{"id":211686,"date":"2025-09-09T02:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T02:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/211686\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T02:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T02:27:14","slug":"5-star-pf-toni-bryant-commits-to-missouri-2nd-5-star-recruit-for-tigers-2026-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/211686\/","title":{"rendered":"5-Star PF Toni Bryant Commits to Missouri, 2nd 5-Star Recruit for Tigers’ 2026 Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Missouri men’s basketball team is loading up on talent for next year’s incoming class.<\/p>\n

Per ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Paul Biancardi<\/a>, class of 2026 5-star power forward Toni Bryant committed to the Tigers on Monday. He’s Missouri’s second 5-star recruit in the 2026 class, joining combo guard Jason Crowe Jr.<\/p>\n

Bryant is the No. 5 power forward in the nation, per\u00a0247Sports’ composite<\/a>. He chose to commit to the Tigers over offers from Kansas, North Carolina, NC State and others.<\/p>\n

Borzello and Biancardi noted that Missouri was one of the first high-major schools to seriously pursue Bryant and offered him a scholarship in May 2024. Bryant told them that head coach Dennis Gates’ persistence in recruiting him was one of the deciding factors in his commitment.<\/p>\n

“Loyalty and long-term relationships mattered most to me,” Bryant said. “No head coach has recruited me longer than Coach Gates. Coach Gates sees me as a person, not just a player, and that relationship was built on genuine belief, not just transactions. Coach Gates isn’t just a recruiter; he’s a teacher and a developer. He’s building professionals, and that’s why I trust him with my future. Mizzou has a culture that’s all about development and accountability, and that really stood out to me.”<\/p>\n

Missouri is now the only school in the country with multiple five-star commitments in the 2026 class. Crowe, who committed over the summer, is the No. 4 combo guard and No. 9 overall player in the class in\u00a0247Sports’ composite<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Landing these impressive prospects is a testament to the incredible turnaround the Tigers have seen under Gates. After enduring an 8-24 finish to the 2023-24 season that included a 0-18 record in SEC play, Missouri went 22-12 last season and earned a 6-seed in the NCAA tournament. Bryant is hoping to help the program reach even greater heights when he arrives next year.<\/p>\n

“When I watched practice and sat with the staff, everything clicked: the offense, defense and preparation. The system fits how I play: smart and aggressive,” Bryant said. “It’s a place where I can help build something bigger. Coach Gates is laying a foundation, and I want to be part of taking it to the next level. I see myself as a foundational piece of that puzzle.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Missouri men’s basketball team is loading up on talent for next year’s incoming class. Per ESPN’s Jeff…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":211687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-211686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115171979638618126","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}