The offseason for Missouri men’s basketball has just begun, and already there’s been movement in and out of Columbia.
This is all while new head coach Dennis Gates has yet to set his coaching staff.
Here is a look at the current status of Missouri’s scholarship count, recruiting interest and transfer portal departures:
Mizzou basketball commits and signees
- Mohamed Diarra (Garden City Community College)
- DeAndre Gholston (Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
- Christian Jones (East St. Louis)
So far, Gates has three incoming players set to play for Missouri next season.
Gholston announced his commitment Saturday, marking two commits in two days. Diarra, Gates’ first commit, announced his intentions to join MU on Friday.
Gholston averaged 14.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game at UW-Milwaukee. In his career at Milwaukee, he also shot 34.2% from beyond 3-point range. It’s a welcome addition to the Missouri guard rotation, which struggled to shoot consistently.
Jones has been with Missouri since signing his national letter of intent and is a three-star combo guard prospect.
According to Verbal Commits, there are currently over 920 entrants into the transfer portal. Of those 900 players, there’s bound to be at least one more that Gates can convince to don a Tigers uniform.
Transfer portal departures
- Javon Pickett
- Anton Brookshire
- Trevon Brazile
- Jordan Wilmore
- Sean Durugordon (mid-season entrant)
These players all have the option to return to Missouri. However, it’s fair to imagine Brookshire, Wilmore and Durugordon won’t take that avenue.
Wilmore was the most recent transfer, entering the portal Monday.
Pickett, who has a year of eligibility left granted by the NCAA due to COVID-19, and Brazile, who was only a true freshman, can help a team immediately.
Recruiting targets
High-major transfers
Landing a transfer from a high-major would immediately boost Missouri’s profile, especially considering the players Gates is publicly interested in.
One of the players who has earned interest from Missouri is Texas Tech transfer Terrence Shannon, who helped the Red Raiders to a Sweet 16 appearance. Shannon will test the NBA Draft process, too.
Shannon, a Chicago native, averaged 10.4 points per game for Texas Tech this past season and shot over 38% from beyond the arc. His career 3-point shooting percentage is 10% better than Missouri shot as a team in 2021-22.
However, it gets more interesting, as LSU transfer and former Missouri guard Xavier Pinson also has received interest from Missouri that appears to be mutual. His return would solve the issue of Missouri needing a point guard, as Pinson averaged 4.8 assists this past season to go along with 9.8 points per game.
The Tigers have also reached out to West Virginia’s Sean McNeil and South Carolina’s Erik Stevenson.
McNeil is also a solid 3-point shooter who shot 36.8% from 3 during his three seasons at West Virginia. Stevenson averaged 11.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game for the Gamecocks; he started against Missouri, recording nine points and seven rebounds.
Mid-major transfers
Gates has landed one mid-major transfer so far, but there are others he’s reportedly reached out to.
According to multiple reports, Gates has reached out to Utah Valley’s Fardaws Aimaq, Illinois State’s Antonio Reeves, Northern Iowa’s Noah Carter, Bradley’s Terry Roberts, East Carolina’s Tristen Newton, to name a few among many.
Aimaq is the most highly sought transfer of the bunch, as he’s heard from Kentucky, Arkansas, Gonzaga, Texas, Miami, Tennessee, Florida, Texas A&M and more. He was a double-double machine.
Reeves, Roberts and Newton are high-scoring guards who have also heard from Power Five programs. Reeves averaged 20 points per game for a Redbirds team that struggled and went through a coaching change.
Junior college transfers
Gates already landed Diarra, but he’s courting other top-rated junior college players.
Sean East, a junior college point guard at John A. Logan College, has gotten interest from Missouri. East averaged 21 points and 5.7 assists per game, earning his billing as one of the top junior college guards in the nation.
High school
This level of recruiting may pick up for Gates amid a number of head coaching changes, which caused a handful of signed players to ask to be released from their NLIs.
Interests at the prep level could pick up once Gates officially puts his staff together.
Missouri is still actively recruiting Aidan Shaw, the former MU signee who was released from his NLI after Cuonzo Martin was fired. Landing him back would be an immense win for Gates and the future of the program.
Mizzou’s current men’s basketball roster
- Kobe Brown
- Kaleb Brown
- DaJuan Gordon
- Yaya Keita
- Ronnie DeGray III
- Boogie Coleman
- Amari Davis
On Scholarship: 7 of 13 (NCAA allows for 13 players on scholarship)
Filled Scholarships: 3 (Jones, Gholston, Diarra)
Available Scholarships: 3
Chris Kwiecinski is the sports editor for the Columbia Daily Tribune, overseeing University of Missouri and Boone County sports coverage. Follow him on Twitter @OchoK_ and contact him at CKwiecinsk@gannett.com or 435-414-3261.
