That was... unexpected!

Xavier Pinson was the first of Mizzou’s five transfers to announce their entrance into the portal this offseason, and he undoubtedly had the highest profile of the five. Pinson was widely praised as one of the more exciting players in the portal due to his raw counting stats, and he finally has a new home... one that is still in the SEC.

After announcing a final four of Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia and Nebraska last week, Pinson suddenly shunned all of those options and posted this message on his Instagram early this morning.

That’s quite a shift! For one thing, KU is pretty stacked with guard options and is still in on at least one high-end high school point man. It would’ve been a strange (and mildly upsetting) decision for X to make. Fortunately for all of our feelings, X instead chose to stay within the SEC and play for... oh, Will Wade? Gross.

Pinson should fit well into LSU’s system which is fast and loose on offense with... limited commitment on the defensive end. He’ll have no shortage of athletic bigs to toss lobs to, for sure! Best of luck to Pinson moving forward, except when he plays Missouri. Maybe Cuonzo Martin could consider putting an athletic, driving guard on him? It’s worked for opposing offenses in the past.

Yesterday at Rock M

• Mizzou Hoops Player Review: Jeremiah Tilmon
• Series Recap: Tigers go 1-2 in Columbia East

More Links:

• Senior linebacker Jamal Brooks announced yesterday he’ll be transferring away for his graduate season.

It seems long, but take a minute to read that farewell letter — it’s quite good. Happy trails, Jamal! Good luck at your next stop!

• Speaking of transfers, Santa Clara officially announced the addition of Parker Braun yesterday. All the best to Parker — lord knows you’re in a better place (weather-wise, that is).
• Due to an abbreviated season, Mizzou Volleyball will only need one win to reach this year’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. Bennett Durando at the Post-Dispatch wrote about how the Tigers are prepping for an unusual postseason.
• Another Mizzou Hoops signee made their high school all-state team on the women’s side! Congrats to Izzy Higginbottom for earning a spot on the Arkansas 5A all-state team!
• The diamond sports have a pair of rivalries in the midweek match ups, with softball facing that school to the west and baseball squaring off against Missouri State.

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