When Michael Porter Jr. was released from his letter of intent to Washington and subsequently committed to Missouri, everything changed for him -- including his jersey number.
Porter Jr., the No. 2-rated recruit in the class of 2017 according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, will play what many believe will be just one season at Missouri before becoming a top-five pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. But the jersey number he had in high school -- the one he wants to wear in college -- is currently taken by sophomore guard Terrence Phillips, who has started every game for the Tigers over the past two seasons.
So ... yeah. It won’t be a simple jersey swap.
Porter Jr. offered up a simple (and maybe one-sided) solution: Play one-on-one with Phillips for the right to wear it.
Not quite fair. Phillips is a good basketball player, but at 5-fet-11, he wouldn’t stand much of a chance matched up against the 6-11 Porter who projects as lottery pick next year.
Something tells me new Tigers head coach Cuonzo Martin will figure out a different way to settle this.