Recruiting demands a short memory.
This week surely reinforces that axiom for Missouri’s staff.
On Monday, Sheek Pearson committed to Marquette. Three days later, JJ Andrews came off the board and opted for Arkansas. The writing had been scrawled on the wall for a while with Pearson. Andrews’ choice, though, leaves a deeper welt. He was the first prospect the Tigers offered in the 2026 class, kickstarting a recruitment stretching across three years. Over the past month, there was quiet confidence that the relationship cultivated would prove durable. And while Arkansas pressed its case over the past week or so, it appeared MU would hold on.
But John Calipari has his reputation for a reason, and ultimately, he pushed the in-state Razorbacks over the line. And it leaves MU reeling a bit after it appeared the program might be closing in on securing a headliner for this cycle. Fretting, however, isn’t a remedy. Within minutes of Andrews’ decision, a Missouri source shared a terse reaction to the news.
“Is what it its,” they said. “On to the next.”
Coach Dennis Gates’ crew won’t wait long.
This weekend is the first one where staffs will fly out, pick up rental cars, drive to frigid gyms, and post up on the sidelines to make their presence clear for recruits. Given the nature of MU’s recruiting board, assistants are likely bound for the EYBL’s stop in Memphis and the PUMA PRO16 circuit in Wichita.
The trail always has urgency, but the intensity might ratchet up slightly for Mizzou. Exiting portal season, there were six names toward the top of the board. Now, there are just four, and one of them has made it clear a timeline for their decision stretches into next spring. Functionally, that leaves three players tracking toward commitments this autumn.
As the next three days unfold, it’s worth monitoring whether the Tigers issue a fresh batch of offers and expand the pool of potential targets. Yet it’s also still relatively early in the grassroots season. Programs have played — at most — six games on their respective circuits. That’s a small body of work, and it was compiled while college programs were mired in portal combat.
What we are certain of is the fact MU has four priority targets still on its board: Aidan Chronister, Toni Bryant, Ethan Taylor and Tristan Reed. Additionally, Chronister and Bryant have already scheduled official visits to Columbia this September. So, it’s worth taking a quick look at how each member of that quartet has performed.
Now, a couple of caveats. First, we’re looking at the most common possessions for each player on the offensive end. That’s mostly practical. None of them have more than 40 possessions to their name, and most fall in one big bucket. Next, we’re forgoing defensive tape at this stage. That requires dissecting full games, and frankly, I need to catch up on that backlog in June. Finally, we’re using 247Sports as the source for measurements and composite rankings.
Let’s get to it.
Aidan Chronister | Wing | 6-7/170 | No. 51
Congrats, Mr. Chronister, you’re now the top target on the perimeter.
If you’re looking for a more expansive exploration of what the Arkansas native offers, we provided it in January. The core of his game remains a potent shooting stroke, and as you can see above, Chronister has been dialed in over the first couple of sessions on Puma’s fledgling shoe circuit.
What’s notable, though, is how many of Chronister’s catch-and-shoot opportunities come from secondary breaks. A core tenet of transition defense is to stop the ball and build a wall. Then, you match up. Well, Chronister makes that tricky, because if you don’t locate him early, he’s likely run to a spot and is shot-ready.
Meanwhile, Chronister carried over some of his tendencies, shooting off movement from his prep season at Sunrise Christian Academy. For example, AAO Flight routinely positions Chronister on the baseline and has him sprint over staggered screens to curl toward the opposite wing. Sometimes, he’s the beneficiary of pin downs. However, Chronister’s stroke has been a bit wayward in the half court, including 3 of 15 on open catch-and-shoots. Perhaps that’s shooting variance in six games, but we can’t ignore it.
Moreover, we’re still not seeing Chronister use the gravity his shot creates to derive other opportunities. For example, he’s only amassed four rim attempts in a half-court setting and only draws a shooting foul on 3.1 percent of his touches. To his credit, Chronister’s cashing in on point-blank opportunities that arise on the break — but also turning the ball over 26.9 percent of the time.
Chronister doesn’t want to be typecast as a pure spacer, but his play-type profile with Sunrise Christian and so far this spring make it hard to shed that label. Undoubtedly, MU still values what he has to offer, but there’s not the same diversity that made Andrews so coveted.
Toni Bryant | Hybrid | 6-9/215 | No. 13
With Bryant, the name of the game is projection. The blue-chipper has a plus-four wingspan and a reputation as a rim protector with North Tampa Christian. On the offensive end, though, Bryant relies primarily on finishing plays as a cutter or busting it in the open floor for rim runs. And while it hasn’t manifested this spring, he showed hints of finesse and touch shooting in the mid-range.
Over the next few months, I’ll monitor Bryant’s progress as a shooter and whether he can expand some playmaking elements of his game. His handle is functional enough to connect actions in the half-court and attack the rim from the nail or pinch post. Making those moments routine would make some comps — like Bam Adebayo — more credible.
If this section seems terse, it’s because our sample for Bryant is two games and 30 possessions in a role that doesn’t task him with creation or make him a focal point of action. It’s why the impending live period arrives at an ideal time. Hopefully, this weekend sees Bryant get some more opportunities to do more than simply rise up for lobs or snag dump offs.
Ethan Taylor | Post | 6-10/230 | No. 49
Last year, the Shawnee Mission (Kan.) Northwest big man looked like the most refined option on MU’s board. Yet in the first EYBL session, he stripped his game back to more elemental duties: rim running, slipping to the dunker spot, and crashing the offensive glass.
Those play to his strengths of reliable hands, length, and improved core and lower body strength. Still, we’ve seen Taylor operate on the block, finding comfort on the right side of the lane when using a drop step or reverse pivoting to a hook shot over his left shoulder.
Admittedly, Taylor has some cleanup work in front of him. He sometimes brings the ball down or pauses in a crowd before finishing. Mokan’s pattern-based offense is also committed to using screening actions — back picks at the pinch post or rip screens on the block — to help its big men establish position. However, there are moments where Taylor doesn’t leverage that assistance to bury his defender, particularly on duck-ins for high-low feeds.
The current case for Taylor is potential over production, and this spring might no do much to alter that assessment. In April, Mokan’s rotation rarely had Taylor and Tristan Reed sharing the floor. Instead, each averages around 15 minutes per game as a lone interior presence. That might cap Taylor’s output, but his efficiency benchmark (1.435 PPP) is robust enough to justify optimism about his upside.
Tristan Reed | Forward | 6-8/210 | No. 76
Candidly, it’s been tricky to get a real feel for what the future Link Academy prospect brings to the table.
But that’s a matter of circumstances. He and Sheek Pearson tried to form a potent duo at John Burroughs, but their skill sets aren’t always complementary. Pearson’s taller and has more length, but he’s more at ease on the perimeter. That often left the smaller, in relative terms, Reed as the Bombers’ low-post threat. With Pearson, the allure of what he could become once he added functional strength seemed to trump what Reed offered in the near term.
And Reed filled in spackle last spring while Amare Bynum headlined MoKan Elite’s 17U squad. Then, when Reed dropped down to play with peers at the 16U level, he shared minutes with Ethan Taylor.
That’s why Mokan’s first three games feel revelatory. Yes, Reed only racked up 23 touches, but the nature of those possessions is vital. Why? Because we’re getting glimpses of what Reed could offer as a primary threat on the low block.
Unlike Taylor, carving out space is no issue for Reed, who will pivot and bury his defender with aplomb. Even better, Reed’s tape shows him finishing over either shoulder by playing direct or deploying a reliable hook shot. And if nothing else, his physicality puts a foul (30.8 FTRate) on his man.
Reed’s tenacity on the glass and steadiness as a cutter remain well-known, but Pearson’s defensive tools and Taylor’s edge as a post-up option created a potential gap. It was easy to think of Reed as a big man who might be most at home in the Big Ten Conference. However, if he continues to balance brute force and finesse, his suite of skills becomes more appealing.