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Of interest: Missouri has the possible number-one pick in next year’s draft, but freshman Michael Porter Jr. will have surgery today, and is very likely to be out for the season.
Statement from #Mizzou:
— Mizzou Basketball (@MizzouHoops) November 21, 2017
Michael Porter, Jr. will undergo surgery on Tuesday, Nov. 21, in Dallas, Texas. The procedure, a microdiscectomy of the L3-L4 spinal discs, has a projected recovery time of three-four months and will likely cause him to miss the remainder of the season.
Going into the Advocare Invitational, St. John’s is a team that seems reasonably locked in, with a desire to come back with a trophy. There is an interest in the Advocare competition being better, however; the top team in the tournament is West Virginia, and after that, the quality drop off is steep.
The Missouri Tigers, who face a Long Beach State team not likely to be a mid-major powerhouse, are favored to be the Red Storm’s second round opponent.
For RPI purposes, the Johnnies would ideally face each of these teams at their weakest and then see those teams earn RPI boosting wins late... which would make the Red Storm wins look spectacular by the time the NCAA Tournament committee submits its picks on selection Sunday.
The injury of Michael Porter, Jr. matters to St. John’s a little. With Porter, a Missouri Tigers team coming off of an unconvincing win against Division II Emporia State would be, we believe, far more fearsome in the SEC. With Porter, the Tigers could get some solid wins over league foes.
With that said, we wish Porter well and hope his recovery is swift. Without him, and given the first-round opponents, it is likely that St. John’s will face Mizzou. And despite the loss of Porter, the Tigers have three productive bigs in Porter’s younger brother Jontay Porter (a freshman), four-star recruit Jeremiah Tilmon (a fershman) and returning junior Kevin Puryear.