When Missouri first hired Cuonzo Martin as head basketball coach in March, many fans had wondered if the East St. Louis native would be able to seal the borders for the state’s top in-state players, who had seemed to commit to any program but the Tigers in recent years.
In his first few months on the job, Martin did just that, as he got both Michael and Jontay Porter to return to Missouri after hiring their father Michael Sr. to his staff and landed Jeremiah Tilmon after Tilmon decommitted from Illinois. Those moves gave Missouri a top-five class nationally.