Missouri lands another transfer, could two more be on the way?

For the second time in the span of a week, Missouri has landed a big name transfer.

Earnest Ross, who was Auburn's leading scorer and rebounder at 13.1 ppg and 5.7 rpg this past season, is headed to Columbia, MO.

"It's the best fit for me," Ross told Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. "It's a family atmosphere, the fans are crazy and they really treated both me and my mother like a part of the family."

"I think I can make an immediate impact here and can also get national exposure."


Ross is a strong, 6'6" small forward originally from Raleigh, NC. He will have to sit out the 2011-2012 season due as a transfer, but when he does become eligible in 2012-2013, Ross is going to have two seasons of eligibility left. According to the Kansas City Star, in addition to the facilities and the fan support at Missouri, it was the way that Ross and his mother got treated by the basketball team and the coaching staff that was the tipping point.

"The players and the coaches, they treated me and my mother as if we were family already," he told the Star. "That was a big thing for my mom. With me being so far away, she wanted to come here and make sure that I was OK. She felt like she was at home."

Ross is far from the only transfer that Haith has been in the mix with the offseason.

For starters, there is former Louisville Cardinal George Goode. The Missouri native followed former Louisville assistant and joined the Tigers for his final season of eligibility. Goode, a 6'8" forward that never was able to crack Louisville's rotation in his three seasons there, will be eligible immediately. He has already graduated from Louisville.

And then, as we mentioned on Monday, Missouri in heavily involved with two other high-profile transfers. Pepperdine transfer Keion Bell, who has one year of eligibility remaining after declaring for and withdrawing from the 2011 NBA Draft, just finished up a visit to the Columbia campus. Bell is an explosive leaper and big time scorer that averaged 18.9 ppg for the Waves last season despite battling through injuries and a season-ending suspension in February. Bell, who will have to sit out a year wherever he opts to transfer too, is also interested in visiting Texas A&M and possibly Oregon.

UConn transfer Jamal Coombs-McDaniel is also eyeing up the Tigers. Coombs-McDaniel just finished a visit to Hofstra and will likely head to Missouri in the coming weeks. Hofstra appears to be the favorite, as Pat Sellers, the assistant that recruited Coombs-McDaniel to UConn in the first place, is now a member of Hofstra's staff. (UPDATE: Coombs-McDaniel has committed to Hofstra.)

Missouri has room for all four players due to the transfer of guard Ricky Kreklow earlier this spring. And while only one player -- Goode -- actually will be eligible to play in the 2011-2012 season, the importance of landing Coombs-McDaniel and Bell can be seen in what the Tigers will lose after this season. Laurence Bowers, Marcus Denmon, Kim English, Matt Pressey, and Ricardo Ratliffe are all seniors, meaning that Missouri stands to lose five of their top six players after the season. With a 2012 recruiting class that currently includes a single JuCo recruit, having talent entering the program ready to contribute immediately will be a key for Frank Haith if he wants to avoid a drop off after the upcoming season.

It also should be noted that Haith has landed commitments from Tyrek Coger and Ishmail Wainwright, two top 100 recruits in the class of 2013.

Clearly, Haith and his staff have been putting in the effort on the recruiting trail since they arrived in Columbia.