COLUMBIA - It took seven years for the Border Showdown to be renewed, and it'll be more than a year before the game is actually played again, but it's back.
After the success of 2017's charity fundraiser, both sides expect the return of the rivalry to be an exciting game fans want to attend.
"It should be," Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said Thursday. "There was a lot of work behind the scenes to make that happen. Obviously there was a lot of talk about how that game would probably never take place again, so you have to give credit to both sides for making it happen, one, and I think our fans should be excited, like they should be excited, in my opinion, for every game that we play here, because it's Mizzou basketball."
In a meeting with media Thursday morning, Martin credited Tigers' athletic director Jim Sterk, and his relationship with Kansas athletic director Jeff Long, in getting it done.
"Jim did a great job," Martin said. "Obviously there's always things that go on behind the scenes, and again, a lot of credit to Jim Sterk for making it happen. But it wasn't like a call was made on Monday and it happened Tuesday. There's been a lot of work behind the scenes and Jim was really aggressive in making it happen.
"I think, both highly-regarded programs, I think it's beneficial for both programs," he added. "I'll leave it at that, and when we see 'em, we'll see 'em."
Martin said the games between the Jayhawks and Tigers, the first of which will be played Dec. 12, 2020, at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, is separate from the Big 12-SEC Challenge. Missouri plays at West Virginia on Jan. 25, 2020, and will have a game in the 2020-21 season because of the two-year rolling participation based on record. The bottom four SEC teams are excluded from the challenge.
Martin also said he doesn't mind playing two rivalry games - the Tigers traditionally play Illinois the Saturday before Christmas at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis - so close together.
"I think it's great, because, again, it'd be a game you probably try to play here, or you go on the road and play a game," he said. "I think it's great, now you're talking the state of Illinois, Missouri and the state of Kansas. I think it's great, Midwest basketball, all around the country, when you're able to play those level of games, and have that level of energy and passion and intensity in the month of December, I think it's great.
"On a side note, I think the ACC, the Big Ten, I think the Pac-12, have all gone to 20 games in league play, so it's very similar to what they're doing."
Martin also said guard Mark Smith is fully participating in practices, and junior college transfer Axel Okongo has been granted a second season of eligibility by the NCAA.
Elsewhere in the program, Martin switched his staff up earlier in the week, promoting Marco Harris to assistant coach and moving Michael Porter Sr. to director of player development.
Harris is from East St. Louis, Ill., like Martin, and started working with Martin as director of operations at Tennessee in 2011. Harris started as a collegiate baseball player at Southern Illinois, and transferred to Southwestern Oklahoma State, where he became the starting point guard.
"It's just what I felt like was needed as far as our staff," Martin said. "I think Marco, some of the things he can bring to the table on the court. Coach Porter is obviously vital to what we do, as far as his teaching, his ability to bring life wisdom into the program, there's a lot of value to that. But we won't skip a beat. Doesn't change anything we do."
Harris was head coach at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Okla., where his team went 21-0 and won a state title in 2011, the year before joining Martin's staff. This will be his first collegiate assistant coaching position. Porter Sr. was hired shortly after Martin was named head coach at Missouri, and shortly after Washington fired Lorenzo Romar.
Romar hired Porter Sr. as an assistant away from Missouri, where he had previously been an assistant coach for Robin Pingeton's women's basketball team. His contract expires at the end of this season.
"I think he's earned it, more than anything," Martin said of Harris. "I think he had an opportunity, or I feel like he had an opportunity, when I took over the job at Missouri State, I just felt like it wasn't right just for me, just in how I approach it. And then he came along with us at Tennessee, so he's been with us for years. He's put the work in. He was on a grassroots circuit, as far as coaching AAU programs, high school programs in the state of Oklahoma.
"So he's put the time into it and has been patient, but it's not a case of, 'OK, it's my turn.' It wasn't that, it's just what I feel at the time."