Missouri has announced that former Washington assistant Michael Porter Sr. has officially joined Cuonzo Martin’s staff.
Porter Sr. was a former assistant for Missouri’s women’s basketball team before joining Lorenzo Romar at Washington last season.
Romar was fired as the head coach of the Huskies, thus leading Porter Sr. to move elsewhere.
An announcement from @MizzouAthletics and #Mizzou Men’s Basketball… #MIZ #ShowMe ?? pic.twitter.com/3V1LIPi4yz
— Mizzou Hoops (@MizzouHoops) March 24, 2017
Of course, the bigger news on his arrival has to do with his son, Michael Porter Jr., being released from his national letter of intent at Washington on Thursday.
Porter Jr. – the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the 2017 class – has noted that he will explore other options before choosing where he’ll play basketball next season.
Lovell’s Analysis:
The Porter Sr. move all but officially guarantees that Porter Jr. will be playing for the Tigers.
People can speculate about where else the top-ranked recruit could play, but Missouri is where he’ll land. It’s pretty much a done deal at this point.
That brings about the intriguing question of just how good the Tigers could be next season.
They had only one senior on the roster this year, and although transfers will likely come into play should Porter Jr. and any other top recruits head to Columbia, there’s still a lot of good young talent on this team.
Junior forward Jordan Barnett led the team in scoring this season (12.2 points per game), while sophomores Kevin Puryear (11.8 PPG) and Terrence Phillips (10.4 PPG) rounded out the top three.
Since many believe that Porter Jr. would be a top NBA draft pick if he was allowed to enter today, adding a player with his skill set to that group of talent should equal outstanding results for Martin in his first year on the job.
Missouri might not be playing for a national title, but it’s no longer a stretch to think that this team could make the NCAA tournament after three straight seasons of 20+ losses.