5-Star Guard Jason Crowe Jr. Commits to Mizzou

It was a historic afternoon for the Mizzou men's basketball program on Friday afternoon when the No. 5 overall recruit in the class of 2026 unzipped his jacket to announce his commitment to Dennis Gates and the Tigers.

He becomes the second-highest ranked recruit to commit to Mizzou behind Michael Porter Jr., and chose the Tigers over Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, USC, Washington, and more.

The lefty combo guard from Inglewood (Calif.) is a dynamic lefty perimeter scorer who will boost any offensive attack and has proven that to be true at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam, putting up 36 points and dishing out five assists in a Thursday night game that featured Gates, John Calipari, and Mark Pope sitting courtside. He also led the EYBL regular season in scoring, averaging 23.8 points per game. 

For Mizzou fans like myself, we had expected this to be a real possibility over the past few weeks after an article came out from On3 that the Tigers were the leader in the clubhouse after Crowe Jr. had kept his recruitment pretty quiet for the most part. However, in today's sports, you can't be sure something is going to happen until you see it with your own eyes.

Undoubtedly, Mizzou will need to maintain a good relationship with Crowe Jr. to deter other schools from recruiting him, and they should have a competitive advantage due to the relationship between Gates and Jason Crowe Sr.

I would be remiss not to mention the job of newly hired Mizzou Basketball GM Tim Fuller. Fuller, a former assistant coach at the University of Missouri, has worked with some of the sport's biggest names and most innovative platforms, including Overtime Elite and multiple top-tier college programs.

Kudos to Fuller, Gates, and the rest of the coaching staff for sealing the deal.

Crowe becomes Missouri's first commitment in the 2026 class. The Tigers are also actively pursuing players like Toni Bryant, Ethan Taylor, Tristan Reed, Aidan Chronister, and others.

In the 2027 class, Mizzou is already on the board with an early commitment from four-star PG and St. Louis native Scottie Adkinson.

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