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One of Marquette’s prospects for the class of 2019 is off the board, as top 30 recruit Jalen Wilson committed to Michigan on Wednesday evening.
Wilson is listed as a 6’6”, 185 pound forward from Denton, Texas. According to 247 Sports, he is ranked 29th nationally and 3rd in the state of Texas. While the Golden Eagles were one of the six teams in Wilson’s early May cutdown, things were trending heavily in Michigan’s direction since then. Typically when a recruit makes their decision this early, it’s to go to a Power 5 school with a basketball pedigree like Michigan.
First I would like to say that I’m essentially cousins with Wilson, since I grew up a few towns over from where he went to school. As much as I would love a fellow Texan to come to Marquette, I can’t fault him for choosing Michigan. They just went to the NCAA Championship for crying out loud. If he wants to come close to guaranteeing a deep tournament run right away, Michigan is the better choice. Not to state the obvious but Marquette has made ONE tournament appearance in the last four years.
Onwards then! Marquette can now turn its focus towards the other prospects it’s made offers to. The Golden Eagles have been very busy this recruiting cycle and have seven top 200 prospects according to 247 sports. You can check them out in a recent article by the great Brewtown Andy. The point being, Coach Wojo and company have set themselves up well to land some high quality talent by getting involved early in the recruitment process. The next player to keep an eye on is 6’1” point guard out of Bettendorf, Iowa DJ Carton. Carton is ranked #27 nationally and #3 at his position.
According to the 247 rankings, Marquette currently has an 8% chance of landing Carton. The two other schools on the list are Michigan (surprise, surprise) and Wisconsin. Funny thing about Wisconsin is that they aren’t in Carton’s final 6 list that he tweeted out on May 10. So make what you will of these rankings. This exclusive interview by Leader Johnson of 247 sports more accurately describes where Carton is leaning. Although Carton didn’t list Marquette as one of the schools he’s planning on visiting, he did say he plans on making his decision in late summer/early fall so that still leaves some time for Marquette to make a late push for Carton.