Missouri Tigers – Grade: D
Year one under Dennis Gates was better than anyone in Columbia could have hoped. Year 2 is hopefully going to be more of the same but the new head coach has finally had to face some adversity in Columbia as it has been a struggle in the portal. The Tigers missed out on hometown kid Caleb Love, at least initially. Love recently decommitted from Michigan and the Tigers are in desperate need of a big man but just can not seem to get one in the portal.
The moves they have made are all players who are going to help but don’t move the needle all that much for me. John Tonje was great at Colorado State. He’s going to bring his tough mentality to Columbia and likely will shoot the ball well from deep but he isn’t flashy. Tonje does the little things that coach Gates is going to like. Tamar Bates was a role player at Indiana who was a good shooter. He will fill the same role at Missouri. Then there is Caleb Grill who is now on his third school and is going to take the majority of his shots from three. He does have a 30-point game on the ledger. Missouri got some solid pieces but they could have and should done a lot more.
Ole Miss Rebels – Grade: A+
Putting my beliefs aside, Ole Miss could not have made a better coaching hire than Chris Beard. Beard is a proven winner and it likely won’t be long until Ole Miss is near the top of the SEC and playing for National Championships. Coach Beard is a defensive first coach and his no-middles defense is something that not many teams in the NCAA run and no one in the SEC runs consistently. It has worked and will continue to. Beard is going to attract virtually any player that he wants to because of his track record and with a new brand new set of five players at his disposal it could be a fun year in Oxford.
The Rebels were able to convince star Jaemyn Brakefield to return for another year which was already a win as he is extremely talented. Brandon Murray and his 14 points per game are heading to Oxford. Georgetown was not a good basketball team but Murray was a bright spot most nights. He has multiple years of eligibility remaining. Austin Nunez was only a freshman last year but is talented enough to step right in and take over the starting point guard role for Beard.
This is where the transfers get confusing. 7’5 Jamarion Sharp and 7’0 Moussa Cisse are both very similar players. Sharp and Cisse were the two leaders in blocked shots in the NCAA a season ago and now they are playing for the same team. A team who isn’t going to allow teams to get into the middle of the paint with two elite shot blockers is a scary thing. The problem is how will the minutes get divided between the two big men, they both can not be on the floor at the same time. Other than that question it was an absolute haul for Beard.