Four-star recruit Courtney Ramey received an offer from the Missouri men’s basketball team on Wednesday, his high school head coach Jay Blossom confirmed to The Maneater tonight.
Ramey is the No. 1 remaining uncommitted Class of 2018 point guard in the country. He’s the No. 1 overall recruit in the state of Missouri.
As he hails out of Webster Groves High in St. Louis, Cuonzo Martin and Missouri’s previous lack of involvement with the four-star’s recruitment long raised questions.
Whether the team’s efforts now are too little too late remains to be seen.
Ramey has also received offers from Texas, UCLA, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Villanova and Clemson. He’s been on official visits to Texas and Oklahoma State already. He recently ruled Villanova out of his final cut when Jahvon Quinerly, the only point guard ranked above him at that point, committed to Jay Wright’s program.
Minnesota paid Ramey a visit yesterday. His father, Terrell, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch earlier this month that Minnesota is one of several schools to increase efforts recently, along with Illinois, Tennessee, SMU, Maryland, Mississippi State and South Carolina.
The Webster Groves senior didn’t think he would be in this position again a year ago. He committed to Louisville in February 2017 after Rick Pitino’s consistent recruiting efforts and visits to St. Louis.
Then, in October, the roof came crashing down on the Louisville men’s basketball program, as an FBI probe into corruption resulted in Pitino’s dismissal from the school. Ramey decommitted that same day.
Now, Missouri’s top high school star is excelling in his senior year. He missed the first month of the season with a wrist injury suffered in a preseason scrimmage, but it didn’t deter him upon return. He’s averaging 21.6 points per game and recently reached the 1,500-point mark on his career.
That’s second all-time for a program that is 112-1 in its conference over the last 17 seasons.
Ramey has also broken his school’s all-time assist record. He made a game-winning shot in a state semifinal at Mizzou Arena that prompted the nickname “Mr. Clutch” from teammates.
“When you have a great player like Courtney, it makes it look easy,” Blossom said about the standout last March.
Missouri could use someone with the ability to do that. The Tigers’ backcourt, rich with depth just months ago, has depleted itself throughout the season with the transfers of Blake Harris and C.J. Roberts and the dismissal of Terrence Phillips amidst a Title IX investigation.
Even after the Tigers recently landed Chicago three-star point guard Xavier Pinson, Ramey could remain a long-shot answer to problems at the position that Martin and the Missouri fan base have frequently had nightmares about late in games when lackluster inbound plays have burned the team numerous times.
_Edited by Joe Noser | jnoser@themaneater.com_
