Big-time K.C. Scorer Denmon has MU No. 1

With half of its roster graduating after the upcoming season, Mizzou has no shortage of needs this recruiting season. One always important area, of course, is perimeter scoring – which the Tigers staff has been looking to fill via its recruitment of Kansas City shooting guard Marcus Denmon.

Denmon, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound rising senior from Hogan Prep, is one of the most valued scoring guards in the region – a fact not lost on the Mizzou staff, which has tendered him a scholarship offer.

“He averaged 32 points per game last year, and we weren’t playing against chumps,” said Hogan Prep coach Steve Stitzer. “I’ve been here nine years and I’ve had a couple of kids who were really good players, but he’s the tops.

“We had one game where he had 42 points, two minutes into the third quarter. And this was against a top-five team in Class Two … He’s a shooter but he still drives. He’s got this potential to just shoot the ball from anywhere,” Stitzer said.

Denmon, whose older brother Martane Freeman played at Colorado, also holds offers from UNLV, Kansas State and several Missouri Valley Conference programs. He put up his gaudy numbers while facing a variety of junk defense employed in order to slow him down.

Meantime, Texas, Clemson and Miami have shown interest, though they and many other schools may be waiting to see how he develops academically; he transferred to Hogan Prep from Lincoln Prep, where he was briefly ineligible, and he said he may be headed to a prep school this season. He’ll take the ACT in June.

“He’s a smart kid. Just like any kid, though, you have to stay on top of him,” Stitzer said.

Mizzou head coach Mike Anderson and assistants Matt Zimmerman and Melvin Watkins all have been involved in Denmon’s recruitment. They have been in steady contact and put themselves in excellent position with him, it seems.

“They’re one of my favorites. They’re probably on top right now,” Denmon said. “I just feel like it’s my kind of style. I like Coach Anderson and the way they get up and run, pressure, and the Big 12, I like that.

“It’s a nice arena,” he continued, “and they get a lot of fan support.”

Denmon seems most likely to make a commitment sometime this fall, though it could depend to some extent on his progress with the books. He’s already had a very strong spring AAU season with KC Pump and Run and is currently trying to determine where he’ll go for elite camp.

“Oklahoma and Kansas State are trying to get me to go to their camps, but I think I’ll probably go to Missouri. But I’m not sure yet,” Denmon said.

But there’s little doubt, his coach said, about how good he could be.

“He makes everybody on the team better,” Stitzer said. “he could walk in there [into Mizzou] and be Big Twelve rookie of the year. I mean, how are you going to guard him?”