Rubbing salt in the wound

Nick Williams, the former MU commit who received an unconditional release when Crean bolted, signed with Indiana yesterday. A shocker, eh?

Tyshawn Taylor announced he's visiting Kansas on Wednesday. If Taylor signs with Kansas, he'd join a loaded backcourt that should include returning senior starter Mario Chalmers, the tough-minded junior Sherron Collins, incoming freshman four-star recruit Travis Releford, and JUCO all-american guard Tyrone Appleton. This sounds like a less than ideal destination for a player who's high school coach expressed concern over the 'logjam' in the Marquette backcourt.

Personnel moves du jour: DJ is coming back, a few are headed out the door

First the good news -- Dominic James announced at the basketball banquet tonight that he will return to Marquette for his senior season. Bravo, Dominic! Now it is time for DJ to chase down and pass George Thompson as MU's all-time leading scorer, and lead the team to a fourth consecutive NCAA tournament bid.

Now for the departures.....freshman SG Scott Christopherson and 2008 commit Nick Williams have each been granted their release from Marquette University. Adios, fellas.

Williams was given an unconditional release meaning he can go to any school he chooses. It is interesting that MU afforded Williams complete freedom. In the past for kids already in the program, Marquette was prescriptive as to the places a player was eligible to transfer to. Hello, IU?

It appears the next shoe to drop could be Trevor Mbakwe if you believe the message boards.

Even before these departures, Andy Katz didn't think much of Marquette, failing to include the Golden Eagles in his early pre-season top 25. Whatever, Andy.

Meanwhile, Buzz Williams jets off to New Jersey on Friday morning in an attempt to re-recruit Tyshawn Taylor, the combo guard from St Anthony's who has also asked for his release from Marquette. In a Q/A with Adam Zagoria today, Taylor offered MU fans a ray of hope (and contradicted remarks made by his coach last week):

Q: What kind of relationship do you have with Coach Williams?
A: He recruited me. I had a better relationship with him than with Coach Crean.

Coach Williams also quickly re-energized his efforts to recruit 6'7" stud Jamil Wilson from Racine. Mark Miller has the report.

Nick Williams in the Final Four: Watch it LIVE on the Web

REMINDER
MU signee Nick Williams will lead the defending state champion LeFlore Rattlers against Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa at 1:30pm CST on Thursday in the Alabama high school final four.

If you can't make the drive to Birmingham, do not despair - - - fans can watch the game live on the Web by clicking on this link. Judging by the action streaming this afternoon, the video quality should be tremendous. Additional real-time resources can be found here.

Here's a preview of today's game from Mike Herndon at the Birmingham paper.

The Rattlers roll into the state semifinals with a gaudy 30-2 record. LeFlore is ranked #1 in the state and #12 in the nation. Williams was the MVP of the South Regional Tournament, and his coach could not say enough about the young man:

"What can I say? Nick Williams," said LeFlore coach Otis Hughley, whose Rattlers improved to 30-2 and beat Baldwin County for the fourth time this season. "He's just one of those throwback, old-school fundamental ballplayers."

MU signees continue fine seasons

MU's most balanced recruiting class in years continues to deliver memorable seasons at their respective programs this winter. Of note:

• Chris Otule led the Fort Bend Bush Broncos to a playoff victory over Galveston Ball earlier this week, 58-43. The 6'10" Otule led his squad with a team-high 14 points and 10 blocks in the victory. Bush is now 24-8 on the season and plays Northshore on Friday night in the second round of the playoffs.
  
• Nick Wiliams' LeFlore Rattlers (29-2 overall) are in the midst of a state title defense, and toppped Dothan 67-53 earlier this week. Williams had 11 points in the win. With the victory, Alabama's top-ranked Rattlers earned the right to play Baldwin County in the 6A regional finals on Friday morning where the winner will advance to the state tournament in Birmingham. LeFlore has already beaten Baldwin County three times this season.
• Joseph Fulce continued his dominant play at Tyler JC with a 30 point, 12 rebound effort in the Apaches recent loss to Blinn JC, 76-94. The Apaches fell to 22-2 on the year, losing for the first time in their last nine outings. For a look at Fulce's game by game production on one of the nation's top JUCO teams click here. Despite the loss, the Apaches are off to a record start.
  
• Finally, set your DVRs tonight -- Tyshawn Taylor and the St Anthony's Friars will appear on ESPN against American Christian Academy, led by super guard Tyreke Evans. Tipoff is scheduled for 8pm CT on ESPN. Here's a quick look at Taylor in action:

Miss a day, miss plenty

.......in the wake of last night's thrashing of Providence, here are a few media updates - - and we'll get our WVU preview posted on Saturday. Rosiak has the key updates of the day:

1. Marquette will have a chance to take down The Necklace next season when the Golden Eagles take on Bruce Pearl's UT Volunteers in Knoxville.
   
2. The bummer news is that prize 2009 recruit Erik Williams of Cy Springs High School in Texas broke his ankle and is out for 6-8 weeks. All the best for a speedy recovery, Erik.

Additional updates of note:

• Here's a shout out to Jim Ganzer, one of the lead contributors at Scout's MarquetteHoops.com who looks to be starting a new sports community, the Sports Bubbler. Good luck, IWB.
• The Appleton Post-Crescent has this fab article about MU walk-on Robert Frozena -- he's livin' the dream.
  
• CNNSI's Luke Winn has MU in his power 16 -- at #9
• Seth Davis picks WVU to beat MU on Sunday. Boo!
• Tyshawn Taylor and Nick Williams are suiting up for two of the nation's top ten teams this winter. Outstanding!
• Brendon and Dante are back with their latest installment of the Big East Cast.

New York area alums take note! MU has asked that local alumni buy tickets directly through the MU website at this link for the St John's game in MSG on February 20. Let's have a big turnout, ok?

MU recruits in action - UPDATED

During this season's "Cupcake Central/Please Please Please Don't Come Away With a Crippling Injury" portion of the schedule, here's an update on each of MU's four signees from the Class of 2008:

For a kid who only averaged 5 ppg as a high school junior, Chris Otule is positively blowing up as a senior at Fort Bend Bush High School. The 6'10" center had another boffo performance over the weekend, with 21 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots in a 64-52 win. According to the Houston Chronicle, Otule (who is also referred to as "O'Tule" in reports) already has two triple-doubles this season. Rip Van Winkle has official gained consciousness.

Meanwhile, Nick Williams has having a monster season down in Dixie. Averaging 32 ppg, Williams canned 16 to lead LeFlore to another win on Friday night. LeFlore, ranked #15 in the nation by ESPN and 9-0 on the season, travels to a tourney in Hawaii shortly.

Finally, JUCO forward Joseph Fulce had 21 and 10 to lead Tyler JC to an overtime win back on December 1. Big Joe also had 21 in his previous start, a win over Lon Morris. Fulce is having a terrific year in the Lone Star State, where the Apaches are 9-0. Check out this outstanding game log for Fulce from the Dodds board.

Jersey City St Anthony's opened its season with a win on Saturday. Tyshawn Taylor chipped in with six points for the positively loaded Friars, ranked #5 in the nation by USA Today. Taylor followed that up with a 10 point effort in a 72-45 win over the Hun School on Sunday, led by former MU recruit Lance Goulbourne(who had 17 points). The Friars take the court again on Monday night against Cardinal McCarrick.

UPDATE
BTW, here is a worthwhile article on the legendary St. Anthony's Friars - -the article includes a photo of Tyshawn Taylor looking happy in his MU cap. Sweet! This is quite a team - -8 Division One players on the roster this year.......a season that's being chronicled by a documentary filmmaker.

Media Updates for November 28

A quick rip around the Web .........

• Big East Cast takes a look at their first conference power rankings in the latest podcast.
• The 1212 Building is now, finally, DOA. The home to the MU basketball offices and much of the athletic department for decades will become a new administration building.
• Jersey City St. Anthony's opens the season ranked 5th in the first USA Today Super 25 high school rankings. Tyshawn Taylor's squad is loaded in the backcourt.
  
• MU recruit Nick Williams was named co-player of the week by the Press-Register after a huge start to his senior season. According to the paper "Williams had 25 points and 10 rebounds in a 90-71 win over Davidson, 21 points in an 84-47 victory over Vigor, and 36 points in a 70-53 win over St. Jude." Nice.
• Randy Hill of Fox Sports reports early season impressions -- including a few thoughts on MU which predictably revolve around Dominic James' shooting.

National Signing Period Begins Today

Today is the first day of the National Signing Period when recruits can sign binding letters of intent with the university of their choice. Recruits can sign LOIs between November 14th and November 21st.

Marquette is expected to sign four student-athletes this week -- a class that stands to be one of the more well-balanced groups Tom Crean has signed in several years. With this class, Crean recruited to every position on the floor (in terms of skill) and neatly replaced his outgoing seniors (Barro, Fitzgerald, Blackledge), and signed a talented PG to potentially replace Dominic James or to account for other roster attrition.

Collectively, this group is ranked in the national top 20 by HoopScoop and unranked by other services - -which is not surprising given the late-bloomers in the class. Here's a brief look at MU's expected incoming class of 2008:

Nick Williams, 6'4" SG from Mobile (LeFlore) Alabama: Williams was the first class of 2008 player to commit to Marquette. Williams plays for one of the most successful high school programs in the State of Alabama, and leads his Rattlers in defense of their 2007 State Championship. Williams is a big, strong guard in the Wesley Matthews/Tony Smith mold who should see immediate playing time next winter. Big Nick scored 32 points in LeFlore's season opener earlier this month.

Joseph Fulce, 6'7" combo forward from Plano, TX via Tyler (TX) Junior College: Fulce originally signed with Texas A&M thanks to then assistant coach Buzz Williams. However, grades forced Fulce to a prep school where he reopened his recruiting after the coaching change in College Station. Soon after, Fulce signed an LOI to play for the University of New Orleans -- and then head coach Buzz Williams. Now Buzz is at MU, and Fulce is coming to MU. Third time lucky for Marquette? That's what Tom Crean is hoping for. Fulce will have three years of eligibility at Marquette.

Tyshawn Taylor, 6'3" PG from Jersey City St. Anthony's. Taylor, who committed to MU over Georgia Tech, KU and UNC, looks to be the point guard of the future for the Golden Eagles. Because of the load of backcourt talent on his high school team, its doubtful Taylor will begin his career as a classically trained point guard but his strength and size mark a sea-change for the rather undersized stable of point guards currently on the MU roster. With Williams, Christopherson and now Taylor, Marquette should have have one of the bigger, more physical young backcourts in the Big East. Given Taylor's upside and heritage -- St. Anthony's, Bob Hurley -- he could be one of the most vital recruits for MU since Dominic James.

Chris Otule, 6'10" 245 pound PF/C from Fort Bend (TX) Bush. The man in the middle. Finally. Otule was the final piece to the puzzle for the 2008 freshman class, and maybe its most vital component. While Tom Crean aggressively pursued Frank Ben-Eze (who ultimately committed to Harvard), he didn't fall for other bigs who expressed high interest in MU such as Maurice Sutton, Garrett Stutz or Josh Crittle. Crean waited until he found what seems to be a player with better tools, more potential and higher upside. Although Otule only averaged 5 ppg as a high school junior, that does not seem to be an indication of what to expect down the line. Check out this Q/A with Jim Hicks for details.

Media Updates

With practice in full swing and Big East media day coming up tomorrow, here are a few notable updates on MU basketball from around the Web:

• 2009 SF Jamil Wilson has 'narrowed' his list to the so-called Great Eight -- which includes MU along with many of college basketball's elite programs. Looks like Jamil is a terrific volleyball player too.
• MU commit Nick Williams' squad improved dramatically overnight when one of the best players in the class of 2009 transferred to LeFlore. 6'10" center DeMarcus Cousins will lace'em up with Williams this winter.
• A new blog fave, Storming The Floor, is going through their own top 25 and ranks MU #19 in the pre-season -- and a 3rd place finish in the Big East along with a Sweet 16 bid. Check it out here.
• Similarly, the Big East Basketball Report is counting down our league's best -- and is up to #4 which could be reported later today. Not sure where MU will land, but its worth watching. Pitt came in at #5, followed by UConn at #6.
• Brendon Desrochers of SNY looks at Rick Pitino's whining about the conference schedule, and breaks down each team's slate. As for MU, he ranks the Golden Eagles' non-conference schedule as the 2nd easiest in the league and calls their Big East slate the 2nd toughest. Slamming MU's out of conference slate is fine -- but it is non-sensical that Brendon then rates Pittsburgh's non-conference slate as the 9th toughest in the league even though Pitt plays two teams that MU is likely to play in Maui (not to mention that Wisconsin is better than Washington, Duquesne and SLU - the other opponents listed on his his rundown of the Panthers schedule).

More updates as they pop on the Web.

Iman Shumpert names three finalists

UPDATED
Citing an article from the Scout.com premium site, the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Hoops report that Iman Shumpert named Georgia Tech, Marquette University and UNC as his three finalists earlier today. The Bullseye Brothers report on the news here. Bradley, Illinois, Notre Dame and Clemson were removed from consideration.

Shumpert is on the Marquette campus today for another unofficial visit. The Golden Eagles are preparing for their trip to Vancouver next month with a short series of NCAA-sanctioned practices. Shumpert is expected to make his decision prior to the start of his senior season.

With 6-4 SG/SF Nick Williams already a solid verbal, Shumpert figures to be Tom Crean's top remaining backcourt priority for the 2008 freshman class. Shumpert burst onto the national scene this spring and summer with a series of breakout performances against some of the nation's best competition. Scout.com ranks Shumpert as the 15th best player in the 2008 class.

If Shumpert decides on MU, the 6-4 combo guard from Oak Park/River Forest would continue the well-regarded tradition of Chicago-area talent migrating to Milwaukee to showcase their talents. Tom Crean currently boasts a roster that includes Chicago-area products Maurice Acker and Jerel McNeal, both of whom followed in the recent footsteps of NBA Champion Dwyane Wade.

This is not the first time Tom Crean has gone head to head with Georgia Tech and North Carolina for talent. Current Golden Eagles star Wesley Matthews chose Marquette over the Ramblin' Wreck just a few years ago. In that same class, UNC's Bobby Frasor cast his lot with Roy Williams and the Tar Heels over MU and Stanford.

Coach Tom Crean currently has two more tenders to offer for the 2008 class.

Here's a video of Shumpert via Midstate Hoops

Mike DeCourcy: Nick Williams one of the gems of 2008

Nice to see the 6-4 guard from Mobile listed here with a number of other talented kids from the class of 2008, including MU target Iman Shumpert. DeCourcy says,

Although 6-4, Williams' jump shot probably isn't reliable enough for him to project as a shooting guard. He is viewed as more of a scorer than a shooter, an excellent athlete with toughness and a taste for defense. He uses his strength to survive as an inside player for his high school team but will move comfortably to the wing when he suits up for Marquette.

Sounds like more than an ample replacement for Wesley Matthews.

New Scout.com Top 100 for 2008

Per IWB on Marquette Hoops, Scout.com's updated top 100 for the class of 2008 is out. A few highlights on MU targets:

• Iman Shumpert is #15
• Matt Humphrey is #59
• Quintrell Thomas is #69
• Rotnei Clark is #78
  
• Nick Williams is #90 (verbal)
  

MU is not mentioned with Chicago big man Michael Dunigan (that's disappointing) or Willie Warren (MU has enough 2Gs in the mix anyway). JaMychal Green - - adios.

MU target Maurice Sutton does not appear on the list -- methinks he squeezes out a spot on the list when its updated later this year. Other MU targets including SF Luke Fabrizius, PG Jordan Theodore, SG Max Kenyi, and SG Colin Chieverton also landed outside of the top 100.

The Rosiak Report

Todd Rosiak blogs away at the MJS and offers up interesting nuggets on Jerry Sichting (who might be on the move -- and his replacement would be Tim Buckley, something we predicted here), Dominic James (individual workouts with a handful of teams), Nick Williams (fast-rising MU verbal commit) and a few other notes. Still no update on Trend Blackledge's eligibility though - - maybe that's coming on or about June 18 (hahaha).

Read it all here.

Tom Crean recruits winners

Congratulations are in order for 2008 MU commit Nick Williams and 2008 MU target Jonathan Baldwin. Williams and Baldwin each led their respective high school programs to state championships within the past week.

Down in Alabama, Williams led Mobile LeFlore to the state title game where the Rattlers topped Jeff Davis, 64-61 for the Class 6A title. Williams had 13 points in the title game. With the win LeFlore finished up at 31-3 for the season and captured its first state title since 2002. Nick was understandably emotional after the big win. Congratulations, Nick.

Over in the Pennsylvania state finals, junior PF Jonathan Baldwin scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Aliquippa Quips secure back-to-back WPIAL Class AA titles. The 73-69 win over Jeannette was the Quips fourth title in five years. That's some kind of high school program. Congratulations, Jonathan.

Want more? SoCalWarrior's blog over on MUScoop has a video of 2007 commit Scott Christopherson via Wishoops.net. The kid can really shoot.


MORE PREP SCHOOL RECRUITS TO COME
And while the three fellas above are all high school players -- Tom Crean sees plenty of value in targeting prep school kids as well.......and will keep going the prep school route in the future. The Norwich (CT) Bulletin ran a feature story about prep schools and focused on the benefits the student-athletes gain from the extra year. Here's what TC had to say:

"They're products of where they come from," Marquette coach Tom Crean said. "The ability to lock in and have the college feel for a year -- to stay organized, stay really on par, to know what's expected of them -- is just a bonus. It's like giving an automatic red-shirt.

"That's what a lot of prep schools do. That's why we're going to keep recruiting them heavily."

Sounds good to me, especially given the success TC has had with prep school recruits (Townsend, Cubillan, and Hayward). And if recruiting more prep school kids means fewer JUCOs -- that can only help the Marquette program.

Recruit Report: Jordan Theodore, Nick Williams, Patrick Hazel and Jonathan Baldwin

• Jordan Theodore, one of the top PGs on the East Coast in the class of 2008 and a key target for Tom Crean, led his Paterson Catholic squad to an 86-52 victory over Pompton Lakes last night. Theodore had 16 points. The box score is here.

• Looks like the season is over for MU signee Patrick Hazel -- his Blair Academy squad fell in double OT last night to Hun (Princeton). Hun is led by former MU target and St. Joe's signee Idris Hilliard. Hazel had 10 points last night.

• Nick Williams, a talented 2G from Mobile who commited to MU last summer, led his top-ranked LeFlore Rattlers to a convincing 63-47 win over the second-ranked Opelika Bulldogs on Wednesday night. Williams led LeFlore with 19 points. LeFlore (29-3) plays in the Alabama 6A South Regional final this afternoon against No. 4 Enterprise High School. Good luck, Nick!

• Meanwhile junior Jonathan Baldwin's Aliquippa Quips square off against Monessen in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL playoffs tomorrow at 2:30pm EST. Good luck, Jonathan!

2008 Recruiting: Jordan Theodore and Jonathan Baldwin

A couple of updates for you ---

• 2008 MU target Jordan Theodore of Paterson Catholic in New Jersey has a big game this weekend - the semifinals of the Passaic Count Tourney. This article from NorthJersey.com offers pretty good detail on Justin's game. According to the article, the 6'0" point guard is hearing from Marquette, Gonzaga, Virginia, Seton Hall and Memphis.

• Marquette has also offered super talented 6'6" forward Jonathan Baldwin of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. Baldwin is a two-sport high school star (he's terrific on the gridiron), and has already received a scholarship offer from Marquette per a report in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Per this Yahoo sports report, Baldwin is leaning to basketball over football for now -- and "Marquette is the school that stands out right now.....I used to watch them play all the time when 'D' Wade was there. They started to recruit me early and then they eventually offered me."

MU already has a 2008 commitment from 6'4" Nick Williams. a talented 2G from Mobile, Alabama.