Springfield area transfer portal notables: Brookshire, Freeman, a look at Missouri State

A handful of notable names from southwest Missouri basketball have entered the transfer portal in recent weeks and have yet to indicate where they will play college basketball next season.

Top names like Anton Brookshire, Tyem Freeman and Makaiya Brooks are among those who have announced their intentions to transfer.

At the same time, the Springfield area's top college programs at Missouri State haven't been as impacted as we've seen in recent years... yet. The men's basketball team still has promising young players on the roster while the Lady Bears are going to have to address some needs heading into their second season under a head coach.

Here are some notables from the last few weeks.

Anton Brookshire, Kickapoo

State-champion Kickapoo point guard Anton Brookshire is back in the transfer portal after starting his career at Mizzou and then moving to Iona to play for Rick Pitino.

At Iona, Brookshire appeared in 32 games during the Gaels' run to the NCAA Tournament. He averaged 9.5 minutes with 4.2 points and 1.1 rebounds per game. He was a 38.8% shooter from beyond the arc and had come on strong throughout the latter part of the season.

Pitino took the head coaching job at St. John's following the 2022-23 season and Brookshire entered the portal shortly after. He's already used his one-time transfer but hopes to obtain a waiver to be eligible to play immediately. He hopes to play closer to home with Missouri State appearing to be an unlikely destination.

Tyem Freeman, Parkview

Freeman is in the transfer portal for the first time in his career since graduating from Parkview in 2019. He redshirted one year at Missouri State before attending Indian Hills Community College in Iowa.

After being named a first-team All-American at the juco level, Freeman made a move to Central Florida where he appeared in 54 games in two seasons while starting two. He averaged 11.8 minutes this past season while averaging 3.4 points, 2.2 rebounds and one assist per game.

Freeman played this past season as a redshirt junior. He will have at least two years of eligibility remaining.

Makaiya Brooks, Central

The city's all-time scoring leader entered the transfer portal after two years at Memphis where she made one start in 52 appearances.

The former Central standout averaged 4.4 minutes per appearance and 2.1 points per game over her two seasons in Memphis. She's knocked down 30 of 98 shots from beyond the arc during her college career.

Brooks will be immediately eligible wherever she winds up. We know she's a special scorer with 300 shots from deep at Central along with 2,359 career points.

Jonathan Dunn, Missouri State & Logan-Rogersville

Dunn was the lone Missouri State player to enter the transfer portal during the season. He was redshirting this past season and will have four years of immediate eligibility wherever he lands.

Dunn hasn't indicated any teams that have pursued him over recent months nor has there been any other reporting of where he could end up. He had offers from Texas Tech, Mizzou, SIU-Edwardsville and others after he de-committed from Western Illinois upon his arrival at Logan-Rogersville during the 2020-21 COVID-19-impacted high school season.

Missouri State men's basketball still has had only two go in since the end of the year

About two weeks have gone by since Missouri State saw Jonathan Mogbo and Dawson Carper go into the transfer portal on back-to-back days. Neither has announced a destination although Mogbo's name has been connected to Murray State with former juco teammate Brian Moore Jr. being on the roster.

The loss of Mogbo is unfortunate for the Bears as he turned into a dependable player late in the season. He was a good defender and someone Missouri State would have liked to keep around.

But up to this point, it seems to be so far, so good for Dana Ford when there is a young nucleus that is worth trying to keep in Springfield — led by the likes of Alston Mason, N.J. Benson, Damien Mayo Jr. and Chance Moore. There also hasn't been any movement with others like Donovan Clay, Matthew Lee, James Graham or Dalen Ridgnal.

Missouri State has been connected to several names in the transfer portal and has been a name associated with unsigned Nixa senior standout Kael Combs in recent months. Among the names the Bears have been reportedly in on include VMI transfer Rickey Bradley Jr., UNLV transfer Keshon Gilbert and Louisville transfer Sydney Curry among others.

Maybe the Bears are heading toward having continuity going into next season which could place higher expectations on them heading into 2023-24 when other Valley programs like Bradley, Drake, Belmont and Indiana State have all lost key players since the end of the season either to the portal or to graduation.

Currently, Clay is one of five players in the MVC from the first or second team who is slated to return next season.

Perhaps this stands, perhaps an avalanche of transfers is coming. After the offseason Missouri State went through last year, two weeks without any roster movement feels like an eternity.

There hasn't been any movement with the MSU Lady Bears since the end of the year

Not much movement was expected from the Lady Bears' roster following the 2022-23 season. They saw Capria Brown enter the portal during the year along with Ifunanya Nwachuwku.

Beth Cunningham has a lot of holes in her roster to fill heading into her second season with guard play being at the top of the list — specifically at point guard after the graduation of Aniya Thomas.

Missouri State had five players sign out of high school in November with the list featuring Republic's Kaemyn Bekemeier. It also includes Louis Volker (Paul VI, Virginia), Kyrah Daniels (ThunderRidge, Colorado), Natasha Barnes (Kenwood, Chicago) and Blake O'Grady (Dexter Southfield, Massachusetts).

It wouldn't be a surprise if the Lady Bears are active in the portal trying to add veteran guard play to the roster. Paige Rocca, right now, is the lone senior on next year's team and the only other guards who have touched the floor are Isabelle Delarue and Taylor Woodhouse. More will be needed.

Cunningham will still have recruiting ties from when she was at Duke and Notre Dame. Ex-players transferring out and those she tried recruiting elsewhere could very well be in play.

The former Bears who transferred to Northwestern State are now going to Austin Peay

The batch of former Missouri State players from the 2021-22 season that transferred to Northwestern State once former associate head coach Corey Gipson became its head coach is now following Gipson to Austin Peay.

Isaac Haney (Dora/Kickapoo), Ja'Monta Black and Demarcus Sharp all announced their intentions to transfer to Austin Peay after Gipson was named the head coach of his alma mater after just one season in northwestern Louisiana.

Among those also moving to Austin Peay include Jalen Hampton, a former Bears signee, and Dayne Prim, the younger brother of former MSU standout Gaige Prim.

The five were among Northwestern State's top six scorers this past season. Sharp was named the Southland Conference's Player of the Year while averaging 19.5 points and five rebounds per game with 165 total assists. Northwestern State lost by four in the Southland Conference title game following a 22-11 season.

It appears Sharp and Black will be immediately eligible as graduate transfers while Hampton and Prim will be using their one-time transfers. Haney may be required to sit out a year.

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Anton Brookshire, Tyem Freeman in transfer portal