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Another June day, another brand new recruiting ranking list from ESPN. This time the Worldwide Leader has given order to their view of the 60 best basketball players in the Class of 2019.
R.J. Barrett, a small forward from Canada who is attending Montverde Academy in Florida, is the number one prospect on the board. He’s also the only guy under 6’8” in the top six, as the next five guys are all power forwards and centers. I suppose it’s not too surprising for the top talents amongst the guys who just finished their sophomore years are the very tall guys.
Marquette has already made overtures to at least seven players in the top 60. I don’t know how serious the connections are between Steve Wojciechowski’s staff and these guys, but they’ve been connected to the Golden Eagles in the past.
Leading off is Matthew Hurt, who comes in at #9. That’s the only Marquette connection in the top 29, though, as we don’t get another familiar name until #30 and Mark “Rocket” Watts, Jr., who was just offered a scholarship during the spring. Watts might be the most fascinating recruitment in the 2019 class, as he plays for the same AAU squad that counts current Golden Eagles freshmen Jamal Cain, Ike Eke, and Greg Elliott as alumni.
The next three guys have fairly new offers from Marquette. Josh Green comes in at #35, Josh Nickelberry is #41, and De’Vion Harmon is #47. Isaiah Stewart also has a brand new offer from Marquette, but he’s at #56. In between Harmon and Stewart is Nobal Days at #53. Days, who hails from Racine, is the only Wisconsin prospect in the top 60, so while he’s not the highest ranked recruit that Marquette has offered a spot to, he may be the biggest priority for Wojo and his assistants.
This would normally be the part where I tell you about how many guys are committed to the Big East and the other conferences, but there’s only one 2019 commitment right now. LaMelo Ball, the younger brother of Los Angeles Lakers draft pick Lonzo Ball, is ranked #8 and committed to UCLA nearly two years ago. That is bananas.