SEC Basketball Recruiting: Every team’s top class from past decade

Missouri Tigers: 2017

The 2017 draft class for Missouri was the class that almost was. In it, you had two stars that would have changed the direction of a program if they had finished their careers. However, both stars went into the NBA with issues that kept them from fulfilling their goals in college.

The first to go was obviously Michael Porter Jr. His knee injury severely limited him with the Tigers and also made him slide down draft boards. If he were healthy, he would’ve taken the SEC by storm.

However, the bright side of his injury was that it let Jontay Porter storm onto the scene. In his freshman year, he turned a lot of heads and kept Missouri afloat without MPJ. When he decided to return to the team for his sophomore year, many thought he might be the best NBA prospect in the SEC.

However, the injury bug bit twice. Before this season started, Jontay Porter also went down with a knee injury, keeping him from playing all season. If he had played, this year would’ve been a completely different story.

I’m not going to hold these injuries against the players or the recruiters. There weren’t worries of them being injury prone when they came out of high school. Freak injuries just happen sometimes. The fact remains that this recruiting class has more talent than any other in recent memory for the Missouri Tigers.