With Kaleb Brown's return, Mizzou basketball roster appears all but set

Missouri's Kaleb Brown chases down a loose ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Mississippi State Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022, in Columbia, Mo.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Sometimes the NCAA transfer portal subtracts from your roster. Sometimes it adds.

Sometimes both.

Missouri basketball reserve guard Kaleb Brown entered the transfer portal earlier this spring but on Tuesday announced plans to rejoin the Tigers’ roster for the 2023-24 season. Brown, the younger brother of former All-SEC forward and NBA draft-bound Kobe Brown, appeared in 11 games for Mizzou last season, all off the bench, scoring a total of nine points with four rebounds, five assists, six steals and eight turnovers in about 8 minutes per game. Brown played in only four SEC games and saw his most minutes in a home win over SIU Edwardsville. The 6-foot-7, 250-pound guard will be a junior next season.

With Brown coming back and Sunday's commitment from Oral Roberts center transfer Connor Vanover, Dennis Gates could have as many as 19 players on this roster, pending the status of guard Isiaih Mosley. Earlier this spring, Gates didn't rule out Mosley being part of the team as a scholarship player, but his status remains unclear going into summer workouts.

Division I teams are limited to 13 scholarship players per season, but with the emergence of name, image and likeness compensation for college athletes, Gates indicated this spring that teams no longer are bound by traditional roster-building standards.

"Certain kids are qualifying for in-state tuition and some kids are now able to pay their own way," Gates said in April. "So you can't operate and assume that rosters are capped at 13 kids. You can't assume that because ultimately there's ingenuity into building rosters more than ever before."

Brown gives the Tigers at least seven returning players from last year's 25-win team with another 11 newcomers set to join the program. Here's a rundown of who's expected to be part of the roster. An asterisk denotes a walk-on.

Nick Honor, guard

Sean East II, guard

Noah Carter, forward

Kaleb Brown, guard

Aidan Shaw, forward

Jackson Francois, guard*

Mabor Majak, center*

Majak was on scholarship last season but could return to walk-on status.

Isiaih Mosley, guard

Caleb Grill, guard (Iowa State)

Tamar Bates, guard (Indiana)

John Tonje, guard (Colorado State)

Jesus Carralero, forward (Campbell)

Connor Vanover, center (Oral Roberts)

Curt Lewis, guard (John A. Logan)

Trent Pierce, guard/forward

Jordan Butler, forward/center

Anthony Robinson II, guard

J.V. Brown, guard*

Danny Stephens, guard*

In today's 10 a.m. "Ten Hochman" video — brought to you by Siteman Cancer Center and Window Nation — Ben Hochman discusses former Mizzou basketball player Michael Porter Jr., who helped the Denver Nuggets advance to their first-ever NBA Finals. Also, a happy birthday shoutout to Jewel! And as always, Hochman picks a random St. Louis Cards card from the hat!

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Dave Matter is the Mizzou beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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