A Few Quick Hitters on Recruiting

by Mr. Kensington on Oct 26, 2010 11:22 AM CDT in Rumormongering

It could be a big week for Golden Eagle recruiting. A couple of Marquette's top targets of the early recruiting period are set to announce decisions in the next few days.

Rodney Hood, a 6'8" forward from Meridian, MS, will likely announce a decision tomorrow. Hood is seen as kind of a long shot for MU, but he did take an official visit earlier in the month. Along with Marquette, Mississippi State, Alabama, Florida State and of course Louisville (who seems to be in on every 6'8" small forward) are all reportedly in the mix for Rodney's services.

Nick Faust, a 6'5" guard from Baltimore, MD, is slated to announce his decision on ESPNU on Thursday. For a good portion of the summer and fall Marquette and Maryland appeared to be front-runners for Nick. Villanova and Florida State have been said to be in the mix as well. Recently the rumor was that Faust had dropped MU from consideration and that Kansas and Memphis were now getting consideration. Who knows what is or isn't true regarding all these rumors? What I do know is that Faust is a talented player who can really "score the basketball," and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Lastly, Mike Shaw, a 6'8" power forward from Chicago (and Mr. McCarter's dream recruit), appears to have opted against waiting until spring to make a decision and will reportedly be making his decision this Thursday as well. Shaw was on hand for Marquette Madness a couple weeks ago and was rumored to be one of the top priorities -- if not THE top priority -- for Buzz Williams and Co. Word back then was that Shaw may not decide until the spring, but now it appears that is not the case. Rumors trickling out from the Chicago Sun Times, and other sources, is that Shaw will choose Illinois over MU and DePaul. Again, I will still be keeping my fingers crossed.

As always, I acknowledge that all of this is purely speculation and rumor that is being floated out there on the interwebs, and that just because a player is rated in the top 50 by a recruiting service does not in any way guarantee future success. But bringing in new talent is vital to a program's continued success. And besides that, it's just plain fun to talk about.

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Comments

Aw, what the hell?

I just now noticed that McCarter wrote all this same stuff in a comment on a previous post. Oh well, it beat doing actual work this morning. And mine has lots of cool links too.

by Mr. Kensington on Oct 26, 2010 11:48 AM CDT reply actions

This is McCarter's punishment

for not learning how to post a story on the blog.

I’m not smart enough to look at the other stuff and do anything but drool and mumble.

by Rubie Q on Oct 26, 2010 11:50 AM CDT up reply actions

I put it in the comments section because recruiting doesn't seem to be of much interest to the AE regulars (Mr.K aside).

Further, since MU doesn’t appear to be a front runner for any of these, the excitement isn’t quite there. But it’s cool Mr. K!

The Illini board is 99.9% confident Shaw is in the bag. The 0.1% are those that won’t count their chickens before they hatch…..and reference a circumstance similar to this in the past when Corey Maggette was thought to be all but official for Illini then committed to Duke 1 day later.

by Mr.McCarter on Oct 26, 2010 12:10 PM CDT reply actions

I don't think we're really in on any of these guys either

But it will still be interesting to see what happens, given that these are names that have popped up repeatedly over the last couple months. I’m still holding out hope that there’s a chance.

by Mr. Kensington on Oct 26, 2010 1:29 PM CDT up reply actions

Once all the dust settles this week, it will be interesting to see if MU suddenly pops up on the radar for any of the remaining prospects. As rosters change, so do the decisions of these kids……see the Boatwright kid that committed to WestVirginia, who then found out another PG committed the day after he did, in spite of the fact that the WV people were telling him he was their PG of the future. That’s sh$tty! Things will reshuffle which is why I’m not getting worked up over losing out on these 3. Afterall, hype doesn’t guarantee collegiate success in the slightest.

by Mr.McCarter on Oct 26, 2010 2:41 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm glad we are in one some of these guys...

but it always feels like we are in the “choose X school over Marquette” spot. In buzz I trust so I’m okay with missing out on these guys it would just be great to land a few more here and there.

by Soft Pretzel with Cheese on Oct 26, 2010 3:00 PM CDT up reply actions

Boatwright is visiting UConn this week...

And he’ll, fittingly, be there during the UConn-West Virginia football game. You’re right, there’s a lot of recruiting yet to be done and a lot of times hype is just that. Though it would be cool to see Faust go on ESPNU Thursday and say “I’m going to Marquette University!”

by Mr. Kensington on Oct 26, 2010 6:30 PM CDT up reply actions

True dat

I think we’re batting 0 when a highly ranked prospect has his committment televised (Shumpert, Snaer, QMiller, etc.). But in year’s past, it’s been maybe 1 guy. This year I think we’re on the final cut list of 4 top guys that have had or will have a televised announcement. That alone speaks for itself! I just want it to swing our way one of these times! It would be nice for one of these guys to completely shock everyone and grab the marquette hat on espnU. That would be fun to see…….and good exposure at the same time.

by Mr.McCarter on Oct 26, 2010 6:56 PM CDT up reply actions

The Twitter Machine told me

Hood is expected to choose Mississippi State today.

No real shock there.

by Mr. Kensington on Oct 27, 2010 9:21 AM CDT reply actions

Yup, I think he announces at noon.

At least we can get these 3 guys out of the way in the next 24+hrs so Buzz can clean the slate and concentrate on his remaining targets

by Mr.McCarter on Oct 27, 2010 11:46 AM CDT up reply actions

Its official

Mississippi St.

I’m sure he has his own good reason to choose MSU, but IMO…..

YOU HAVE CHOSEN……….POORLY

by Mr.McCarter on Oct 27, 2010 12:43 PM CDT reply actions

Ha! Funny stuff dude.

Enjoy Starkville Rodney, I hear it’s lovely.

But seriously, can’t blame a dude for wanting to stay home. Mississippi St is only 100 miles from his home town. Good luck in the SEC kid.

by Mr. Kensington on Oct 27, 2010 1:53 PM CDT up reply actions

Really...someone would actually want to play for Mississippi State?

by Bush League All Star on Oct 27, 2010 9:27 PM CDT up reply actions

Apparently.

Jarvis Varnado did pretty well there recently. Not that his team had any accolades, but he did make the NBA. I’m having trouble thinking of more guys that made an impact at Mississippi St. Erick Dampier? Is that it? There must be more. What u got Mr. Kensington?

by Mr.McCarter on Oct 28, 2010 8:28 AM CDT reply actions