We’re getting closer and closer to a flurry of official visits for Marquette Golden Eagles men’s basketball recruits, but it looks like that flurry isn’t going to be quite as strong as previously believed.
Ryan Evan from IlliniPulse.com got a chance to talk to Rodney Hawkins, the father of Coleman Hawkins, a 6’10”, 195 pound forward ranked #208 in the Class of 2020. The younger Hawkins had recently finished up an official visit to Illinois Fighting Illini, thus the reason for the chat. The direct answers to questions about the visit and so forth are focusing on his son in general and Illinois in specific.
However, if you keep scrolling to Evan’s insight on Hawkins’ future, you get this:
Many have speculated Coleman would wait until spring to decide, along with choosing SDSU. But after speaking with Rodney about the trip, it sounds like a decision could come this week. Meaning no more OVs [official visits], one was supposed to be Marquette but they agreed to part ways after Golden Eagles landed a commit recently.
You will, of course, remember that Marquette picked up a commitment from Osasere Ighodaro, a 6’9”, 190 pound forward, and the current #74 prospect in the same recruiting class as Hawkins. We found out that Hawkins was scheduled to take an official visit to Marquette back on September 4th. Ighodaro’s commitment came on September 12th. The Illini Pulse interview with the elder Hawkins was published on September 16th.
There’s also this tweet, published on September 13th, the day after Ighodaro’s commitment:
NY Basketball Coaches Clinic. 1 Week from today. We have a change in speakers, Marquette HC Steve Wojciechowski will now be speaking. Registration is still open and walk ups will be accepted. See all the details and speaking schedule here - https://t.co/qjTVUCC7Vf pic.twitter.com/M0DamKLTvl
— Stepinac Basketball (@step_basketball) September 13, 2019
You’ll notice that this coaches clinic — at the high school attended by MU target RJ Davis, by the way — is scheduled for the day that Hawkins’ visit to Milwaukee was supposed to start..... and Stepinac High School announced the change the morning after Ighodaro’s announcement was public.
I think we can connect the dots here.
Whether this is Hawkins electing to drop the Golden Eagles because of the presence of both Ighodaro and Justin Lewis in the recruiting class or Steve Wojciechowski and his staff informing Hawkins that there is no longer space for him or something in the middle, we don’t know for sure. What we do know is that Marquette is still hosting three prospects between now and the end of the month:
- AJ Hoggard, ranked #71 in the country, is expected to arrive on campus tomorrow, September 17th.
- Zed Key, ranked #158 in the country, is set for September 21st.
- the aforementioned RJ Davis, ranked #57 in the country, is scheduled for September 27th.
I’m now wondering if Marquette already knew about Ighodaro when Zed Key told Adam Zagoria that he would visit on September 21st, aka the day after Hawkins was supposed to come to town and thus technically still during Hawkins’ visit.
Marquette is still projected to have at least three open scholarship spots for the fall of 2020, and that could be four if Tommy Gardiner’s elevation from walk-on to scholarship athlete is for one year only. In addition to those three young men coming in on official visits, we’re waiting to see what’s up with Dawson Garcia, a top 30 big man in the class out of Minnesota. He’s expected to announce his top seven on Tuesday, September 17th, and in theory, MU should be in the club.
Here’s what the scholarship situation looks like right now.
(h/t @MarkKahnWI)