Top 100 Guard Kayvaun Mulready Includes Marquette In His Final Four

It’s been a minute since we talked about Marquette men’s basketball recruiting around these parts, but we picked up some interesting news right before New Year’s. On December 30th, Class of 2024 guard Kayvaun Mulready announced his final four schools. Marquette is on his list, alongside fellow Big East rivals Providence and Connecticut as well as Maryland.

I can’t help but wonder what Mulready’s list would look like if Kevin Willard had stayed at Seton Hall instead of going to Maryland. Would this be an all Big East final four?

As you can see, Mulready made his announcement through On3’s Joe Tipton. Here’s what he said about what he likes about Marquette:

“They have a high standard on defense; it’s their first priority and they know their offense will come with it. They roll with a bunch of young guys and trust their players. They showed me great hospitality when I went on my visit there. Coaching staff are great people. Fit my play style.”

Mulready went on an official visit to Marquette earlier this season, joining high school teammate and MU Class of 2022 signee Tre Norman on a trip to Milwaukee around the Chicago State game over Thanksgiving weekend. That’s a pretty quick turnaround for going from an offer to a visit, as Mulready only got an offer from head coach Shaka Smart in mid-September.

Mulready is listed as a 6’4” shooting guard by 247 Sports. Their Composite system ranks him as the #74 player in the Class of 2024 and the #16 shooting guard. On3’s Consensus operation has Mulready at #85 in the country at the moment, and interestingly enough, they list him as a point guard.

Here’s a highlight reel mixed with some highlights from just a few weeks ago:

Onwards to the scholarship chart!

Marquette currently projects to have two scholarship spots open for the 2024-25 campaign, but there’s a gigantic “YES, BUT” involved there. First of all, Smart and his staff will have to resolve the fact that the Golden Eagles currently project as one over the limit for 2023-24. That’s going to open up another spot in 2024-25 no matter how it happens for a new total of three.

There’s also the COVID bonus seasons of eligibility for Oso Ighodaro, Tyler Kolek, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper to consider. All three of them could return in 2024-25, although I would heavily wager against all three still being at MU by then. If any of them do return, they will take up a scholarship spot, so that’s something that has to be on the radar for the coaching staff as they figure out how they want to assemble their roster for Smart’s fourth season in Milwaukee.

In any case, there’s a lot of moving parts involved here and we’re still 11 months away from Mulready being able to sign a letter of intent. Just something to think about.