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ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Dennis Gates let slip what must be Plan Z.
Missouri basketball still has two open roster spots for the 2025-26 campaign. Four players have either signed or announced their commitment to the Tigers out of the transfer portal for next season, but between outgoing transfers and graduates, Gates’ squad still has room for a couple more additions.
And if all else fails in the portal recruiting process, which Gates likened to “combat” while talking to reporters at a Mizzou athletics caravan stop Tuesday near St. Louis, then the head coach knows his last resort …
“We have two spots remaining,” Gates said, “and I may offer one of you two guys a scholarship if I need to, OK?”
Of course, we’re quite sure that’s not a sincere offer from the Mizzou head coach. And if it was, Gates would almost certainly pull the paperwork the instant he saw this beat writer’s jumper.
More: Why Missouri basketball head coach Dennis Gates will hire a general manager
Gates’ comments do address a larger point, though. Missouri has room to make new additions, but there appears to have been little public traction toward filling them.
It’s also getting late in the portal cycle.
The transfer portal closed for new entries April 22. Mizzou, still seemingly in need of some shooting to replace the lost production of program standouts Tamar Bates and Caleb Grill, doesn’t have a clear-and-obvious option as its next primary scorer and 3-point shooter as of Friday, May 2.
Of the top 100 players in 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings, only six remain uncommitted. A majority of those unsigned players are expected to go through the NBA Draft process.
Simply put, the options for additions are starting to run out. Especially among players with instant starting potential.
Most indications from the Mizzou staff are that the Tigers will add a player if the right person becomes available.
But, more so as the month of May progresses than at the close of the transfer portal, it seems Mizzou may be content to run into next season with what it has on board. The group is split into seven returners, two high school signees and four new transfers.
“Every team will always have holes in their armor,” Gates said Tuesday. “We want to make sure those holes are very minimal, and we want to make sure we cover each other's weaknesses. And I think that's the roster that we're building; that's the core group of guys that we retained.”
If that’s the path Mizzou chooses to go, it would be a stark difference from Gates’ first three years in Columbia. The head coach has not had fewer than 15 players on his roster since taking over at MU and has averaged a 17-player squad. He once told the Tribune he wanted, in his ideal situation, more than 20 players on his roster.
Now, the Tigers very realistically could have 13 players entering next season.
Part of that is due to the expected roster limits coming to college basketball as a product of the NCAA v. House revenue-sharing settlement, which in its original language capped basketball teams to 15 players. All of Missouri’s walk-ons have entered the portal or graduated. It’s possible that the settlement will now require the NCAA to phase in roster limits. What that means for the immediate future is unclear.
Another part, as Gates alluded to, is the cost of roster retention and new signings. Retaining the expected core of the team in Mark Mitchell and Anthony Robinson II is unlikely to have been cheap. Some elite transfers are coming with reported $3-4 million price tags across the country. That’s a lot of money on what is not an unlimited budget.
If the Tigers are set at 13, then there’s not much room for error among MU’s returners next season.
More: Missouri basketball transfer portal tracker: Here’s who is in, out for Mizzou
More: Is Missouri baseball undergoing the worst SEC season of all time? At 0-21, it’s possible
Last season’s freshmen ― T.O. Barrett, Annor Boateng and Trent Burns ― will be asked to step into primary playing roles. Trent Pierce and Jacob Crews need to be ready to become leading players for the Tigers. Mitchell and Robinson absolutely must be the stars of the show. Each incoming transfer — guard Sebastian Mack, forwards Jevon Porter and Luke Northweather and center Shawn Phillips Jr. — will need to make an instant impact.
“Re-recruiting your own guys (is) very important,” Gates said. "... The other part of it that we have to understand is player development. Player development is at an all-time high, because once you retain, you have a group of guys that you're able to now share your culture, share your mantra, and they get to pass that to the new guys. And that's what we saw. … I'm excited about this group that we have returning.”
Excited enough, perhaps, that Mizzou's portal business is wrapped?
Until further notice, that perhaps should be the expectation.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Will Missouri basketball make any more transfer portal additions?
Continue reading...
Missouri basketball still has two open roster spots for the 2025-26 campaign. Four players have either signed or announced their commitment to the Tigers out of the transfer portal for next season, but between outgoing transfers and graduates, Gates’ squad still has room for a couple more additions.
And if all else fails in the portal recruiting process, which Gates likened to “combat” while talking to reporters at a Mizzou athletics caravan stop Tuesday near St. Louis, then the head coach knows his last resort …
“We have two spots remaining,” Gates said, “and I may offer one of you two guys a scholarship if I need to, OK?”
Of course, we’re quite sure that’s not a sincere offer from the Mizzou head coach. And if it was, Gates would almost certainly pull the paperwork the instant he saw this beat writer’s jumper.
More: Why Missouri basketball head coach Dennis Gates will hire a general manager
Gates’ comments do address a larger point, though. Missouri has room to make new additions, but there appears to have been little public traction toward filling them.
It’s also getting late in the portal cycle.
The transfer portal closed for new entries April 22. Mizzou, still seemingly in need of some shooting to replace the lost production of program standouts Tamar Bates and Caleb Grill, doesn’t have a clear-and-obvious option as its next primary scorer and 3-point shooter as of Friday, May 2.
Of the top 100 players in 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings, only six remain uncommitted. A majority of those unsigned players are expected to go through the NBA Draft process.
Simply put, the options for additions are starting to run out. Especially among players with instant starting potential.
Most indications from the Mizzou staff are that the Tigers will add a player if the right person becomes available.
But, more so as the month of May progresses than at the close of the transfer portal, it seems Mizzou may be content to run into next season with what it has on board. The group is split into seven returners, two high school signees and four new transfers.
“Every team will always have holes in their armor,” Gates said Tuesday. “We want to make sure those holes are very minimal, and we want to make sure we cover each other's weaknesses. And I think that's the roster that we're building; that's the core group of guys that we retained.”
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If that’s the path Mizzou chooses to go, it would be a stark difference from Gates’ first three years in Columbia. The head coach has not had fewer than 15 players on his roster since taking over at MU and has averaged a 17-player squad. He once told the Tribune he wanted, in his ideal situation, more than 20 players on his roster.
Now, the Tigers very realistically could have 13 players entering next season.
Part of that is due to the expected roster limits coming to college basketball as a product of the NCAA v. House revenue-sharing settlement, which in its original language capped basketball teams to 15 players. All of Missouri’s walk-ons have entered the portal or graduated. It’s possible that the settlement will now require the NCAA to phase in roster limits. What that means for the immediate future is unclear.
Another part, as Gates alluded to, is the cost of roster retention and new signings. Retaining the expected core of the team in Mark Mitchell and Anthony Robinson II is unlikely to have been cheap. Some elite transfers are coming with reported $3-4 million price tags across the country. That’s a lot of money on what is not an unlimited budget.
If the Tigers are set at 13, then there’s not much room for error among MU’s returners next season.
More: Missouri basketball transfer portal tracker: Here’s who is in, out for Mizzou
More: Is Missouri baseball undergoing the worst SEC season of all time? At 0-21, it’s possible
Last season’s freshmen ― T.O. Barrett, Annor Boateng and Trent Burns ― will be asked to step into primary playing roles. Trent Pierce and Jacob Crews need to be ready to become leading players for the Tigers. Mitchell and Robinson absolutely must be the stars of the show. Each incoming transfer — guard Sebastian Mack, forwards Jevon Porter and Luke Northweather and center Shawn Phillips Jr. — will need to make an instant impact.
“Re-recruiting your own guys (is) very important,” Gates said. "... The other part of it that we have to understand is player development. Player development is at an all-time high, because once you retain, you have a group of guys that you're able to now share your culture, share your mantra, and they get to pass that to the new guys. And that's what we saw. … I'm excited about this group that we have returning.”
Excited enough, perhaps, that Mizzou's portal business is wrapped?
Until further notice, that perhaps should be the expectation.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Will Missouri basketball make any more transfer portal additions?
Continue reading...
