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What a long, strange trip it’s been for Kobe Brown.
In the seven months since the combo forward took an official visit to Missouri, he committed to Texas A&M, was released from a letter of intent after coach Billy Kennedy’s firing and reopened his recruitment. In the end, the three-star prospect committed to coach Cuonzo Martin and the Tigers.
Blame the city I’m a product of it.. You gotta love it. #thejourney ✨ #committed pic.twitter.com/2S0LzfHUwB
— Kobe Brown (@TheKobe24Brown) May 14, 2019
With Brown’s pledge, Mizzou has likely wrapped up its recruiting for the Class of 2019. The 6-foot-7, 220-pound prospect epitomizes the shift toward a positionless game. In his recruiting videos, Brown, who is ranked No. 238 in 247 Sports’ composite index, bills himself as a combo guard. Yet his size and limited athleticism likely peg him for more as a combo forward. He has the body type to add weight to an already sturdy frame, so sizing up to play the four-spot in certain combinations makes a lot of sense.
This flexibility drew Martin to the Huntsville, Ala., product. As you watch the video below, Brown shows off an array of skills and tries to fill in a lot of different roles on the court. He’s capable of handling the ball, isn’t afraid of posting on the low block or camping out in the short corner for shallow fade-away jumpers.
The Tigers’ pursuit of Brown unfolded out of sight. Martin snuck in for a visit several weeks ago, while Brown visited Penn State. It’s been hard to derive a clear sense of how the courtship played out, but Martin clearly built a long-term relationship with Brown — one that outweighed flirtations with Penn State.
The addition of Brown comes on the same day Martin announced that guard Ronnie Suggs, who received a scholarship for the latter half of the season, is moving on as a graduate transfer. Meanwhile, he also told assembled reporters that forward Parker Braun, who redshirted last season, is now on scholarship.
Taken together, the Tigers still have one scholarship open for the upcoming season. Should the program decide to pocket it, they would still have a projected two spots to fill in the Class of 2020.