Notebook: Cuonzo Martin roundtable

GET THE INSIDE SCOOP EVERY DAY WITH YOUR PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION!

For most college athletics departments, the start of August means the start of football season. Missouri is no different, with the team’s fall camp set to start Friday. But before we focus our attention on the gridiron, a few quick updates on the Tiger basketball team. Third-year head coach Cuonzo Martin met with reporters for about a half hour Wednesday morning to field questions about his program. Here are a handful of highlights from the discussion.

A theme of Martin’s first two seasons at Missouri has been losing important players before the season truly got underway. Two years ago, star freshman Michael Porter Jr. exited the team’s opening game after two minutes with a back injury that caused him to miss the rest of the regular season. Last year, Michael’s brother Jontay Porter saw his season end before it began due to a torn ACL and MCL suffered during a preseason scrimmage.

During the team’s summer workouts, junior center Jeremiah Tilmon gave the coaching staff another scare. However, Martin assured reporters that Tilmon is “fine.” Martin said Tilmon was “up and down” due to a back injury for about three weeks during summer workouts, but he “finished up the last week fine.”

Martin highlighted Tilmon’s importance to the team Wednesday, calling him “the biggest key” to the season. Tilmon averaged 10.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore. He also continued to struggle to stay on the floor, averaging 5.9 fouls per 40 minutes played. Martin said the staff has made playing under control and emphasis for Tilmon during the offseason.

“He has to continue to improve his decision-making in traffic and tough situations, because they run guys at him,” Martin said. “And then, of course, on the defensive side, having the energy, the passion and the level of, not necessarily toughness, but not worrying about how the game is officiated. He has to let himself, allow himself, to let go and say ‘this is how I’m playing the game. However they officiate, they officiate.’”

Missouri’s frontcourt should get a new addition in the coming days, when the team’s 13th and final scholarship player, Axel Okongo, makes it to campus. Martin said the junior college transfer is scheduled to arrive Friday. Okongo, who spent the last two seasons playing for Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, had to finish a course at Northwest before he could enroll at Missouri.

While the coaching staff will be eager to finally see what the 7-footer can do in person, Okongo’s eligibilty status remains shrouded in mystery. Martin said Okongo currently has one year of eligibility remaining, but the team has filed a waiver with the NCAA petitioning for a second season. Martin also said he is unsure if Okongo has a redshirt season remaining.

By nature, updates about a team’s progress during the offseason are almost always positive. Martin’s assessment of Missouri’s summer workouts was no different. Specifically, Martin lauded his team’s strength and its depth.

Martin said it was evident watching teams with experienced rosters last season, such as Auburn and Tennessee, that his team needed to get stronger. He described physical development as the most important objective of the offseason, and he credited strength and conditioning coach Nicodemus Christopher for the team’s progress in the weight room.

That development has been most visible in the team’s crop of second-year guards. Xavier Pinson, Torrence Watson and Javon Pickett were all forced to play regular minutes as true freshmen a season ago. In addition to being more experienced as sophomores, Martin expects them to benefit from being stronger.

“Torrence Watson, big, physical guy. Mark (Smith) is big and physical. Dru (Smith) is big and physical. Javon, the same thing,” Martin said. “Now you gotta have the game to go with it, the understanding of how to play, but I think it really helps you, and I think you’ll see improvements in those guys.”

Martin also said the roster’s abundance of returners with experience, combined with an infusion of fresh talent, should result in depth being a strength this season. He plans to offer nine or 10 players regular minutes, he said, assuming everyone is healthy. He also doesn’t expect any one player to have to be on the floor for more than 30 minutes in most games. He’s been pleased with the competition among the roster during the summer, even saying he “wouldn’t be shocked” if one of the team’s three true freshmen ended up in the starting lineup.

However, Martin cautioned, for the team to ultimately benefit from its deep bench, the players will need to remain unselfish.

“I think our strength will be in our numbers, as far as nine, 10 guys sharing the basketball, playing as a team,” Martin said. “But the other part is the sacrifice of, if I don’t play as much tonight, have to understand the big picture and what it means to be a team. … It’s Guy X’s night tonight; well this other guy didn’t play as much, so the next guy, it’s his night. But everyone has to be ready to play basketball.”

Since last offseason ended, Martin has maintained that his coaching staff will look the same as it has in his first two seasons at Missouri, with Cornell Mann, Chris Hollender and Michael Porter Sr. serving as the three full-time assistant coaches. Martin reiterated that sentiment Wednesday.

“We won’t make any coaching changes this year,” he said.

There had been some speculation that Porter Sr., who is entering the final season of a three-year, $1.175 million contract, might move to another position within the staff or leave the school entirely. That speculation increased when he reportedly interviewed for the head coaching position at Division-II Lindenwood University. However, with just more than three months left until the start of the season, it appears Porter and the rest of the staff will continue in their current roles for the 2019-2020 season.