Where does the Class of 2024 stack up in Mizzou history?
Missouri’s 2024 recruiting class climbed to the top of Rivals.com’s team rankings on Sunday with the addition of four-star big man Trent Burns. The group now features five players, who are all ranked in the top 150 and are 6-foot-5 or taller.
Head coach Dennis Gates has clearly had great success this cycle. But just how good has it been? How does the Class of 2024 compare to others in the program's history? When was the last time the Tigers had two 7-footers in the same class? Is this the team’s tallest class ever?
Let’s comb through each of Mizzou’s recruiting classes in the Rivals.com era (2002-present) to find out. First, some ground rules:
1) For consistency’s sake, players who were walk-ons, preferred walk-ons, junior college transfers and four-year transfers will not be considered for this exercise (apologies to Jackson Francois, Danny Stephens, Curt Lewis, John Tonje and the like). The focus will solely be on high school players recruited to be on scholarship.
2) Rivals.com has player rankings that go back over two decades, but most recruiting sites weren’t releasing class rankings during the 2000s — or if they were, they’re not easily accessible in 2023. I’m also not smart enough to put together a Gaussian distribution to rank each class myself. So instead, to keep it objective, we’ll look at the average ranking of all players in each class, as well as the number of stars collected in each cycle. Players who were graded outside the top 150 will be given an artificial ranking of 151 to calculate the average.
3) For player heights, we’ll use what’s listed on College Basketball Reference for the Classes of 2002-22. Because the players aren’t registered on CBB Reference yet, we’ll use the heights listed on Missouri’s roster for the Class of 2023 and the heights listed on their respective club teams for the Class of 2024.
4) To be clear, we’re not interested in what each player did after stepping on campus for ranking purposes. We’re solely focused on how the classes were perceived coming out of high school.
With those qualifiers out of the way, here’s how the Tigers’ classes stack up.
2002
Average Player Ranking: 151 (tied-17th among all classes)
Total Stars: 6 (tied-17th)
Average Height (in inches): 78 (tied-11th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
Missouri didn’t have much need for freshmen after Quin Snyder’s third year as head coach. Led by junior forward Kareem Rush, the Tigers won 20 games during the regular season, earned a No. 12 seed in the NCAA tournament and made a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight. Clarence Gilbert was the only senior on the 2001-02 squad, leaving Snyder with only a few spots to fill. He used one of them on junior college transfer Ricky Clemons, who became an immediate starter. While the 2002 class didn't draw much national attention, McKinney and Young helped the team win an NCAA tournament game for the third consecutive year and went on to be productive players for MU, combining to make 180 starts in their careers.
2003
No. 17 Linas Kleiza, No. 35 Thomas Gardner
Average Player Ranking: 26 (1st)
Total Stars: 9 (tied-15th)
Average Height (in inches): 76.7 (tied-17th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
Snyder started to pick up steam on the recruiting trail with his on-court success, bringing in a pair of recruits ranked in the top 50. Kleiza became Mizzou’s highest-ranked recruit for over a decade. No other class had a higher average player rank, though, it’s still hard to call this the school’s best class ever given it only has two members. The team missed the Big Dance but Kleiza and Gardner both had solid careers with the Tigers and went on to make appearances in the NBA.
2004
No. 42 Marshall Brown, No. 59 Jason Horton, No. 63 Kalen Grimes, No. 92 Glen Dandridge
Average Player Ranking: 64 (4th)
Total Stars: 15 (tied-4th)
Average Height (in inches): 77.75 (tied-14th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
This was Snyder at the peak of his recruiting powers, pulling a class full of top-100 prospects. There aren’t many classes in Mizzou’s history that can match the star power of 2004’s. Unfortunately for Snyder, though, none of the freshmen made much of an impact during the year, leading to the head coach’s first sub-.500 season. And while all four members stayed with the Tigers for at least three years, Brown ended up being the only one who averaged more than 10 points per game in a single season of his career.
2005
No. 112 Leo Lyons (formerly Leo Criswell)
Average Player Ranking: 112 (8th)
Total Stars: 3 (tied-20th)
Average Height (in inches): 81 (tied-2nd)
No. of 7-footers: 0
Lyons and walk-on Matt Lawrence became the last freshmen to ever play for Snyder as the head coach resigned on Feb. 10, 2006, during the worst season of his career. Lyons alone probably isn’t enough to be considered one of the team’s top classes. Still, while he saw a minor role as a rookie, the big man’s production improved every year and he went on to become a crucial figure for Mizzou’s 2008-09 squad that made the program’s most recent run to the Elite Eight. The same goes for Lawrence, who went on to make 86 starts in his career. In total, Snyder inked seven players ranked in the top 150 from 2002-05.
2006
No. 101 Keon Lawrence, No. 135 J.T. Tiller
Average Player Ranking: 118 (9th)
Total Stars: 6 (tied-17th)
Average Height (in inches): 74.5 (22nd)
No. of 7-footers: 0
First-year head coach Mike Anderson had to do some heavy lifting to get his first pair of recruits on the roster. Lawrence had committed to Missouri and signed his letter of intent while Snyder was the head coach and rumors swirled after Anderson’s hiring that he may want to play somewhere else. Meanwhile, Tiller committed to UAB while Anderson was still the coach and would need to request his release from the Blazers to join Anderson in Columbia, Mo. The head coach managed to convince Lawrence to stay put and Tiller to come to the “Show-Me” state, giving Anderson a decent class to start his tenure with. The Tigers went 18-12 with both freshmen making appearances in all 30 games. The class is also notable because it’s the program’s shortest in the Rivals.com era, with Lawrence checking in at 6-foot-2 and Tiller at 6-foot-3.
2007
Average Player Ranking: 151 (tied-17th)
Total Stars: 3 (tied-20th)
Average Height (in inches): 81 (tied-2nd)
No. of 7-footers: 0
With just one senior and eight juniors on the 2006-07 roster, it made sense that Anderson didn’t want to go after a splashy freshmen class. He was content to bring in just Safford, who saw limited action during his first two seasons before becoming a starter. The lack of a larger freshmen class opened minutes for Vanderbilt transfer DeMarre Carroll, who started all but two of the games he suited up for the Tigers and went on to be selected in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft.
2008
No. 111 Kim English, No. 150 Marcus Denmon, Laurence Bowers, Steve Moore, Miguel Paul
Average Player Ranking: 142.8 (16th)
Total Stars: 15 (tied-4th)
Average Height (in inches): 77.4 (tied-14th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
While this group didn’t blow anyone away on paper, it ended up being one of the school’s most impressive in reality. Of all the classes that had at least one member ranked in the top 150, this one graded out as the lowest. But the members of the class helped Anderson earn a bid to the Big Dance for the first time since taking over at Mizzou, earn the team’s fifth Elite Eight appearance in program history and were a part of two of the winningest teams in school history. English and Denmon stood out enough during their time at Missouri to be selected in the 2012 NBA Draft. Bowers helped usher the Tigers into a new era as they moved from the Big 12 Conference to the SEC. Even Paul, who transferred to East Carolina after two years, played in all 38 games as a freshman on the 2008-09 squad. You could make an argument this was MU’s best class in retrospect, but there likely weren’t many who had those expectations for the group while the players were still in high school.
2009
Average Player Ranking: 151 (tied-17th)
Total Stars: 9 (tied-15th)
Average Height (in inches): 77.3 (16th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
The 2009 class was mostly unremarkable, both because all three members were ranked outside the top 150 and because all three went on to transfer to another school. Dixon was the most notable of the bunch, earning a spot in Anderson’s rotation as a rookie and growing into a starter. But neither Stone nor Underwood produced all that much during their time with the Tigers. Mizzou went 23-11 overall and advanced to the second round of the Big Dance.
2010
No. 61 Phil Pressey, Kadeem Green, Ricky Kreklow
Average Player Ranking: 121 (11th)
Total Stars: 10 (tied-13th)
Average Height (in inches): 76.7 (tied-17th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
This is perhaps the biggest “What If?” class in program history. Green had to sit out the 2010-11 season but every other newcomer Anderson brought in made an immediate impact. The Pressey brothers, Phil and Matt — the latter of whom transferred in from junior college — both made several starts throughout the year. Kreklow also saw action in all but two games during the season. Missouri had a fine year, going 23-11 overall, going .500 in Big 12 play and earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. But it could’ve been special with the addition of five-star forward Tony Mitchell. The No. 12 player in the country signed his letter of intent with the Tigers but was deemed academically ineligible and ended up going to North Texas as a non-qualifier instead. Had he stayed in the class, it would’ve had an average player ranking of 93.8, seventh-best in school history, and brought the total amount of stars to 15, which would’ve been tied for fourth among all classes — it would’ve been Anderson’s best in his last offseason as the team’s head coach and would’ve given him a sixth top-150 recruit during his tenure. One of MU’s biggest weaknesses during the year was defensive rebounding. Mitchell went on to post the fourth-best defensive rebounding rate in the nation in the 2011-12 season. Without him, it’s hard to call the 2010 class one of the program’s best.
2011
N/A
Average Player Ranking: N/A
Total Stars: N/A
Average Height (in inches): N/A
No. of 7-footers: N/A
Frank Haith was left a roster with a gigantic senior class when he took over as head coach for Anderson. Knowing he’d need some upperclassmen left over after the seniors graduated, Haith chose to bring in Pepperdine transfer Keion Bell and Auburn transfer Earnest Ross, each of whom had to redshirt the season. It’s the only time in the Rivals.com era Missouri didn’t add a scholarship freshman. The Tigers had their second 30-win season in four years with Haith before being upset in the first round of the Big Dance by Norfolk State.
2012
Average Player Ranking: 140.3 (14th)
Total Stars: 12 (tied-11th)
Average Height (in inches): 80 (tied-5th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
Haith’s first crop of freshmen wasn’t too shabby on paper with Webster-Chan headlining the group. But the rookies were overshadowed by the other newcomers the head coach acquired — Bell and Ross both became eligible to play, UConn grad transfer Alex Oriakhi and Oregon transfer Jabari Brown both became immediate starters and JUCO transfer Tony Criswell became an important player off the bench. The Tigers went 23-11 in their first year in the SEC and reached the NCAA tournament for the fifth consecutive season. Rosburg ended up being the only member of the class who finished his career with the Tigers, making 70 career starts.
2013
No. 42 Johnathan Williams III, No. 72 Wesley Clark, No. 123 Torren Jones, Shane Rector
Average Player Ranking: 97 (7th)
Total Stars: 14 (8th)
Average Height (in inches): 76.5 (tied-19th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
Haith saved his best class for last, signing a trio of top-150 freshmen. None of them would finish their careers with the Tigers, though. Williams started in every game he played in at Mizzou for two seasons before transferring to Gonzaga as a junior. Clark saw a big role off the bench as a rookie and became a starter in the two following years before transferring to Buffalo as a senior. Jones and Rector both saw limited action as rookies as they moved on in the offseason. Haith also brought in Tulsa transfer Jordan Clarkson, who’d go on to earn the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, but it wasn’t enough to keep the team’s streak of NCAA tournament appearances alive. Haith finished his tenure bringing in four top-150 recruits in three years.
2014
No. 31 Montaque Gill-Caesar, No. 52 Jakeenan Gant, No. 73 Namon Wright, D'Angelo Allen, Tramaine Isabell
Average Player Ranking: 91.6 (6th)
Total Stars: 18 (3rd)
Average Height (in inches): 77.4 (tied-14th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
First-year head coach Kim Anderson made a strong impression on the recruiting trail after Haith moved on to Tulsa. He convinced Gant and Wright, both of whom had committed to Haith, to recommit to Missouri. He got Gill-Caesar to reclassify to join the team right away and built on the group by adding Allen and Isbell. There aren’t many classes in program history that could match the star power of 2014’s cycle with a trio of top-75 recruits. All five freshmen saw serious minutes for the Tigers during the season but that ended up being a negative, as they won just nine games all year. The group never reached its potential at Mizzou either, as Gill-Caesar transferred the following offseason and all four of the others did the same the year after that.
2015
No. 103 K.J. Walton, No. 142 Terrence Phillips, Kevin Puryear, Cullen VanLeer
Average Player Ranking: 136.8 (13th)
Total Stars: 13 (tied-9th)
Average Height (in inches): 75.25 (21st)
No. of 7-footers: 0
Anderson’s second class showed promise with another pair of top-150 guards. But for the second year in a row, the freshmen were leaned on too heavily, leading to a 10-21 overall record. Though he wasn’t highly ranked coming out of high school, Puryear became Missouri’s leading scorer as a rookie and went on to be a four-year starter. Phillips earned the starting point guard job and led the team in assists but was later dismissed from the program in 2018. VanLeer carved out a role in the rotation and made 33 career starts over three seasons before medically retiring in 2018. Walton surprisingly played the least amount of minutes of all four and transferred to Ball State after his sophomore year.
2016
Average Player Ranking: 151 (tied-17th)
Total Stars: 15 (tied-4th)
Average Height (in inches): 79.6 (8th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
After Mizzou missed on the Big Dance for three consecutive seasons, Anderson wasn’t able to bring in the same top-end talent as he did in his first two seasons. Yet, there were still a number of holes to fill on the roster, leading to a large class of recruits ranked outside the top 150. The Tigers went 8-24 on the season and Anderson was removed from his post — he’d signed five top-150 recruits across three seasons. None of the five made an overwhelming impact as freshmen and Hughes, Jackson and Kemp all transferred out after the year was over. Nikko and Smith stayed for all four of their years, but neither of them ever averaged more than 5.1 points per game in any season.
2017
No. 1 Michael Porter Jr., No. 25 Jontay Porter, No. 45 Jeremiah Tillmon, No. 108 C.J. Roberts, No. 136 Blake Harris
Average Player Ranking: 63 (3rd)
Total Stars: 21 (1st)
Average Height (in inches): 79 (9th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
New head coach Cuonzo Martin made an enormous splash on the recruiting front upon his arrival. Within months, he’d signed the top player in the country in Michael Porter Jr., got Jontay Porter reclassified to play with his brother, convinced Roberts to stay with the Tigers after he’d initially committed to Kim Anderson and added Tillmon and Harris to round out the group. Going off numbers alone, it’s Missouri’s best class in the Rivals.com era. The Tigers never had this many recruits all ranked in the top 150 at the time. They’d never had a recruit ranked in the top 10, let alone No. 1. The season didn’t go according to plan, though, as the team went just 20-13 and were eliminated in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Porter Jr. suffered an injury two minutes into his debut, didn’t return until March, then declared for the NBA Draft. Roberts was designated as a redshirt, then announced in December he’d transfer. Harris announced he’d do the same in January despite making nine starts. Jontay was productive as a freshman but suffered a season-ending knee injury before the start of the 2018-19 campaign. Tilmon became a four-year starter for Mizzou and would play an important role in getting the team to its next appearance in the Big Dance.
2018
No. 111 Torrence Watson, Christian Guess, Javon Pickett, Xavier Pinson
Average Player Ranking: 141 (15th)
Total Stars: 13 (tied-9th)
Average Height (in inches): 76.5 (tied-16th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
After pulling in a handful of top-150 recruits in his first year, it was a bit of a letdown for Martin to only land one in the next cycle. Still, the class performed well given where it was ranked. Guess departed in December after appearing in just one game, but Watson, Pickett and Pinson all stayed with the Tigers for at least three seasons before transferring elsewhere — Pickett and Pinson both ended up making more starts than Watson despite being lower in the rankings. And while they weren’t able to help MU return to the NCAA tournament in either of their first two years with the team, they were able to as juniors.
2019
No. 81 Tray Jackson, No. 142 Mario McKinney, Kobe Brown
Average Player Ranking: 124.7 (12th)
Total Stars: 10 (tied-13th)
Average Height (in inches): 78 (tied-11th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
Though Martin’s team started struggling on the court, he kept bringing in high-end talent on the recruiting trail, nabbing another pair of top-150 prospects and a heavily underrated forward. Jackson and McKinney didn’t cash in on their potential with the Tigers, as both left after averaging fewer than three points in their freshman years before transferring. But Brown became one of the Tigers’ most important players in recent history. The 6-foot-8 forward made 118 starts across his four seasons, helped Mizzou reach the NCAA tournament in 2021, then led the program to its first win in the Big Dance in 10 years in 2023 before being taken in the first round of the NBA Draft.
2020
Average Player Ranking: 151 (tied-17th)
Total Stars: 3 (tied-20th)
Average Height (in inches): 87 (1st)
No. of 7-footers: 1
After missing out on the NCAA tournament in 2019 and having a subpar season the next year, Martin lost serious momentum recruiting-wise. With only a few spots to fill on the roster, he added Wilmore, a relatively unknown 7-foot-3 big man whose other offers included Southern Utah and Jacksonville State. His commitment was noteworthy, however, as he became Missouri’s tallest player and first 7-footer since Pat Schumacher joined the team in 1998. Wilmore played in just 18 games for the Tigers before transferring to Northwestern State as a junior. The Tigers played in the Big Dance during his rookie year, though Wilmore never saw the floor in the postseason.
2021
Average Player Ranking: 151 (tied-17th)
Total Stars: 15 (tied-4th)
Average Height (in inches): 78.2 (10th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
Martin was put in a similar situation as Kim Anderson was at the end of his run, needing to fill several roster spots but not being able to sign the requisite talent to keep the team from struggling. The head coach kept a seven-man rotation during his final season and only Brazile was able to crack it, making 23 starts. Mizzou went 12-21, Martin was let go at the end of the year and Brazile, Brookshire, Durugordon and Keita all entered the transfer portal. Brown is now entering his junior year and is currently the longest-tenured member of the Tigers. Martin tallied eight top 150 recruits during his five-year tenure.
2022
No. 58 Aidan Shaw
Average Player Ranking: 58 (2nd)
Total Stars: 4 (19th)
Average Height (in inches): 80 (tied-5th)
No. of 7-footers: 0
First-year head coach Dennis Gates almost exclusively used the transfer portal to rebuild the roster with just Ronnie DeGray III, Kobe and Kaleb Brown being the only returners for Missouri. Shaw was the exception. The 6-foot-9 forward initially committed to Martin and was granted his release from his Letter of Intent when Gates was brought in but ultimately chose to stay with the Tigers. As a rookie, he played in all but three games for the team and helped MU reach the second round of the NCAA tournament. Shaw alone isn’t enough to be considered one of the program’s best classes, but Gates has said he believes Shaw will go down as one of the best players in school history.
2023
No. 116 Anthony Robinson II, No. 117 Jordan Butler, No. 124 Trent Pierce
Average Player Ranking: 119 (10th)
Total Stars: 12 (tied-11th)
Average Height (in inches): 80 (tied-5th)
No. of 7-footers: 1
This year’s trio of freshmen don’t rate highly enough to be considered the program’s best class, but still figure to be a very good group. It’s just Mizzou’s fifth class in the Rivals.com era that features three players in the top 150. Based on reports from Gates and other members of the coaching staff, the group has the potential to exceed its ranking as well. And given that the head coach was able to secure all three commitments within his first year speaks to the potential Mizzou has with Gates at the helm.
2024
No. 26 Annor Boateng, No. 64 Marcus Allen, No. 65 Trent Burns, No. 99 Peyton Marshall, No. 130 Antonio "T.O." Barrett
Average Player Ranking: 76.8 (5th)
Total Stars: 19 (2nd)
Average Height (in inches): 80.2 (4th)
No. of 7-footers: 2
That brings us to the much-hyped 2024 class that currently sits No. 1 in the Rivals.com team rankings. The group doesn’t have quite enough star power to match the 2017 class but could with another addition as the team still has interest in a few other recruits, including five-star forward Jayden Quaintance. In just three years, Gates has already signed nine top-150 prospects, making him the most prolific of Mizzou’s coaches in the past 20-plus seasons. It’s also clear that this will be the Tigers’ tallest class of all time with two 7-footers committed — if you were to have every player from every class stand on each other’s shoulders, the 2024 class would tower over the others. If Missouri reaches its ceiling with the group, it could be ready to make its first run to the Sweet 16 since 2009.
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