Missouri Tigers' Hoops Class Climbing the Rankings

Ask and thou shall receive.

In the wake of the conclusion of the early signing period in college basketball, the question to which everyone sought an answer was this: How high would Missouri's class for 2010 rise in the eyes of recruiting evaluators, particularly considering the supersized splash that was made when the Tigers announced the signing of five-star swingman Tony Mitchell last week?

Propelled by Mitchell's commitment, as well as the September signing of four-star point guard Phil Pressey , Missouri's class for 2010 was recently ranked as the 12th-best in America, according to Rivals.com.

Meanwhile, ESPN.com recruiting service Scouts, Inc. has the Tigers listed at No. 14 , one slot above Big 12 rival Oklahoma.

The Memphis Tigers nabbed the No. 1 spot in both sets of rankings.

Prior to Mitchell's signing, which was made official on Nov. 17 , neither recruiting service had MU ranked in the top 25. However, both Scouts, Inc. and Rivals.com now consider the Tigers' class to be the best in the Big 12 .

The foursome of Mitchell, Pressey, shooting guard Ricky Kreklow , and forward Kadeem Green is Missouri's highest-rated recruiting class since 2004. That year, Marshall Brown, Glen Dandridge, Jason Horton, and Kalen Grimes combined to form a class ranked No. 13 by Rivals.com, although that group turned out to be a rather unproductive and troubled bunch.

As a whole, the 2004 class averaged a modest 4.4 points a game, with two of the four encountering legal turmoil during their tenures at MU.

Horton was suspended by head coach Mike Anderson toward the latter stages of his senior season in 2008 after assault charges were filed against him stemming from an altercation at an on-campus nightclub .

Grimes was dismissed from the program prior to his senior season after similar charges were brought against him for an incident that occurred in his hometown of Florissant, Mo., in July of 2007.

Dandridge, widely regarded as a Top 100 recruit, transferred to Lambuth University in Tennessee following his junior season.

With four players signed for next season, Missouri—barring a decommitment from a recruit or defection of a current player—does not have a scholarship available for the spring signing period, which begins on April 15.