GD: 1) I haven't heard a whole lot about them honestly. Generally guys who are in their third or fourth year and haven't much seen the field aren't going to. Now, to be fair, I've also missed more than half of spring football covering post-season basketball, so maybe some guys are stepping up that I don't know about. But if anything, I think you see Mizzou get younger as far as guys who are getting playing time, not older.

2) From everything I've heard, K.J. Santos is a guy the staff really likes. I think he'll be a heavy contributor, and potentially even a starter, next season. Missouri's going to need some guys who can score and he is supposed to be that. I see Javon Pickett as a little longer-term guy as far as meaningful playing time. I'm not expecting him to get a ton of it next year, but perhaps the year after be a guy that's a little more involved in the rotation.

GD: At last check, I believe Missouri was four over the limit. So I'd expect at least that many.

GD: In the states of Missouri and Kansas, for missing the last second shot. Everywhere else, for the other stuff.

GD: The deadline to declare--with or without an agent--is midnight on April 22. So he's still got nearly a month before he would have to do that. I honestly don't expect that part of the decision to take that long. Now that Michael has made his announcement, Jontay's could really follow at any time. The more important date is May 30. That's the date by which you have to withdraw your name if you're going back to school.

Truthfully, everything I hear is that preparations are being made not to have Jontay next season. I think they'll proceed as if he isn't coming back and then if he does, they'll adjust from there. We'll know for sure at some point in the next two months. Obviously, the sooner the better for the Missouri staff, but they'll have a good handle on how they need to proceed before we do.

GD: If Senior moves on, my guess is that it will be a resignation to pursue opportunities related to his sons' pro careers. I don't think it will be a situation where Missouri owes him 750K, or even much of a portion of that. However, that's nothing more than a guess.

Let's assume Jontay goes pro. Here's my top ten:

Starting Five: Jeremiah Tilmon, Kevin Puryear, K.J. Santos, Jordan Geist, Courtney Ramey (yeah, I said it).

Next Five: Torrence Watson, Mitchell Smith, Xavier Pinson, Reed Nikko, grad transfer of some sort

GD: I'm on board with you. Realistically, I see next year as a step back. Maybe not a major one, certainly not to nine wins or anything, but probably the high teens, being a bubble team and see how things fall on Selection Sunday. Then, even if you clean up in the 2019 class, they're all freshmen. I can see that being an NCAA Tournament team, but I'm not sure I see it as one prepared to do a ton of damage. But when those guys are all sophomores, when Santos is a senior, Watson and Ramey are juniors (and who knows if Tilmon is still around by then), I think that's a team that's got a chance to really make a run at some fun things. Perhaps things develop that make it happen sooner, but as we sit today, that would be my guess.

GD: I'd eliminate it personally. To me, I don't like the "hit to the head is an automatic flagrant." Intent has to be included in my opinion. If it's an intentional elbow, give them a flagrant. If it's incidental contact, it's a common foul and move along. I can live with reviewing out of bounds plays in the final two minutes of each half. But I'd put a clock on it. Let's say 90 seconds. If you can't tell by then, there's probably not clear and convincing evidence one way or another. I'm for getting calls right, but things like the last three minutes of the Wichita State/Marshall game, which took about 25 to play, are just stupid and make it no fun.

GD: There doesn't seem to be much clarity on this deal. Here's the most informative thing I could find on it. I have a hard time believing the NCAA is going to approve a transfer rule that would, in effect, make every offseason complete free agency. I understand the thought that if coaches can leave, players should be able to leave. But there's got to be some rules in place. You can't just allow any kid who wants to leave to do so with no penalty whatsoever. I'm on board with immediate eligibility if a coach gets fired. I'm on board with immediate eligibility if there's some sort of proven hardship like a family situation. But letting a guy like Blake Harris or Mark Smith, who left over playing time or clashes with a coach or whatever, to just suit up immediately for his new team? I don't like that. I would make it almost impossible on coaches. They'd be re-recruiting their entire roster every single year. I think that's a terrible thing that would have almost no chance to pass. The other thing I'd be on board with is a kid who is told he doesn't have a scholarship for next year (which really doesn't happen much because what they really say is "You can stay here, but I'm going to be honest with you, you're never going to play") then let that kid play right away. But he's got to be able to prove he didn't have the option to return to his current school on scholarship and that might be tough to do.

GD: We recently wrote a story on Blake Hinson, after the Mizzou offer, which you can read here. I don't really have any more insight than that at this time.

GD: In 2016, he got four-star Charlie Moore from Chicago. In 2015, he landed five-star Jaylen Brown from Georgia. At Tennessee, his only four- or five-star players were from the state of Tennessee. So he's capable, yeah.

I think basketball recruiting is less regional than football. When you're only signing three to five guys a year, it's much easier to invest time going coast-to-coast to find them. Plus, a vast majority of the evaluation is done at AAU tournaments where everyone is in the same place anyway.

Now, there's still a heirarchy. Most of the top players are going to places like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas and a handful of schools. But there are still plenty of guys who go out of state. Here are the number of five-stars who have signed with non-traditional out-of-state powers in the last few years (I included Villanova in this group of "non-traditional powers" which I probably shouldn't have, and I think there were three of them, so that knocks the numbers down a little):

2018: 10 (still four undecided)

2017: 8 (I didn't include the Porters)

2016: 4

2015: 7

2014: 4

Oddly, LSU is the school that's probably done the best in getting guys like this, both under Johnny Jones and Will Wade. So, yeah, it can be done. I think Cuonzo Martin is a very good recruiter and will have Mizzou in on some guys like this.

GD: Not that I know of. I think it's a terrible idea honestly. I mean, it's not always all that warm in April. Take the sun away and it's likely to be in the 30s. Mizzou doesn't draw more than about ten thousand for the event as it is. Combine cold temperatures and getting home at midnight for anyone coming from out of town and you could reduce that number significantly. The fact is, the spring game isn't an event that many Missouri fans go out of their way to attend. Putting it at night would make it even less so.

GD: Frankly, I'm not sure. I think they'd go the transfer/grad transfer route in that case. Mark Smith is someone to follow, though we're not sure at this point that "contingency" is the right word. But if they don't get Ramey, I fully expect a grad transfer point guard.

GD: I think he'd definitely be a guy that would be on Cuonzo's list. I don't know how legitimate it would be, but he's a guy we'd have on the short list. Tracy Webster might be. I've seen some people mention Paul Lusk, but I'm not sold on that one. And I'm guessing Cuonzo knows a lot more people than we are thinking of.

GD: I don't believe make or break years exist in recruiting. Now, I don't think you can win the SEC if your classes are consistently in the 40s and 12th in the league. But you can win eight games and if you win eight games every year at Missouri, you're never getting fired.

I'm a believer that a coach is largely as good at recruiting as the program he is at (unless he's a rampant cheater). You put a coach at Missouri, he's going to recruit better than he would at Memphis. But put that same coach at Oklahoma and he's going to recruit better than he would at Mizzou. That's not to take the onus completely off the coach. Some guys can sell ice to eskimos and some have trouble selling it in the desert, but that's a general rule of thumb.

I do think this is a make or break year for Barry Odom at Missouri. But I think it's on the field, not on the recruiting trail. Losing Terry Beckner and Drew Lock after this season (easily the two best players on the roster), I think 2019 is going to be a step back. So if you win eight or nine this year and take a step back from that, okay. But if you win six this year and then step back to four, I've got a hard time seeing this thing working long term.

GD: Assuming Jontay Porter goes to the NBA, I'll say no on both of them right now.

GD: 1) If Missouri misses a bowl game, it will be an interesting offseason. I don't think six or seven wins gets him fired this year, but I do think that number would be less than the progress you'd like to see.

2) I'll admit, I used to hate the Cards and I'll admit it was out of sheer jealousy (and also some obnoxious Cardinal fans I went to school with). But once the Royals got good, honestly, I don't much care. I had a team to pay attention to that was worthwhile, so I cheered against the teams they were in contention with in the American League and didn't much care about the National League until the playoffs.

GD: Sure. I mean, I have no idea if they will, but there's always a chance.