Jontay Porter on reclassifying: “There’s so many pros and cons to both”

Jontay Porter’s official visit has come and gone. Is he going to officially be a Tiger soon? Will his freshman year come in 2017-18 or 2018-19? Reply hazy, ask again later. (At least, for that second question.)

Post-Dispatch: Jontay Porter unsure of future after Mizzou visit

Q: Have you come to any decision on reclassifying?

A: No, not yet. Monday and Tuesday helped me get a feel for it and what (Missouri’s staff) would do with me if I decided to go early. We talked about that a little. But no clear-cut decision has been made yet just because I haven’t had time to sit down and talk with my parents yet because we’ve all been traveling. I leave this Thursday and I’ll be with my dad all weekend and I’m sure we’ll get a chance to talk about it. The sooner the better, so hopefully we can make a decision soon. (Note: Porter will play in this weekend’s EYBL session in Indianapolis, where Porter Sr. will also attend recruiting for the Tigers.)

KC Star: Jontay Porter still ‘unsure’ about reclassification to join brother at Mizzou

“It’s a thing I’m been tussling with a lot,” Jontay said. “Everybody’s been asking me. I don’t really have a solid answer, but I’ve prayed about it, thought about it and talked about it with my parents and I should come to a conclusion here in a few days.

“It’s really tough because there’s so many pros and cons to both. I don’t really think there’s a wrong decision.”

PowerMizzou: Porter recaps official visit

The 6-foot-11 big man told PowerMizzou.com a few weeks ago that his father Michael Porter Sr., who is a assistant coach at Missouri, was against him reclassifying because he could use a year of high school where he has to be the focal point of his team. Michael Porter Jr. was the biggest proponent of his younger brother reclassifying to play with him next year. He said both family members have recently changed their tune.

“They’ve both kind of backed off,” he said. “My dad at first didn’t really want me to but now is fine with anything I decide. He cares obviously but he’s going to leave it to me. Michael, he’s kind of wishy-washy. One day he’ll stay, you can be the man. The next day he’ll ask me to come with him. He’s kind of friendly banter.”

It’s all but certain that Porter will officially commit soon, but I can definitely see how reclassification might be a difficult call. My gut now says he probably plays this fall, but ... my gut is wrong a lot. But the bottom line for now:

Meanwhile, Porter was a first-team performer at last weekend’s Nike EYBL Hampton shindig after averaging 19 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, and three blocks per game. Damn.

One glance at the numbers below, and you're probably wondering why Porter isn't the Most Valuable Player of the Session. He was narrowly edged out by Keldon Johnson, but you can just as easily put Porter as the lead candidate for EYBL Most Valuable Player at every session. Porter did a bit of everything in his first session as the lead player for MOKAN, and there was little the defense could do to contain his versatility. If Porter doesn't reclassify to 2017, he is among your sure-fire candidates at pretty much every major end-of-season award.

More basketball links:

• Mizzou athletic director Jim Sterk says it’s still going to be a while before anything is resolved regarding former tutor Yolanda Kumar’s academic fraud allegations and the ensuing investigation. That makes sense, since North Carolina’s investigation has yet to be completely resolved, and it started, like, decades ago.
• Though sources seem to be suggesting that Mizzou is no longer in the mix for Kevin Knox’s services, Knox’s father swears that’s not the case. He told Dave Matter on Tuesday that “There still is a chance to be a Tiger.”
• Cuonzo Martin sat down for a 20-minute chat with the KC Star’s Tod Palmer. Audio here.

More Links:

• When talking about mid-week college baseball games, we tend to talk about their randomness—a mix-and-match set of pitchers sometimes leads to strange results that aren’t really indicative of how a team would play on a Friday or Saturday. But there’s nothing random about what tends to happen when Mizzou Baseball visits Springfield. A painful result is actually quite reliable. Increasingly desperate for a big win, Mizzou went down to Missouri State and managed just four hits in a 5-1 loss. It was the Tigers’ second loss to the Bears in a week and their fourth straight loss in Springfield.