2021 Mizzou hoops recruiting primer

Missouri’s 2019-20 basketball season ended abruptly last week when the SEC canceled its men’s basketball tournament hours before the Tigers were set to tip off against Texas A&M. Now, the focus shifts to recruiting. While Cuonzo Martin and his staff will surely look to add a player or two to next year’s roster, the staff will also likely start earnestly pursuing players in the 2021 class. It won’t be a traditional recruitment — prospects are barred from visiting campus and coaches can’t visit prospects until at least April 15, plus the EYBL and other AAU circuits have either canceled or postponed their spring events — but coaches can still communicate with players electronically. It’s always difficult to project two years in advance, but with Dru Smith, Mark Smith, Mitchell Smith, Jeremiah Tilmon and Axel Okongo all potentially set to graduate after the 2020-21 season, we would expect Missouri to add at least three or four prospects in the 2021 class. Here is our first look at the players Missouri figures to pursue.

The Kansas City product has become a high-priority target for several area schools, including Missouri. Bates visited campus last fall, and Martin watched him play at least once during his high school season at Piper. Bates has also earned offers and taken visits to Creighton, Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma State, with Creighton receiving his lone official visit so far. He told Rivals’ Eric Bossi last month that he planned to take more officials after the high school season ended, but obviously that timeline will have to be pushed back a bit due to the coronavirus-induced dead period. Whether Missouri can get Bates back on campus will be revealing about the Tigers’ chances of landing him.

Akins is one of several Detroit-area prospects Missouri, and particularly assistant coach Cornell Mann, is pursuing in 2021. A smooth, left-handed guard, Akins is a natural scorer who has attracted offers from schools across the country, including both Michigan and Michigan State, Iowa and Mississippi State. He unofficially visited Missouri last summer, and the only official visit he has taken so far has been to Northwestern. If Akins were to cut his list, we think Missouri would make his group of top schools, but Michigan State is probably the team to beat. When he received an offer from the Spartans in August, Akins tweeted that it was a “dream come true.”

Brooks visited Missouri’s campus along with Akins, his teammate on the AAU circuit, last summer. The versatile wing went from a relatively unknown prospect to a hot commodity last summer. His offer list includes Alabama, Butler, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Michigan State. Brooks hasn’t taken many visits yet — like Akins, his only official has been to Northwestern — so his recruitment appears to be pretty wide open. One school he has visited, which could emerge as a major player, is Louisville. The Cardinals haven’t offered yet, but Brooks’ father and high school coach, Pierre Brooks Sr., played part of his college career for Louisville.

Another member of The Family AAU team in whom Missouri has expressed interest is Bufkin. Bufkin hasn’t received a scholarship offer from the Tigers yet, but there is clearly some mutual interest between him and the staff. Bufkin scheduled an unofficial visit to Missouri for the weekend of March 21, although that trip will have to be rescheduled. Bufkin rocketed up the Rivals150 rankings last summer and has earned offers from Michigan State, DePaul, Northwestern and TCU, among others. If Missouri extends an offer soon, it figures to have a chance at Bufkin, but once again, if Michigan State’s offer is committable, the Spartans would likely be tough to beat.

Yet another Detroit prospect who Mann is pursuing, Roper might be the furthest along in his recruiting process out of the four area players. Roper has taken official visits to Northwestern and Wisconsin, and some around Madison seemed surprised he didn’t pull the trigger and commit during his trip there. However, Roper told Jon McNamara of BadgerBlitz.com that he wanted to see Missouri and Alabama before making a decision, so clearly the Tiger staff has developed a decent rapport. The dead period probably hurts Missouri’s chances here, as it’s unclear whether he will wait out the ban on visits before finalizing his decision, but for the Tigers, the longer he goes without committing to Wisconsin, the better.

The younger brother of Missouri freshman Kobe Brown picked up an offer from the Tigers last summer. Kaleb is similar to Kobe in that he possesses a versatile skillset for his size; he’s six-foot-six but plays primarily in the backcourt. A host of high-major schools have reportedly shown interest in the younger Brown, but only Missouri, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech and Penn State have offered. Combine Missouri getting in fairly early with Brown and, of course, the family connection, and we think the Tigers have a decent shot here.

Missouri is among a long list of schools vying for the four-star wing. Notable offers include Alabama, Iowa, Louisville, Ohio State and Xavier. Branham doesn’t appear to have done many interviews, but he has visited Louisville unofficially and taken an official visit to Ohio State thus far. Missouri could still be involved behind the scenes, but it appears the Tigers have some ground to make up.

Missouri extended an offer to the top-40 shooting guard back in September, but honestly, this one looks like a longshot. Cleveland has offers from 20 high-major programs, and he has already taken visits to Auburn, Florida State and Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets could be the favorite; both of his parents attended school there.

Washington is another Georgia native who saw his stock soar late in last summer. Missouri, Arkansas, Georgia Tech and Xavier were among the schools to extend offers. That would appear to be beatable competition, but it’s not clear how highly the staff has prioritized Washington. He has not taken a trip to Missouri’s campus, while he has been to Georgia Tech three times.

The Missouri staff tried to get in early with a few five-star prospects such as Chet Holmgren, Jaden Hardy and Hunter Sallis. While none of those players has announced a top schools list or eliminated Missouri, each will wind up having his pick of pretty much every program in the country, and since none have visited Missouri yet, it seems unlikely the Tigers have a real chance.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are a few local names who have not earned offers from Missouri but at least bear monitoring. Four-star St. Louis Christian wing Jordan Nesbitt collected new offers from Illinois and Depaul in the past few weeks to go along with Iowa, Nebraska and Ole Miss. Missouri hasn’t shown much interest in Nesbitt to this point, but that could always change. Another St. Louis wing, Nick Kern, started to gain some traction on the recruiting trail this season but so far only has offers from Saint Louis and Depaul among high-major schools. Center Yaya Keita cracked the Rivals 150 when it was last updated. Missouri hasn’t seemed to target big men so far in this class, but if that were to change, Keita — a raw but athletic prospect out of DeSmet who has heard from Iowa, Kansas and Michigan, among others — would make sense as a target. Finally, we know Springfield native Anton Brookshire has had at least some communication with the Missouri staff in the past, but as of now, Brookshire’s offer list is trending more toward the mid-major level.