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On May 22, 2017, Jontay Porter committed to the Missouri Tigers. On July 13, Porter teased Gary Parrish, and all of Mizzou nation, by basically admitting he was gong to reclassify as a 2017 recruit (and therefore play for Mizzou in 2017-18) without coming out and saying he was going to.
Today, Porter pledged to reclassify into the 2017 class and join the Tigers this season.
But first, he had to tease Mizzou fans one last time. On Tuesday afternoon, he tweeted, “You ready?” And after one final high school game — the SC30Select — he posted, “Sounds like y’all are ready...
...and then he deleted both tweets.
On Wednesday evening, the (frankly enjoyable) drama ended.
Class of '17 here I come pic.twitter.com/qKGARgEcBi
— Jontay Porter (@JontayPorter) August 10, 2017
In a word: FINALLY!
Porter was long rumored to be on the fence about this decision. At first, there was an expectation that his decision would likely come after his team, the MoKan Elite, played in the Nike EYBL Peach Jam. The Peach Jam is the last AAU event on the EYBL schedule, so getting Porter exposure and allowing him to be the main guy on his team played a role in the delay of the decision.
The Peach Jam ended a few weeks ago.
At this point, it’s mainly a relief knowing his decision because we can now move on with 100% confidence in talking about the roster and the 2017-18 season with who is going to play.
We’ve made an attempt at a depth chart with Jontay in tow. It’s hard to imagine Jontay and his brother, Michael Jr., not starting, but the competition on the interior should be interesting to watch with returnees Kevin Puryear, Reed Nikko, and Mitchell Smith being challenged by Jontay and Jeremiah Tilmon.
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Depth Chart-ish
| Point Guard | Combo Guard | Wing | Combo Forward | Post |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | Combo Guard | Wing | Combo Forward | Post |
| Terrence Phillips | Kassius Robertson | Jordan Barnett | Michael Porter Jr | Jontay Porter |
| Blake Harris | C.J. Roberts | Cullen VanLeer | Kevin Puryear | Jeremiah Tilmon |
| Jordan Geist | Brett Rau | Adam Wolf | Mitchell Smith | Reed Nikko |
This is the depth from last time we discussed this topic. Now I’d lean more toward moving MPJ back to the wing to spot and letting Jontay, Tilmon, and Puryear figure out the last two post positions.
We’re still months away from the season, but the excitement doesn’t seem to have waned just yet. There’s still plenty of time for the roster questions to sort themselves out, but Jontay immediately elevates the ceiling for the 2017-18 Tigers. This is very, very good news, even if we had to wait a while for it.
What say you, Cuonzo Martin?
— Mizzou Basketball (@MizzouHoops) August 10, 2017
Okay, that’s one response. (That’s also some good tweeting.)