It wouldn’t be far-fetched to believe Cuonzo Martin will begin adding players via the transfer portal to Missouri State’s basketball roster in the coming weeks. He has many spots to fill before the 2024-25 season.
Martin, who was re-introduced as Missouri State’s head coach last week, has spent recent days at the Final Four festivities in Glendale, Arizona, watching his son play for Purdue. The Final Four also serves as a large networking hotspot for coaches, boosters and national media nationwide.
Several names have popped up connecting Missouri State to players in the transfer portal since Martin was announced as MSU’s next head coach. There is an obvious pipeline in Indiana that Martin has focused on in his previous coaching stops. There’s also one growing out east with a few connected players. Those could indicate work being done by assistant coaches who have yet to be announced.
Here are the names linked to Missouri State since Martin’s hiring.
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Sin’Cere McMahon, Winthrop
McMahon was the most recent player connected to Missouri State via one of the numerous transfer portal insiders and database websites. He is a Winthrop transfer who has reportedly been contacted by Norfolk State, Eastern Tennessee, Robert Morris and others.
The 6-foot-1 guard from Indianapolis would be a graduate transfer with one season of eligibility remaining. He’s started 44 games during his career including one year at Western Carolina as a true freshman. Last season, he started in two of his 32 appearances and averaged 8.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists. He was a 38.3% shooter and was 37.5% from beyond the arc.
A.J. Smith, Southern Indiana
Smith finished his second season at Southern Indiana starting 31 of 32 games. He averaged 13.7 points and 8.8 rebounds per game as a 6-foot-6 wing from Edwardsville, Illinois.
Smith has a big list of teams interested in his final two years of immediate eligibility, including several Missouri Valley Conference schools like Bradley, Evansville, Valparaiso and Illinois State. His list also features solid programs like Dayton and Duquesne among others.
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Michael Osei-Bonsu, Vincennes (Indiana) juco
A 6-5, 265-pound junior college forward, Osei-Bonsu posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he has received offers from Missouri State, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Southeast Missouri State. He averaged 9.8 points and 8.8 boards per game last season as a sophomore.
Osei-Bonsu is from the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, Illinois. Between his two seasons playing juco ball in southern Indiana, he was a 61.5% shooter from the field and 47.4% from the free throw line. He never attempted a shot from beyond the arc.
John Wade, Stanislaus State (Division II)
Wade is a Division II transfer from Stanislaus in California. He’s originally from Oakland, California, and was listed as a junior this past season. He played for three years at Contra Costa College (California) before playing 10 games at Cal State Northridge in 2022-23.
This past season, the 6-6 guard averaged 12.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists. Among the other schools interested are UC Riverside, Portland, Eastern Kentucky, Southern Miss and Alcorn State.
Robert Jennings, Texas Tech
Jennings is in the portal after two years at Texas Tech, where he appeared in 61 games and made 14 starts. He averaged 3.6 points, 2.6 boards and 0.3 assists in 10.3 minutes per game.
The 6-7 forward from the Dallas area played home-school ball and was a four-star recruit. Among those pursuing him include Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Saint Louis, Wichita State, Texas A&M and others. While the Bears made contact, follow-up reports narrowed Jennings’ list and didn’t include Missouri State.
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Devin Butler, Virginia Military Institute
Butler has two years of eligibility remaining as a transfer from VMI. The 6-2 guard played the last three seasons with the Cadets, making 32 starts in 71 appearances. He averaged 6.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists and started every game. He missed the 2021-22 season with an injury.
Butler has a long list of schools interested including Illinois State, Southern Miss, Southern Indiana, Western Kentucky and many others.
Sean Durugordon, Siena
Durugordon has yet to be connected to Missouri State by any national outlets but he remains a name to keep an eye on. He’s a 6-5 guard from New York who played his freshman year at Mizzou under Martin and recently entered the transfer portal after a year at Siena.
This past season, Durugordon started in 13 of 14 games, averaging 18 points and 7.3 rebounds. he had to sit part of the season, being a two-time transfer who played at Austin Peay after Martin was let to at Mizzou.
What’s going on with the Missouri State basketball players who entered the portal?
Chance Moore — The latest report on Moore had him visiting St. Bonaventure.
Alston Mason — Mason has a long list of power conference programs interested in him including Arkansas, Florida, Creighton, LSU, UCLA, Xavier and others. On3 currently has him as the No. 5 combo guard in the portal.
Tyler Bey — Nothing connecting Bey to another school has been reported since he entered the portal.
Cesare Edwards — There’s reason to believe Edwards could return to Missouri State. He was seen at Martin’s introductory press conference and hasn’t been connected anywhere since entering the portal.
Damien Mayo Jr. — Same as Edwards, Mayo could return to Missouri State. He was seen at Martin’s press conference and hasn’t been connected elsewhere.
Matthew Lee — Nothing has been reported on Lee since he entered the portal.
Kanon Gipson — Gipson committed to Drury on March 26.
N.J. Benson — Benson committed to DePaul and will play for former Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann. DePaul recently hired recently-fired Southern Illinois head coach Bryan Mullins who attempted to recruit Benson to SIU.
What we are hearing about Cuonzo Martin’s Name, Image and Likeness efforts
Martin emphasized Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) during his introductory press conference and we’re told that hasn’t slowed down. At multiple meet and greets this past week, Martin has expressed that he wants Missouri State men’s basketball to have $1 million per year in NIL funds, multiple sources have told the News-Leader.
To put that in perspective, multiple reports have said that John Calipari will have “at least” $5 million in NIL funds when he takes over as Arkansas’ head men’s basketball coach from Kentucky. Missouri State isn’t going to reach those levels but the $1 million sounds more ambitious than what the Bears were doing previously. The News-Leader has attempted to do stories on NIL at Missouri State in the past but those running the school’s two collectives have opted to keep their processes on the down-low.
It’s clear Missouri State will be far more aggressive publicly than it has been since NIL’s introduction in recent years. This is only just beginning.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State basketball transfer portal names connected to Martin
