During the early part of his tenure at Mizzou, Coach Smith had a lot of success with mid-tier recruits or with guys that really weren't on anyone's radar outside of the the state or bordering states. He had several walk-ons that became AA's, most notably Mark Ellis, who he recruited off the football team. Ellis was a multiple time AA and national champ.
As the program got better, Mizzou began to get more top tier recruits E.g.: Cox, O'Toole, Elam
Coach Smith has also had a lot of success with home-grown talent over the years. Some of those, such as national champ Drake Houdershelt, had little fan fair outside of the state prior tot their arrival at Mizzou.