Watson: There's no place like home
Just 13 days after decommitting from Ohio State, Whitfield School shooting guard Torrence Watson has found his new home. Watson committed to Missouri on Friday night. He announced the news in a tweet.
"There's no place like home," Watson told PowerMizzou.com. "I'm a mama's boy at heart."
Watson had offers from all over the country, but chose the Buckeyes and new coach Chris Holtmann in early July. But on August 26th, Watson announced he was re-opening his recruitment and the Tigers capitalized.
"I just have a great relationship with Coach Cuonzo (Martin) and the rest of the coaching staff," he said.
Since getting hired in the spring, Martin made Watson a priority for the 2018 class and was in constant contact with him during the open recruiting periods, he said.
Watson was also heavily recruited by former Missouri coach Kim Anderson's staff and knows he is joining a program with a lot of buzz around it.
"I'm really excited," he said. "Especially with the Porters there and the atmosphere at Missouri right now."
The no. 116 ranked player in the 2018 Rivals150 is coming off a strong AAU season with Jets-Ramey United and thinks he ended his grassroots career on a high-note. As he enters his senior season at Whitfield High School in St. Louis, he said he plans to focus on improving his three-point shooting before heading to Columbia.
The St. Louis native has visited Columbia many times and said he's working on a return trip soon but doesn't have a date in mind yet.
The 6-foot-4 shooting guard has known fellow St. Louis native and four-star recruit Carte'Are Gordon since they were in middle school but doesn't plan to try and flip his friend from St. Louis to Missouri.
"I've spoken to him a little bit but I'm not sure what he's going to do so I think I'll just let him decide," he said.
Watson plans to major in business or sports management while at Missouri.
Scouting Report from Rivals.com national analyst Eric Bossi: "With Torrence it's all about the upside he could have at the college level. He has excellent positional size, is a plus athlete and thrives as a finisher in transition. As a jump shooter he's streaky, but he has good mechanics and he has shown some ability to create for himself and others off the dribble.
What I really like about Watson is that i can envision him becoming a multi positional defender and a utility guard who can be used up and down a lineup. On top of all of that, it's a local win and locking down the in state talent that has been leaving for years is a huge priority for Cuonzo Martin and his staff."