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WELCOME BACK, KALEB!
I, for one, am so happy to see Kaleb Brown exit the portal and come back home to CoMo. Ecstatic, actually. Love the Brown family; they’re good people. Kaleb seems like a great dude. He is the last of Zo’s guys. He works hard. He’s a culture guy. He’s appreciated here. Love.to.see.it.
NOTE: If you’re confused or angered (?!) by Kaleb returning and what that means, or demanding whether he’s taking a scholarship from someone (he’s not) or some other dumb — yes, I said it — DUMB reason, hush.
You know who else loves to see it? Dennis Gates. And his teammates. You know... the ONLY people who matter in this equation.
Congratulations @igb_kaleb I am proud of you! I love you! https://t.co/pH5vtdfp3v
— Dennis Gates (@coachdgates) June 6, 2023
Kaleb played in 11 games for the Tigers this season, averaging 0.8ppg in 7.8 minutes. His best games of the season were probably in the V-Day loss at Auburn where he played 10 minutes and made a three, as well as against SIUE, where he had 4 points in 14 mins, shooting 100% from the field to go with an assist and a steal.
Now, will there be a bunch of playing time for Kaleb? And for that matter, will there be playing time for [gestures wildly] all these guys? I’ve never seen a Mizzou team this big, y’alI, but I also don’t get paid millions of dollars to figure that out. Remember, these things just seem to have a way of working themselves out.
The Tigers will have quite a bench this coming year, though, as even some of the PWOs had some legitimate offers. Here’s some stats about this roster from Watkins:
Next year's Mizzou roster potentially has 13 players who have recorded a D-I point, cumulatively totaling 9,094 points scored.
— Order On The Court ⚖️ (@DataMizzou) June 6, 2023
Four players are current members of the 1000 point club.
Three more are a repeat of their last season away from joining.
If my math is right, next year's Mizzou roster *could* feature 14 players who have previously accumulated 23,853 minutes on the court in D-I.
— Order On The Court ⚖️ (@DataMizzou) June 6, 2023
Kentucky's roster, by contrast, currently features 360 minutes of experience.
Wow.
So who are they? Presenting... The Gates Bunch. All 19 of ‘em.
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Before we move on, here’s a really terrible song. Come on, you knew I couldn’t make this gorgeous, gorgeous graphic and NOT also try to write a rendition of my own to go with it.
Here’s a story, of a man named Dennis
Who was tasked with coaching a giant team
They might have come from, all over the country,
But they all have one dream
Here’s the story, of an assistant, C.Y.,
Who was busy helping Dennis all the time,
With 19 dudes out on the court, making passes
wondering about their playing time.
........ [I can’t think of what to put here so just hum the melody, please] ....
We know this group will somehow form a family.
That’s the way they will become The Gates Bunch.
I’m so sorry.
Now, perhaps you looked at the above family portrait and thought, “WHO?”. I get it. There’s so many.
Let’s review a few, courtesy of MUTigers.com:
- Anthony Robinson II (Florida) is a Top 100 player per Rivals and was Gates’ first commit of the 2023 class. Leading Florida State University High School to the 3A state title, Robinson averaged 15.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game as a junior, while shooting 56 percent from the field. A top-20 point guard in the nation, he also plays for the Georgia Stars AAU program.
- John Tonje (Colorado State, Omaha, NE) was the first transfer to make it official and collected 1,051 points, 359 rebounds and 102 assists during his career – shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from 3-point range. A 6-foot-5 guard, Tonje ranked second for the Rams in 2022-23 with a career-best 14.6 points per game. This season, he set personal bests with a field goal percentage of 47.3 and a 3-point clip of 38.9% along with 43 assists and 25 steals.
- Danny Stephens (Augusts, Illinois) is a 6’7 shooting guard who led Southeastern High School to an Elite Eight appearance at the state championship as a junior. He was honored as 1st Team All-State by the IBCA and media, averaging 28.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 63 percent from the field and 94 percent from the free-throw line. He chose Missouri over Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, South Dakota and Southeast Missouri State.
- JV Brown (Los Angeles, CA) is a 6-4 shooting guard who averaged 16.0 points per game with 62 made 3-pointers in 27 games for Rolling Hills Prep. Among his accolades as a senior, the team captain was named to the All-Coastal Team as well as earning Damien Classic and Mira Costa All-Tournament Team accolades. He was the 2nd leading shooter on his team behind a Stanford commit. team’s second-leading scorer.
Matt Harris tries to make sense of the rotation a bit
A very crude diagram of how spots are allocated at the moment. pic.twitter.com/gO2fdjjAyD
— Matt Harris (@MattJHarris85) June 6, 2023
On to the Links!
Yesterday at Rock M
- I broke the news of Mizzou WBB’s newest international student-athlete, a 6’5 center from Croatia, with an assist from Lauren
- Nate’s previews continue: South Carolina Gamecocks
- New podcast incoming! Josh, Kortay, and Sam chat... baseball. It was awesome.
More Links:
Hoops
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch: With Kaleb Brown’s return, Mizzou basketball roster appears all but set (Dave Matter)
- Columbia Missourian: Mizzou Women’s Basketball adds 6-foot-5 freshman Milkovic (Calum McAndrew) | Kaleb Brown withdraws from portal, announces return to Mizzou (Jaden Lewis)
- PowerMizzou: Kaleb Brown announces return to Missouri (Drew King) | Catching up with 2025 guard Jerry Easter II at Nike EYBL (King)
- Columbia Tribune: Mizzou basketball: Kaleb Brown returning to Tigers for 2023-24 season (Matt Stahl)
- We have a scheduling update, per Dave Matter.
Missed this yesterday but Kansas basketball announced its nonconference schedule: Mizzou visits Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday, Dec. 9 in Game 3 of of the six-game series
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) June 6, 2023
- Our fearless leader Sam, visited the KTRS 550 Big Sports Show to chat Mizzou Hoops
- New faces in CoMo:
— Mizzou Basketball (@MizzouWBB) June 6, 2023
Football
- New faces at Faurot:
Fresh faces in Faurot #MIZ pic.twitter.com/xQ4DOg94Pb
— Mizzou Football (@MizzouFootball) June 6, 2023
- That’s a lot of tackles.
Heavy hitters #MIZ pic.twitter.com/ACh7iKCulS
— Mizzou Football (@MizzouFootball) June 6, 2023
- This is awesome.
Last Saturday got to speak to @Duncanville_Fb incoming freshman and middle 7th and 8th graders… Coach Samples asked me to do I flew back greatest moment of being an athlete pic.twitter.com/ueT1tWfq2p
— Ennis Rakestraw Jr (@EnnisRakestraw) June 7, 2023
Other Mizzou Sports
- TRACK & FIELD: 7 Mizzou T&F athletes will start competing in at the NCAAs this morning. You can watch on the ESPN family of networks from Wednesday - Saturday. Mizzou track and field prepped for NCAA Outdoor Championships (Joel Boenitz, Missourian)
- SOFTBALL: Congratulations to Alex Honnold, who was named to the 2023 College Sports Commission’s Academic All-America Third Team! (More at MUTigers.com)
- BASEBALL: What Kerrick Jackson said about becoming the SEC’s first Black head coach (Matt Stahl)
Mizzou in the Pros (or soon-to-be pros)
- 2023 NBA mock draft: #40 to Denver Nuggets (via DAL) according to USA Today’s FTW, June 2 | #45 to Memphis Grizzlies according to Bleacher Report, June 2 | Best fit vs. best available for the first round (ESPN+)
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- No matter how little Mike was on the team, he was still a Tiger and is a CoMo native. He is #Mizzoumade (Sort of) ‘Mizzou Made,’ Michael Porter Jr. is struggling with shot in NBA Finals (Benjamin Hochman, STL Today)
- It’s Mitch!!!
- Congrats, Sarah!
#Mizzou soccer alum Sarah Luebbert and her Club America team won the 2023 Liga MX Femenil Championship last night https://t.co/A2L2Kq0zLs
— Nathalie Jones (@NathalieABC17) June 6, 2023
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