This week in Mizzou recruiting: Christian Braun talks visits, Harlond Beverly and more

Summer is officially over (at least on the Mizzou beat) as fall football camp wrapped up this week and now we get to start covering the good stuff. Games start next Saturday, so we’ll be seeing some visitors coming into town.

So while list-cut season is still going strong, this week’s edition starts to talk about visit season.

All aboard.

Braun still planning visits

I caught up with Blue Valley Northwest basketball guard Christian Braun on Thursday, who is still planning visits after a breakout summer.

Braun, the younger brother of Missouri freshman forward Parker Braun, told me before the AAU season, his main offers were from Missouri State and Loyola-Chicago. Now he include on that list the likes of Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Wake Forest among others.

He has two official visits planned in September, one to Kansas State on Sept. 1 and another to Oklahoma on Sept. 22. The 6-foot-6 guard said he is still figuring out how to use his other three visits.

Braun’s mother Lisa Sandbothe played basketball for Missouri in the 1980s, as did his uncle Mike Sandbothe. The family has deep ties to Columbia. His family is also close friends with Sophie Cunningham’s family, which is also full of former Missouri athletes..

Braun said he hears from head coach Cuonzo Martin the most and can play both guard positions at the next level. He’s more worried about his defense than offense, which makes him sound like Martin’s kind of recruit.

“It’s really about what you can guard, and I can guard the (point guard) through (wing),” he said. “That’s really important to me.”

He sounds like someone raised in a black-and-gold household as well. I asked him for some players he would compare himself to and he replied with Svi Mykhailiuk and Gordon Hayward.

“Going with a Kansas connection with Svi?” I joked.

“No, because he’s on the Lakers,” he quickly said.

Mizzou misses the cut for Malik Hall

Malik Hall, a 2019 wing from Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, announced his top five last weekend, and Missouri wasn’t among his remaining options.

Michigan State, Purdue, Oregon, Oklahoma and Texas remain in contention for Hall’s services.

I can’t say I was stunned that Missouri missed the cut, but I wasn’t surprised. Hall had a HUGE AAU season where he picked up offers from everybody. It went without saying that Purdue and Oregon had separated themselves from the others and really after that it was a crap shoot.

I’ve always liked Hall and think he will be a star in college, but it isn’t the end of the world that he isn’t going to Missouri. He originally hails from the Chicago area and was only considered a local recruit because of his prep school and AAU team, MoKan Elite.

Missouri did all it could to get him and even got him on campus for a visit last fall. You can’t say the Tigers didn’t try.

Montverde Academy updates

Missouri has a slew of targets on Montverde Academy, the national powerhouse in Florida that has produced Ben Simmons, D’Angelo Russell and R.J. Barrett among others.

I’m told from a source close to the situation that Missouri is still well in the mix for Harlond Beverly, a Michigan native who recently transferred to Montverde. Beverly plans to sign late, which is why you likely won’t see a ton of movement on his recruitment for a while.

It also appears Missouri is passing on Balša Koprivica, a Serbian center on Montverde. I don’t think the Tigers were a favorite for him, but I’m told Missouri has other targets over him on its hot board.

Rocket Man visiting CoMo

I can’t help but think of the Elton John song whenever I see Rocket Watts’ name, but as our columnist Vahe Gregorian always says of me, I’m “an old soul.”

It was announced this week that Watts will take an official visit to Missouri on Sept. 21-22, the weekend of the Georgia football game. He will be joined by another Michigan basketball prospect, Tray Jackson, who will also take an official visit that same weekend.

Watts is a tremendous player at both guard spots and plays with some flash. I love his game. Missouri has emerged as a darkhorse in his recruitment, but the two other schools he’s also visiting are big competitors. Watts also plans to visit Louisville and Florida State, and both want him badly. One source close to Louisville told me Watts is arguably Chris Mack’s top target.

Getting Watts on campus is the first step and the staff picked a good weekend to host him. Faurot Field should be sold out for the football game, and the atmosphere will be electric.

Jackson is another huge target, and is a future pro, according to a few scouts I’ve talked to. He can play all five positions and alongside Watts and E.J. Liddell, is one of the program’s main priorities.

Missouri assistant coach Cornell Mann, the primary recruiter for Detroit, will be a busy man that weekend.

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 7:16 PM.