KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri will begin the basketball season without projected starter Jaylen Carey, who is suspended for violating team rules, and DePaul transfer CJ Gunn, who is ruled ineligible by the Southern Conference after signing a professional contract in May.
Tigers coach Dennis Gates announced Carey’s suspension Monday, the day before their opener against Cleveland State, while Gunn’s ineligibility was expected for some time after he spent the summer in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.
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Expectations are high this season for Missouri, which is the first team outside of the AP Top 25 preseason poll. The Tigers made one of the nation’s freshman recruiting classes, led by five-star prospects Toni Bryant and Jason Crow Jr. They brought in and surrounded it with a transfer class that included Kansas’ Bryson Tiller, Providence’s Jamier Jones and Kennard Davis Jr. of BYU included.
Carey, a 6-foot transfer from Tennessee, is also expected to be a key player after averaging 7.4 points and 6.0 rebounds last season.
Asked to elaborate on Carey’s suspension, Gates replied: “Don’t choose. I shared one, and I usually don’t share.”
It’s unclear whether Carey will return for the high-profile game against St. Louis on Friday night.
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One player who is eligible for Missouri is Mark Mitchell, an All-SEC prospect, who is among a number of players across the country who have received orders in response to the NCAA’s new “five-for-five” eligibility model. Last week, an appellate court judge in Kentucky denied the government’s emergency aid body because Mitchell was sidelined at the start of the season.
However, the 30 players involved in the case could lose their eligibility if a future trial goes against them. And like coaches across the country, the prospect left the gates uncertain about his final roster for the season.
“I’m still building a plan with risk thinking. At any time, Mark’s situation can turn back,” Gates said, “How do I have the integrity of the team? I have to decide if I start him or not, and I have not made a decision.
“What things play a role,” said Gates, “because you don’t want the break and the growth of guys to be taken away from what can benefit the long term, like a freshman in Toni Bryant, or even a sophomore in Bryson Tiller. I want guys to be able to work in the first year so that they are not interrupted. Mark did a great job. The team made me look at a great job. and figure out what I’m going to do.”
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