Hey!

Didja see that Wednesday was the start of the fall signing period for prospective college athletes who will be graduating from high school in 2022? It was!

As these things tend to go, we got official announcements from Marquette Golden Eagles men’s and women’s basketball on their respective signees. We already knew about all five commitments and they’ve been covered on the site in the past, but I think it’s useful to note what Shaka Smart and Megan Duffy want to highlight about their future players. Quite literally in terms of how the men’s team handled their business in fact.

Let’s start there, shall we?

Men’s Basketball

Chase Ross

We’re going in chronological order here just to avoid confusion from alphabetical order. It’ll make sense in a second.

Here’s what I meant about “literally” when it comes to highlights:

Ross is listed by Marquette in the press release as a 6’4”, 185 pound guard. 247 Sports rates him as a three-star prospect and ranks him #239 in the country in their Composite system. Rivals agrees on the three-star rating and provides no other information on him, while ESPN grades Ross as a four-star prospect.

Here’s the important stuff on Ross from the press release:

The Dallas, Texas native averaged 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game for Drive Nation in the EYBL. He shot 47.3 percent from the floor overall and 37.5 percent from long distance. He began his prep career at Plano West High School in Texas.

”Chase is a tremendous athlete who can really shoot it,” Smart said. ”Marquette fans are going to love his versatility, ability to guard multiple positions, get in the paint and play above the rim.”

Sean Jones

See what I mean about chronological order mattering?

MU says that Jones is a 5’10”, 175 pound guard. 247 Sports grades him as a three-star prospect and puts him at #152 in the country in the Composite rankings. Rivals also evaluates Jones as a three-star prospect, while ESPN loves the hell out of him and ranks him #83 in the country in addition to grading him as a four-star guy.

To the press release!

He averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game as a junior in 2020-21 at Lincoln High School in Gahanna, Ohio under head coach Tony Staib. A two-time all-state honoree, Jones has helped the Lions to a 46-5 overall record the last two seasons, highlighted by a district title and trip to the regional final in 2020-21.

Jones is a three-time team captain and has already scored over 1,000 career points. He was named the conference MVP each of the last two campaigns and was also an all-region honoree. He competed on the EYBL circuit with All-Ohio Red.

”Sean has tremendous speed and we are really excited about the way he gets up-and-down the floor,” Smart said. ”He can guard 94 feet and he loves to push the ball, attack and create baskets for his teammates.”

Let’s drop in the scholarship chart here so everyone’s on the same page as to how these guys fit in.

Women’s Basketball

Emily LaChapell

Marquette lists La Chapell as a 5’11” guard in the press release. ESPN says she’s a four-star prospect and ranks her #77 in the country and #22 amongst guards in the Class of 2022.

Press release time!

A native of Appleton, Wisconsin, La Chapell is ranked as the top senior in the state of Wisconsin and a four-star, top-100 recruit in ESPN’s HoopGurlz recruiting rankings. The 5-foot-11 guard earned WBCA First Team All-State honors last season and has led the Fox Valley league in points and assists the past two seasons.

A four-year letterwinner at Appleton East High School, La Chapell was a unanimous first-team all-conference, all-defense and all-area selection as a junior in 2020-21, as she averaged 19.5 points, 6.7 boards and 5.0 assists per contest, while shooting 53.5 percent (175-of-327) from the field and 40.4 percent (38-of-94) from 3-point range.

”Emily is an incredible addition to our program,” Duffy said. “She has shown the ability to impact the game in many ways with her scoring, passing and playmaking abilities. Emily fits great into our system with her strong IQ and winning mentality.”

Aizhanique Mayo

We’re just going to go straight to the press release info for Mayo here since I don’t have any interesting recruiting ranking information for you.

Mayo is a 5-foot-8 guard who was named the 2020-21 MaxPreps Connecticut High School Player of the Year and was a first team all-state honoree. As a junior at Notre Dame Catholic, Mayo earned first team all-conference accolades after averaging 20.4 points, 7.0 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 5.0 steals per contest, and was the South-West Conference championship game MVP. Additionally, Mayo shot 44 percent from the field and 47 percent from behind the arc.

Through three seasons at Notre Dame Catholic, Mayo has led her team to a 58-3 overall record and the Lancers have earned back-to-back conference titles the past two seasons.

”Aizhanique had a great summer out on the AAU circuit this past year, setting the stage as a big-time scorer,” Duffy said. “She can play multiple positions and makes players around her better. We love her ability to stretch defenses from deep and play at a fast pace. Her commitment to improve every year has been impressive to watch.”

Charia Smith

And again off to the press release right away....

A versatile 6-foot-1 forward from Colombus, Ohio, Smith is a three-year letterwinner at Westerville Central High School. She has earned All-OCC accolades each of her three seasons as a prep. Smith helped the Warhawks to an OCC championship in 2020-21 and a 16-6 overall record. As a junior, she averaged 12 points and seven rebounds per contest.

Smith earned third team All-Central District honors as a junior after being an honorable mention selection each of the previous two seasons. She also plays AAU ball with All-Ohio Black.

”Charia brings great versatility to the front court,” Duffy said. “Her ability to score inside and out with an impressive toughness makes her a great fit for us here at Marquette. We love her touch around the rim and rebounding prowess. Her experience playing on the Nike circuit gave her the opportunity to play against the highest level of competition from around the country this past summer.”

Yep, that’s right, scholarship chart time!

In addition to these press release announced signees, men’s lacrosse tweeted about six signees on Wednesday, while women’s lacrosse tweeted that they have eight signees on board for the 2022-23 school year. We’ll hold off on any deep dives on any of these new Golden Eagles until we get an actual press release since information on prep lacrosse can tend to be.... we’ll say spotty at best.

No other teams have made any announcements yet, and we’ll try to keep you updated as we can since it’s not Signing Day but in fact Signing Week. I don’t anticipate any new signees for men’s or women’s basketball, but we have to acknowledge that both teams do have the scholarship space.