2022 Prospect Christian Watson Schedules A Visit To Marquette

On Tuesday, 247 Sports’ Dushawn London published an article after talking to Class of 2022 prospect Christian Watson about how his recruiting path is going. Since Watson included Marquette men’s basketball in his top eight in early July, obviously this is notable for the Golden Eagles. There’s a couple of big things to take away here, but as you can see from the title, the big one is that Watson has a visit to Milwaukee scheduled for August 6th.

Here’s the discussion of Marquette in Watson’s own words:

Marquette: “Shaka Smart and coach Haynes are both good dudes. They call my phone almost everyday and I’m going down there for a visit on August 6th. They see me coming in and making a huge impact early. They see me as being in the pros and the coach saying that means that they have trust in me.”

It’s unclear for sure from what Watson said as to whether this is an official visit, but August 6th is a Friday, so that sounds an awful lot like it is an official visit. After all, Watson is from Washington, D.C., so it does cost a buck or two to get to Milwaukee from there.

Watson also said that he’s “really close” to making a decision about his collegiate future. However, he made it clear that he’s not expecting to finalize that decision until after he visits Miami on September 10th. That’s about five or six weeks away which seems like a long time, but I would imagine that for Watson, relative to how long the recruiting has been going, it’s not that much time at all.

I should note that Watson’s Miami visit coincides with the Hurricanes holding their home football opener against Appalachian State on September 11th. I don’t want to tell anyone at the McGuire Center how to do their job, but leaning into countering that show of festivities might be a smart move.

The 6’6”, 192 pound Watson is currently rated as a three-star prospect by 247 Sports, and ranks #139 in the country in the Composite system. That’s up one spot from earlier in July when he announced his top eight list. For whatever it’s worth to you, London himself entered a Crystal Ball pick for Watson on July 24th, three days before the article published, and he went with Georgetown for Watson’s eventual destination. As always, I don’t put a lot of stock into these things until the recruit knows when they’re going to announce, but the particular timing on this one seems notable.

Scholarship chart time!

Marquette currently does not have anyone committed for the Class of 2022. With Darryl Morsell on his way out the door after his COVID-bonus year and Greg Elliott not guaranteed to stick around for his, the Golden Eagles do have something of a need for guards or at the very least capable ballhandlers coming in with the next recruiting class. I don’t think Watson exactly fits the bill there, but with four spots open, Shaka Smart does need to make sure he’s building up his roster with talented players who can contribute as well.