In-state talent will be a good test for Missouri’s Cuonzo Martin

When Missouri first hired Cuonzo Martin as its basketball coach in March, many fans 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, getting both Michael and Jontay Porter to return to Missouri after hiring their father, Michael Sr., to his staff and landing Jeremiah Tilmon after Tilmon decommitted from Illinois. Those moves gave Missouri a top-five class nationally.

And the Tigers picked up where they left off for their 2018 class. They’ve already signed a pair of St. Louis-area players in Torrence Watson, a consensus top-50 prospect, and Javon Pickett, who is from Belleville, Ill.

But Martin’s first real test will come with the 2019 class, which features a number of top players on both sides of the state of Missouri.

“I think they want to keep the momentum that they’ve built from the beginning of the hire,” said Eric Bossi, a national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com who is based in Kansas City. “You don’t want it to be a one-time thing.”

Bossi said Martin’s first class with Missouri was “a perfect storm,” since the Tigers benefited from a pair of coaching changes at Illinois and Washington to help land Tilmon, the Porters and freshman point guard Blake Harris.

In 2019, the Show-Me State features a slew of top prospects in Mario McKinney, Marcedus Leech, Isiaih Mosley and Roman Wilson, while players like E.J. Liddell (Illinois), Terrence Hargrove Jr. (Illinois), Malik Hall (Illinois) and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (Bishop Miege) are all just across one of Missouri’s borders.

McKinney is the cousin of former Missouri point guard Jimmy McKinney, who played for the Tigers under Quin Snyder. Liddell is widely considered to be at the top of the Tigers’ wish list.

“E.J. Liddell to me is a really interesting one,” Bossi said. “He’s a hugely productive high school player. He’s got a good skill level and he’s tough as nails. Looking at him from a skill level, there are a few questions about ultimate upside and things like that because he doesn’t have great size for a power forward or a center. But can he develop into a guy like Georges Niang did at Iowa State?”

To solidify another top-25 class for 2019, Martin’s staff doesn’t have to veer too far off Interstate-70.

While the class features more blue-chip prospects than in years past, it doesn’t compare to 2011, when the state had Bradley Beal, Ben McLemore, B.J. Young and Otto Porter all in the same class. Three of the four are currently in the NBA and none of them played college basketball at Missouri.

Missouri changed coaches in 2011 when Mike Anderson left for Arkansas and was replaced by Frank Haith, which hurt Missouri’s chances with those players.

While Martin has done a good job of getting local players in the short time he’s been at Missouri, he’ll be on even ground going forward.

“This is pure time to establish ties with these guys and beat some other schools in a traditional recruiting situation,” Bossi said.

Justin Tatum — who coaches CBC in St. Louis and is the father of NBA rookie Jayson Tatum — said the talent around the state has increased and is more spread out than years past.

He said years ago only a handful of high schools had the best players in town; now it’s more spread out, which is better for players in the state and the schools that recruit them.

“I think it’s really coming up very well for a lot of different schools,” he said. “It’s making the competition tougher. Schools that normally don’t get those kinds of kids are getting them.”

Bossi said it’s too early to tell how the 2019 class will compare to 2011, but right now there isn’t a local player like Porter Jr. who is a can’t-miss prospect.

He added that Robinson-Earl is likely the hardest for Missouri to land since he’s a top-20 recruit and has ties to Kansas in that his father played there.

Martin can’t speak specifically about unsigned recruits but said the state has a lot of talent in the high school ranks.

He also said that over the years the game has changed to where teams don’t have to recruit multiple post players. The game is more spread out now and is going away from the traditional center, which allows coaches to focus on a wider variety of top prospects.

“It used to be years ago you would fight for two or three big guys, because that’s how the game was played,” he said. “Now, one big guy, two big guys — we have a luxury of having four, which is great for us, but the season is not over if you don’t have multiple big guys.”

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 7:44 PM with the headline "In-state talent will be a good test for Missouri’s Cuonzo Martin."