Marquette Men’s Basketball Recruiting Update: 9/22/16

There’s been a lot of recruiting stuff flying through the airwaves over the past week, so let’s see if we can try to nail down as many loose ends as possible.

#1 - Marquette has three verbal commitments for the class of 2017.

Ike Eke was the first to make his commitment, and he was followed up last week by Theo John and Jamal Cain.

With those three on board, Marquette has the fifth best recruiting class in the Big East according to 247 Sports, and the 22nd best recruiting class in the country.

#2 - Marquette projects to have just one more available scholarship for the 2017-18 season.

Here’s the updated scholarship table following Cain’s commitment.

There is currently one open spot, which is essentially the scholarship vacated by Wally Ellenson. Katin Reinhardt, Luke Fischer, and Jajuan Johnson will all finish their eligibility after this coming season, giving Marquette four spots for next fall. Three are occupied by Eke, John, and Cain.

Things could change between now and next August, of course. Haanif Cheatham could average 25 a game and turn into a top 15 NBA Draft pick. Redshirt junior Duane Wilson, who is on his fourth year of college right now, could be close enough to finishing his degree that he does that and takes advantage of the graduate transfer rules to go somewhere else for his final year. Matt Heldt could have his biological and technological distinctiveness added to the Borg Collective. Or nothing could happen and MU still has just one more open spot.

#3 - Xavier Tillman is visiting Marquette this weekend.

Tillman is a 6’8", 270 lb. power forward from Michigan, just like Cain and Eke. He’s already made visits to Purdue and Michigan State, and MU will be his final visit. Tillman is scheduled to announce his collegiate choice on September 30, just one week after visiting Marquette. If you use 247 Sports’ Class Calculator, adding Tillman to this class would vault it up to #11 in the country, at least for right now.

That’s pretty straight forward stuff. Here’s where it gets a little topsy turvy. Ready?

#4 - Steve Wojciechowski and an assistant went to see Hasahn French after Cain committed.

That’s from the Twitter account for French’s high school team, and it was posted on Monday night, about 48 hours after Cain committed.

French was the second of four players to make an official visit to Marquette in September. As of right now, French is the only one to go on a visit and not commit to Marquette, as both John and Cain committed after their visits a week before and a week after French’s visit respectively.

French was expected to take a visit to Minnesota this coming weekend, but that has gone by the wayside, although perhaps not by choice from French. The Golden Gophers got a commitment from Jamir Harris, a guard from New Jersey on Wednesday. According to Marcus Fuller of the Star Tribune, Minnesota is done recruiting for 2017 now.

French cut his list to six schools last week, and Marquette was one of the six. It appears that the list is now down to five with Minnesota no longer in the equation.  French does have a visit to Saint Louis University scheduled for next weekend, meaning he would be on SLU's campus at roughly the same time that Xavier Tillman is announcing his decision.

#5 - Steve Wojciechowski went to see Jacob Epperson on Wednesday.

Epperson picked up an offer from Marquette back in mid-July. Things have been pretty quiet since then, but Wojo making the trip to La Porte, Indiana to see the top 60 center would seem to mean that the Golden Eagles still have some interest in recruiting him. Of course, it is worth mentioning that Marquette has been out to see 2019 point guard Tyger Campbell in the recent past, and Campbell also plays for La Lumiere.

#6 - Jordan Nwora is still out there.

Back before Theo John had committed to Marquette, Wojo was in Vermont at 6 AM to see Nwora at an open gym on the very first day of the fall recruiting period. He also visited with Nwora’s parents on the same day, so we know it wasn’t just a trip to see 2018 power forward Simi Shittu, Nwora’s teammate at Vermont Academy. It is entirely possible that the additions of John and Cain have effectively squeezed Nwora out of the picture, but with one scholarship still open, it’s probably more than a little early to say anything definitive.

That’s where we are on 2017. For now.