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Mizzou basketball's 'X-factor' is a player nearly two years removed from his last game | The Kansas City Star

For Missouri to build on last season's basketball success, it will need to rely on unknown and unproven commodities.

Of the multiple additions coach Cuonzo Martin will rely on to contribute right away, only one of those players has Division I experience — and by the time the Tigers tip off their season in November, nearly two years will have passed since K.J. Santos last played competitive basketball.

When he steps on campus as a redshirt sophomore in June, Santos will be a 6-foot-8 mystery to scouts and opposing coaches, who have no idea what the former Illinois-Chicago player can bring to the Southeastern Conference after spending last season redshirting at a junior college where he did not play basketball.