The saga of Xavier Pinson’s coming and going continues... but maybe also ends?

When COVID-19 hit the world and the entirety of the sports universe shut down for the better part of five months, a lot of the air was drained out of offseason drama for college sports. Sure, recruiting has held steady, but a lot of the juicy stuff that fans get really worked up about — transfers, players turning pro — has vanished in the specter of the unknown.

Fortunately for us, Xavier Pinson has found a way to stretch us to the very limits of our curiosity in his ongoing flirtation with professional basketball. The rising junior surprised a lot of fans when he declared for the NBA Draft, as even his late season surge last year left a lot of growth for his future career as a pro. But Pinson has held out all this time, with rumors swirling back and forth as to which way he would end up going. He stoked the fires a little bit a few weeks ago by tweeting a mysterious image of himself in a, “?,” jersey, prompting some speculation that he may even be transferring.

However, Monday brought some relief to Tiger fans after Pinson posted the following video on his Instagram.

The notion of, “unfinished business,” combined with the Mizzou shirt and Tiger emoji below makes it pretty clear that the point guard intends to return to Mizzou and finish out at least his junior season before starting to cash paychecks.

... or wait — is it that clear? According to Dave Matter at the Post Dispatch, school officials say he hasn’t officially filed paperwork to make his return official, although he still has some time to do so. He’s been dropping a lot of hints suggesting his return all summer, but he’s also found ways to keep it interesting. So while this would normally be a no-brainer, maybe there’s still some, “drama,” left to play out.

Probably not, though. Maybe I’m just bored.

More Links:

• As camp approaches (fingers crossed!), Dave Matter is doing a series of stories about the strange offseason in Mizzou Football — this time, he’s logging the story of Daniel Parker, who, in case you hadn’t heard, underwent incredibly scary eye surgery last winter!
• The Columbia Tribune has a write up on 2021 Mizzou commit Mekhi Wingo, who has been one of Mizzou’s most active recruiters since his commitment last winter.
• PowerMizzou subscribers can get access to some typical Monday fare like Gabe’s Monday morning thoughts and some q’s and also a’s from Jonathan Jones’ (a recent Mizzou DL commit) high school coach.
• Denver is out here promoting our big, beautiful football son. You love to see it.

• Former Tiger Axel Okongo has found a new home at Eastern Michigan.

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