As is always the case, June 15th is the first day when Division 1 men’s basketball coaches can initiate contact with prospects that have just finished their sophomore year of high school. That means that Saturday was the first day that the Marquette staff could make contact on their own with prospects in the Class of 2021.

We’re going to split this up into two sections: guys who got a scholarship offer today and guys who merely got a phone call. Last year, head coach Steve Wojciechowski was big on making contact first before offering a scholarship a week or so later, so we’ll see where this all ends up.

Let’s drop in the ol’ scholarship chart here so we all know what we’re looking at for 2021 as we start getting into things here. Marquette is projected to be replacing Jamal Cain, Theo John, and Koby McEwen in the fall of 2021, so there’s not a particular focus that’s necessary. Those three give you losses at guard, wing, and post, and while writing here in the summer of 2019, the biggest known need to fill there is putting a center on the roster to replace John.

NEW SCHOLARSHIP OFFERS

Kendall Brown

Marquette’s very first publicized contact of the day went to Brown, a five-star prospect out of Minnesota. 247 Sports says that he’s a 6’7”, 190 pound small forward. Their Composite system has him ranked #23 in the country at the moment, which yes, that makes him the top player in the state. Their internal system says that Brown is the #2 player in Minnesota, but that’s fine because Marquette already has a scholarship offer out to Chet Holmgren, the top prospect in that regard.

It’s probably worth noting that Brown included a picture of noted Minnesota native Theo John in his tweet.

Max Preps tells us that Brown’s East Ridge High School team went 28-4 in 2018-19 and reached the Minnesota Class AAAA semifinals before falling to eventual champion Hopkins. Minnesota Basketball Hub gives us stats for 32 games, or at least scoring stats. Well, scoring average. They have Brown at 17.0 points per game, but nothing else on the page matches up with 32 games worth of information. 39-for-72 shooting? C’mon, man.

This two minute reel from a year ago is the best I can do for highlights for Brown. There’s a few other ones out there, but they are either game highlights or packages that include Brown’s older brother Courtney. By random chance, Courtney Brown will be at UW-Milwaukee starting this fall.

Micawber Etienne

Etienne has a 247 Sports page. Thus ends the level of information that the page actually provides us.

He does have a New England Recruiting Report page, and that’s much more helpful. For example, now we know that he’s a 6’10” center/forward. Etienne attends Suffield Academy, which is in Suffield, Connecticut. That’s just a shade short of the Massachusetts state line and about 30 miles north east of UConn.

Suffield’s own website says that their basketball team went 14-8 in 2018-19.... but there doesn’t appear to be any stats available. I can’t find anything else in terms of news on Etienne, other than pointing out that the Suffield website says that this past season was his first with the squad.

I found a Hudl page with Etienne highlights.... but it hasn’t been updated since May 2017. That’s not particularly helpful, but it’s all we really have.

Carter Whitt

Back into the world of top 50 prospects we go. Whitt is ranked #47 in the country by 247 Sports, which makes him a four-star prospect in their Composite system. He’s a 6’3”, 170 pound point guard out of Raleigh, North Carolina, where he attends Leesville Road High School. His list of offers already includes Florida, Virginia, and NC State.

In 19 EYBL games with Boo Williams in 2018, Whitt averaged 5.1 points while shooting 36% from behind the arc. He tacked on 3.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game as well. In early January 2019, Whitt was averaging 19.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 7.2 assists for Leesville Road. This is after his own coach said out loud to the Charlotte Observer that Whitt is the best point guard in North Carolina in his estimation.

Here’s a two minute and a four minute highlight clip from early April 2019.

GUYS WHO GOT A PHONE CALL

Caleb Furst

247 Sports has Furst ranked #32 in the country in their Composite system. He’s a 6’8”, 205 pound power forward out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. His offer list so far is very local: Five Big Ten teams including Indiana and Purdue, along with Butler.

Kobe Johnson

Johnson is a 6’3”, 170 pound point guard out of Glendale, Wisconsin, by way of Sun Prairie. He attends Nicolet High School in the northern Milwaukee suburbs and if this is all sounding very familiar to you right now, it should. Kobe is the younger brother of Jalen Johnson, the top prospect in the state of Wisconsin in the Class of 2020 and the current #4 player in the country in that class.

Before you get yourself completely bent out of shape here, please remember three things. First, Jalen has already eliminated Marquette from consideration. Second, Marquette hasn’t offered Kobe a scholarship yet. Third, 247’s Composite system goes out to 118 players right now, and Kobe’s not in it. It’s not for lack of attention, as he plays with his brother for club and school teams. Johnson has three offers right now: DePaul, Indiana State, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Hunter Sallis

Join us as Marquette goes recruiting in Creighton’s backyard. Sallis is a 6’3”, 150 pound shooting guard out of Omaha, Nebraska. 247 Sports has him as the #61 player in the class and the #11 shooting guard in their Composite system, and that’s without ranking or rating him at all in their internal measures.

He has two offers on top of the obvious Creighton and Nebraska ones: Iowa State and Ole Miss.

John Camden

Speaking of hanging out in the backyard of other Big East teams, let’s talk about Mr. Camden. He’s a 6’7”, 195 pound small forward from Wayne, Pennsylvania, where he attends Archbishop John Carroll High School. He can literally walk from his school to Jay Wright’s office on Villanova’s campus.

247 Sports says he’s the #54 player in the country and the #13 small forward, and believe it or not, Villanova isn’t one of his six offers yet. Xavier? Sure. Temple? Absolutely. Penn State? Yep. Not quite sure what the hold up is on the Wildcats here.

Isa Silva

Calling Isa Silva a top 35 prospect might be reaching a little bit right now. 247 Sports has him at #91 in their Composite system and #47 in their internal setup. However, Rivals, the home base for the esteemed and respected Mr. Weingarten there, has him at #31. So there you go.

We’ll stick with 247 because of the glorious Composite system of course, and his page says he’s a 6’2”, 170 pound point guard out of Carmichael, California. For the more geographically challenged amongst you (and that includes me), that’s essentially in Sacramento. His scholarship offer list so far is fascinating: Montana, UC-Davis, and Utah.