When Cuonzo Martin was hired to help Missouri basketball turn its fortunes around, one of the key promises of his tenure was that Martin would almost certainly start recruiting better talent to Columbia. It hasn’t taken long for that promise to come to fruition — Michael Porter Junior, Jontay Porter, Jeremiah Tilmon, Mark Smith, Dru Smith, Kassius Robertson, Mario McKinney, and others would likely have taken their talents elsewhere if not for Martin’s savvy.
However, even the best recruiters lose now and again. Thus was the case Monday evening, when Missouri’s biggest target came off the board without black-and-gold.