Jontay Porter’s official decision could give Mizzou Basketball a top 5 recruiting class.

It’s been quiet on the recruiting front lately if you don’t count Torrence Watson committing to Ohio State this week. However, Mizzou fans could be in for some good news in the very near future; at least, if Jontay himself is to taken for his word.

Obviously, this isn’t breaking news to anyone who’s been paying attention this summer. We’ve known since early summer that Jontay was probably going to reclassify and play for the 2017-2018 squad. All the folks in the know have been calling it an, “if, not when,” scenario. Still it’ll be nice to see Mizzou get some positive recruiting momentum back, especially after the loss of Watson.

Once Jontay officially reclassifies, Mizzou will go from the eighth to the fourth best recruiting class in the country by the 247 calculator. Technically, there’s no way to see how his addition would impact the class. I did, however, add a similarly-scored player in the 2017 class - a Kansas commit, as it turns out - and the subsequent score puts Mizzou above Alabama, Texas, Louisville and UCLA. The only teams they would trail are Arizona, Duke and Kentucky. That’s some good company to be in.

There’s been some discussion about whether Jontay Porter could be a potential ‘one-and-done’ player like his brother is expected to be. In response to a comment that Jontay Porter would have to play two years if he re-classified, Oscar explained on twitter:

“Jontay Porter turns 19 on 11/15/2018. A player eligible for NBA draft must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft.”

Mizzou’s going all-in next year, sports fans. And I, for one, am giddy.

In other Jontay Porter news, he’s off to a bit of a rough start at the Peach Jam. In MOKAN Elite’s first 3 games, he’s averaging just a tick above 8 points per game. His shooting hasn’t been as good as we’re used to seeing, especially after his first game double-double.

He’s also averaging slightly above 11 rebounds per game with about 5 assists.

But hey, at least he got to rub shoulders with NBA Champion, Kevin Durant!

And the sooner MOKAN is out of the Peach Jam, the sooner Mizzou fans are likely to get confirmation on his reclassification. Stay tuned...

More good news on the recruiting front, this time on the football side.

Thompson is viewed by many as the crown jewel of the infamous Tiger 10 class, which has now been shaved down to the Tiger 6 or 7. Mizzou is obviously in with some heavy hitters on Thompson, but if word is to be believed, they’re in pretty decent shape with him. 247sports’ Crystal Ball predictions all favor Mizzou right now.

Mizzou’s big recruiting event, Night At the Zou is coming up, and it would be the perfect time for Thompson to commit. One commitment can get the ball rolling, especially with other highly coveted recruits like Kamryn Babb...

(He tweeted an edit from Michigan right after this tweet, but we’ll just pretend it didn’t happen.)

Other links:

• Power Mizzou is at the Peach Jam this week, and Gabe DeArmond is doing regular notebooks. You may be out of luck if you’re not a subscriber, but it’s worth a look anyway. He’s covering other big Mizzou targets since Porter is pretty much a given at this point.
• Mizzou’s getting into the snapchat game at the Peach Jam. I’m not a fan of the Mizzou filter’s aesthetics though. Too wordy.

@EvanDaniels

• The university announced Thursday it set a record for cash donations in the last fiscal year. The university raked in about $152 million in new cash, which is slightly off from last year’s total, but still one of the highest amounts in school history. Also of note: athletics took in about a third of those donations.
• J’Mon Moore is looking to solidify himself as one of the great Mizzou wide receivers after a standout junior year.
• Our friends over at Roll Bama Roll had this to say from Barry Odom’s appearance at SEC Media Days:

Outside of Butch Jones or Nick Saban, you’d be hard-pressed to find another coach that emphasizes program culture quite like Mizzou’s alum-cum-head coach Barry Odom does. While he emphasizes it, you still don’t quite have a handle on it. Alabama is “playing to a standard -- the Process.” Tennessee is “relentless, toughness, intelligence.” Odom just says “the Missouri culture,” and while he is earnest and believes in and loves MU, I don’t know if he does a good job selling it to someone who does not have the firsthand experience.

While many coaches say they need to improve, or they let the team down, I’ve rarely heard one as blunt as Coach Odom when he said “I made mistakes. I’m going to make mistakes,” and “we weren’t good enough. When you win four games, it hurts your soul.” His humility is a welcome change of pace, especially when he could have easily blamed the talent level and coaching turnover for the 4-8 start.

• Tod Palmer of the KC Star released his SEC ballots Thursday. There’s some good and bad news for Missouri fans.

• Eric Biesel’s comments at the SEC Media Days have sure riled up people on twitter. I’d post more links, but many of them have very naughty words. Suffice to say, he’s gotten under a few people’s skins.