I don’t think anyone expects Jontay Porter to return next year

Yesterday Jontay Porter announced he was going into the NBA Draft. Today we’re left wondering if we’ve seen the last of Jontay as a Missouri Tiger?

Last year there were many in the program who thought Porter was following his brother into the NBA last year, and many were surprised to learn Jontay was coming back. The outlook on the season shifted but then went right back to where it was before when Porter tore his ACL pre-season. Jontay then re-injuring his ACL led many to believe he would consider returning to school.

The tone of yesterday’s announcement felt different though. I’ve never really felt the odds were good of him coming back but now it feels more final. How does it impact Missouri?

We covered the scholarship situation when K.J. Santos transferred last week:

I think Missouri right now will use one more scholarship in the 2019 class, and that will most likely go towards Eric Williams Jr. if he wants it. We should find out soon where Williams is going and it looks like it’s down to Oregon and Missouri.

• If Williams commits to Oregon, I think you could see Missouri pivot back to Myron Gardner, the Michigan native has been in a little bit of limbo as the coaching carousel has impacted his decision. He still has one of his primary choices there with Georgetown, but it could allow Missouri to move back in should they need to.
• I still get the impression Ronnie Suggs will hang onto his scholarship, and then the 13th spot will go to Parker Braun.
• We also fully expect Jeremiah Tilmon to return to school. Putting his name into the draft mix for a lot of players like Tilmon is a smart move. Get your feedback and go into your following season with a much better idea of where you stand and what you have to accomplish.

Outside of Williams (who Missouri is in very good shape with), and Gardner, there just haven’t been the kind of targets emerge that you would expect this time of year. No grad transfers, no late blooming recruits, nothing.

Which could all mean that Mizzou will hold a scholarship open for Porter should he want to return, but based upon what Cuonzo Martin has said to date, it just seems like he’s willing to reward a couple guys like Braun and Suggs — two players who don’t figure to factor much into the rotation next year — over stop gap solutions.

We’ll be tracking closely as usual, and if anything changes we’ll keep you updated.

Women’s Basketball Transfer SZN

Forde followed up with a correction as Tahane actually played 13 mpg as a sophomore, but the Tigers might be a tough light on experience next year after Grace Berg and Kelsey Winfrey previously transferred, and the Tigers losing Sophie Cunningham, Lauren Aldridge, and Cierra Porter to graduation. Akira Levy will also be recovering from an ACL injury.

Amber Smith returns as the Tigers leader in returning minutes at 28.5, next is Jordan Roundtree with 17.7. So without much returning Mizzou will likely lean on incoming freshmen Hayley Frank and Aijha Blackwell, and are actively recruiting athletic JUCO post Natasha Mack, and elite Wisconsin PG Shemera Williams who was let out of her Letter of Intent with Marquette.

With Williams and Mack (if Mizzou is able to sign them) combined with Frank and Blackwell, Mizzou should have enough incoming talent to match with their existing talent to make a dent in the SEC.

The NCAA is opening up it’s transfer rules

Reading this resolution and change up from the NCAA recalled this reaction from a certain Adam Sandler movie:

Maybe less on the yesterday part, but this rule change certainly could have benefitted Missouri last summer instead of this summer. Dru Smith was denied a waiver despite his coach being fired because the leadership at Evansville enjoy punishing student-athletes in as many ways as possible. Fire your coach, deny cooperation with the waiver? Now schools like Missouri won’t need to seek a waiver on a transfer in the case of a coach being fired.

We don’t know how it will impact existing players seeking waivers in situations where the coach isn’t fired, like Eric Williams Jr., but it would seem the other school could do what Illinois did for Mark Smith and sign off on a waiver.

Sports Illustrated forgot about Mizzou

In an article called “Gauging the Success Rate of College Football Head Coaches who are also Alumni” there was a missing school:

They quickly corrected and updated the article to include our fair head coach, but it’s hard to fathom missing the alumni of a forth coming top 25 team this season but there it is. Maybe SI needs to hire a few more Mizzou alumni and this wouldn’t have been overlooked!