No pressure yet for five-star Porter
Whenever an elite prospect is from a town that is home to a major university, there is typically going to be pressure to stay home. The ties to hometown Missouri run deeper than just going to high school in Columbia for sophomore small forward Michael Porter but he's yet to feel any pressure.
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The No. 4 player in the class of 2017, Porter is a 6-foot-8 bundle of skill and athleticism with enormous upside who attends Columbia (Mo.) Father Tolton.
During his freshman season and on last summer's grassroots circuit with MoKan Elite, Porter built a reputation because of his shooting and smooth game. Earlier this month at USA Basketball's Fall developmental camp, Porter showed off a new level of athleticism and aggression attacking the rim that suggests as high as he is already ranked, he could be under ranked.
"That's just an evolution of my game," Porter told Rivals.com of his more aggressive play. "I've gotten stronger and more explosive to play above the rim. That has happened in the last year, my jumping ability has really taken off."
Now about those connections to Missouri. Not only does Porter play his high school ball in Columbia, his father is an assistant for the Missouri women's program. His oldest sister Bri is a freshman on the team and another older sister Cierra is committed to play for the Tigers. On top of that, his mother's sister Robin Pingeton is the head coach for the Women's team.
Despite all of those connections, Porter says that he hasn't yet felt any pressure to attend Mizzou and he doesn't think other programs have been scared to recruit him because of his ties to the Tigers.
"I don't think so," said Porter when asked if the ties to the hometown program have had any impact on his recruitment. "All of the interviewers I talk to I tell them Mizzou, I don't have any pressure to go to Mizzou. My dad tells me all the time he wants me to pick the best school for me. Now, Mizzou is a great school and I'll see how they do over the years with the new coach but there's no pressure to go there."
So far this fall, Iowa and Indiana have been in along with Missouri and Porter says that both Duke and North Carolina have plans to come in and see him. He counts offers from the Tigers, Kansas, Baylor, Wichita State, Washington, Colorado, Marquette and Illinois but thinking about a decision is the furthest thing from his mind.
For now, Porter is focused on getting better and he's excited to take the floor with another talented sibling as 6-foot-8 Jontay Porter is a freshman at Tolton.
"My brother is at my school now so it is going to be cool playing with him," said Porter. "I just want to get better really. I don't have like a set number of points that I want to score or anything like that. I just want to get better."
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