteverde. Pitt, Cincinnati, Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt are amongst the offers the Canadian guard boasts at this point, along with Missouri. But Roberts and Carr are probably the most likely to land with the Tigers at this stage.

Another new offer with some intrigue was to a wing, who has the size and strength to play inside:

Wyatt Wilkes, 6-7, 210 lb, 3-star CF from Winter Park HS, Winter Park, FL

If you want to know what a Kim Anderson player looks like, this is the guy. Wilkes is a good player, a good shooter, but the things that stick out is his aggression and strength. He attacks without regard, and when you accompany that with skill you have a guy that can be a difference maker at the next level. Missouri needs guys like Wilkes if this Kim Anderson experiment is going to succeed. Wilkes released a top five with Missouri on it, the other four are Florida State, Butler, Creighton and Georgia Tech. Ga Tech and Florida St look like their in good position. The Tigers hope to get a visit, and if they do that likely means that Wilkes is still open, so they could land him. At some point Missouri really needs recruiting wins.

The only post player who Missouri seems to be in the running for at this stage:

Garrison Brooks, 6-9, 215 lb, 4-star Post from Auburn HS, Lafayette, AL

Brooks is an Alabama native with offers from Alabama, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Georgia and others. Most of the recruiting experts seem to think the first three are the main contenders so Brooks is almost certain to land in the SEC. There’s a lot to like about the kid, he’s got good size, good speed, good feet... he’s pretty good. It will take one hell of a sales job for him to land at Missouri in the end though.

Missouri would probably be okay without another big in the 2017 class, since they signed three in the previous one. But adding a quality big like Brooks would go a long way towards giving Mizzou fans hope that Kim Anderson and company can start winning enough recruiting battles to raise the floor for this program. A two man class of Roberts and Wilkes would go along the same road for me there as well. We’ll keep our ears peeled as the recruiting progresses through the summer and bring you the updates as they come.

Now some 2018 updates

Torrence Watson, who is probably one of Missouri’s top targets, paid an unofficial visit to Columbia on Monday. Watson appears to be the player who has had the most positive things to say about his recruitment and Missouri.

“@wgbasketball” is Webster Groves head coach Jay Blossom, and Tyler Coleman was the WG basketball team manager last season. So both were accompanying Carte’Are Gordon to Mizzou yesterday for an unofficial. I mentioned above the Tigers would probably be okay to miss out on a post in 2017, but they need one in the 2018 class for sure, and Gordon would be a primo get. I’d imagine that Missouri will continue to try to get 2018 recruits on campus for unofficial visits through the rest of the summer (once they return from Italy), and maybe a few 2019 kids.

If Missouri is able to land a Point Guard in the ‘17 class, they would be able to go after a wing and a post in the ‘18 class. So you can see the prioritization of those positions int heir offers lists. Remember to check out the Recruiting Hot Board as we keep it updated with regularity. Also expecting Mizzou to hold onto 100% of the players in the current Freshmen and Sophomore classes would be naive at this stage, so I’d expect both ‘17 and ‘18 classes to probably grow by one at least.

That’s all for now.