With a recruiting class widely-viewed as being one of the top groups in America, led by National Player of the Year Michael Porter Jr., there is not a more popular coach at the University of Missouri than men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin.
Martin joined women’s basketball coach Robin Pingeton, football coach Barry Odom, and Athletic Director Jim Sterk on Wednesday night at the MU Caravan visit to Northwestern High School in Mendon.
In an interview with Sports Director Tom Johnson, Martin spoke about the decision to return closer to his East St. Louis roots, and leave the University of California for Mizzou after the 2016-2017 season:
Martin played collegiately in the late 1980s and early 1990s at Purdue University, for legendary coach Gene Keady. In taking the job at Missouri, Martin noted how the programs in West Lafayette and Columbia, at their peak under Coach Keady, and long-time Tiger coach Norm Stewart, were very similar:
With incoming talent like Michael Porter Jr. and Blake Harris coming into the Tiger program, hopes of a quick turnaround to glory are in the minds of the Mizzou faithful. However, it was noted how returning talent like Jordan Geist, Terrance Phillips, and Jordan Barnett will be just as crucial to success in Coach Martin’s first season at Mizzou Arena:
The two newest products headed to Mizzou for 2017-2018 are Cassius Robertson, a grad transfer from Canisius, expected to add perimeter shooting to the Tigers this fall, and the top player in the state of Illinois in the 2017 recruiting class, East St. Louis High School senior Jeremiah Tilmon:
KTTNSports.com will feature stories, with comments, from Pingeton, Odom, and Sterk over the upcoming few days.
