COLUMBIA, Mo. — The club’s at capacity, basically. One person going in requires one person to head on out — those are the rules.
The club is a basketball club: less of a venue and more of a program. And in terms of scholarship player capacity, Missouri men’s basketball looks to be full.
Coach Dennis Gates and the Tigers aren’t done sifting through the kind of transfer portal options necessary to recover from an 0-18 performance in Southeastern Conference play — holes at point guard and in the post are still present.
And while there’s room for intrigue on who might join Mizzou, the more prudent question is perhaps who might yet leave.
Three MU players have entered the transfer portal so far this offseason. Another handful have exhausted their collegiate eligibility.
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The equation for those still in Columbia looks like this: One signed portal addition, plus five incoming freshmen, plus seven potential returners equals 13 scholarship players.
Check your rulebook and, yep, that’s the limit.
College basketball teams can have, at most, 13 players on scholarship for a given season. That hasn’t and won’t stop Missouri from signing more players than that to its roster — like Kaleb Brown, a non-scholarship player who was still very much in the rotational mix when healthy.
In the era of name, image and likeness rights, too, it’s increasingly possible for non-scholarship players to receive the compensation it takes for them to be more than a traditional walk-on.
That’s a loophole that could help the MU roster swell to upwards of 20 players. But strictly in terms of scholarship spots, there’s not a lot of wiggle room.
Jesus Carralero Martin, Curt Lewis and Mabor Majak have all officially entered the transfer portal, and the first two opened up scholarship spots. Four other open spots came from Sean East II, Nick Honor, Noah Carter and Connor Vanover closing out their careers.
Those six scholarship slots were snapped up immediately by the five-deep group of freshmen and Tennessee-Martin transfer Jacob Crews, who quickly picked the Tigers out of the portal when it opened for him following a coaching change.
Now, if Mizzou wants to add a player from the portal, it will need a scholarship spot cleared by a current player leaving or being bumped out of scholarship status.
On the most experienced end of MU’s returners are two guards whose injuries last season granted them another year of eligibility: Caleb Grill and John Tonje.
Grill appeared in nine games, averaging 22 minutes per appearance. His 5.8 rebounds per game from his abbreviated season were the most of any MU player, though his shot didn’t quite settle in. Grill landed painfully on his wrist during a Dec. 3 win over Wichita State and needed surgery on the joint. While he was initially expected to be able to return midway through SEC play, complications and swelling during the healing process meant he didn’t come back.
Tonje appeared in one fewer game and had a much more limited role when he was on the floor, attempting just 12 shots in his eight appearances. A foot injury sustained during summer workouts was behind his limitation, and that problem shut him down in January.
Because both Grill and Tonje played in fewer than 30% of MU’s scheduled games, they both are eligible for medical hardship waivers that grant another year of eligibility. Whether and where they want to use those final seasons is the question when it comes to their scholarship spots.
Trent Pierce, who will be entering his second season, was another player limited by injury. A virus that devolved into an ear infection severe enough to require surgery held him to just 21 games and 137 minutes of action in his debut season. How he and the other rising sophomores view their opportunities to develop as part of Missouri’s young core will also shape whether any of them enter the transfer portal.
Anthony Robinson II would seemingly be in line for a bigger role as a ball-handling guard after 30 appearances in a backup role last season. Center Jordan Butler established himself as a starter during the back end of the season, though he may face more competition or higher expectations among the Tigers’ post options.
There’s the matter of Aidan Shaw, a Cuonzo Martin recruit who also committed to Gates and will be entering his third season. So far, he hasn’t been used as much more than a lob threat and bouncy, versatile defender. That role was enough to land him fifth on the team in minutes last season, though he attempted roughly 20% of the shots that each of the four primary options did. Is that appealing enough for him to stick around?
Guard Tamar Bates seems like the most clear-cut returner. After winding up second on the team in scoring with a shooting line just below the remarkable 50-40-90 threshold from the field, 3-point line and free-throw line, he’s a likely candidate for the focal point of next season’s offense.
But if Mizzou wants to add more to its roster, it may well have to subtract from a couple of those options.