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On Friday night, while Marquette women’s soccer was in the middle of playing the #2 team in the country, Scott Williams of the Stevens Point Journal threw a big ol’ soaking wet blanket on everyone’s evening.
Williams got confirmation that Joey Hauser, the best prospect in Wisconsin for the Class of 2018, broke his foot playing pickup hoops earlier this week. Hauser made a verbal commitment to attend Marquette back in late July. It’s the second major injury to a Marquette recruit in a little over a month, as Chloe Marotta shredded her knee in mid-July.
SPASH boys basketball coach Scott Anderson confirmed senior forward Joey Hauser suffered a broken foot in a pick up games this week.
— Scott Williams (@Spjscottwill) August 19, 2017
We now go live to loyal reader @ADHDales for a reaction to the news.
— Andy Dales (@ADHDales) August 19, 2017
Hauser is currently ranked #35 in the country in the class of 2018 according to 247 Sports, two spots higher than where he was when he made his commitment to head coach Steve Wojciechowski. Before you get too excited about that, please remember that Marvin Bagley just left the class of 2018 to enroll at Duke immediately. The 6’8” forward was expected to carry a heavy load as Stevens Point Area High School boys’ basketball aimed at winning their fourth straight Wisconsin state title in 2018. While there’s not currently a public timetable on Hauser’s health, it feels safe to presume that he won’t be available for the start of SPASH’s season in two or so months. At the very least, Hauser won’t be 100% in November merely due to atrophy from not being able to exercise fully.
UPDATE! John Steppe of the Marquette Wire talked to the Hauser family and while Joey has undergone surgery as a result of the injury, it’s not that serious. It’s classified as a minor fracture and he is expected to return to workouts in three weeks.
While this is obviously rotten news for Hauser and for his SPASH teammates, there’s almost no impact on his path to Marquette. Barring some sort of disastrously bad setback during Hauser’s rehab, he should be 100% long before the 2018 Wisconsin state tournament spools up, and definitely be back into playing shape by the time he heads to campus for summer school in 11 months or so.
We here at AE wish the younger Hauser nothing but the best as he recovers from his injury, and we hope to see him back on the court sooner rather than later.