News and Notes on Marquette Hoops

UPDATED

Marquette Madness is just three days away and the intensity for the program is building. Here are a few updates for your Tuesday morning.

The Marquette Tribune takes an in-depth look at the university's financial commitment to the men's basketball program. The article is laden with facts and figures -- and be sure to click on the informative graphics which provide useful detail about the expenses associated with Division I athletics. A corollary to this article is our blog on the topic from earlier this year, which are reflective of my comments in today's Tribune piece.

In other news, Andy Katz did a story on Marquette. It's all about how Marquette is tabbed in the fourth tier but the team continues to overachieve. Mark it down now... MU finishes 5th-7th in the BE, makes the tournament, and loses their first game (probably on a last second shot, dammit).

Marquette has unveiled episode 7 of their Marquette Revealed series. This one looks at Boot Camp and it's the best one yet.

On the recruiting front, star shooting guard D'Angelo Harrison will announce his decision on Thursday per ZagsBlog. The timing is curious from a Marquette perspective -- Harrison was (is?) scheduled to visit for the Madness festivities this weekend.

Moving on to another 2011 target, reports indicate that highly coveted shooting guard Nick Faust has eliminated Marquette and will decide between Villanova, Maryland and FSU later this month.

Regardless of the decisions Faust and Harrison make, the primary need for the program in 2011 remains acquiring talented size across a number of positions, not necessarily more guards. Buzz appears to be on track to meet that need that to this point.

As far as we know 6'8" Texan Jarion Henry is still considering MU, along with 6'8" combo forward Mike Shaw and 6'9" post man Trey McDonald, among others. Earlier reports had all three of these guys at Madness later this week, along with a few underclassmen. While not scheduled to be at Madness, MU is recruiting 6'7" wing Rodney Hood as well. Hood visited MU earlier this month.

In the category of "that.....was....awesome" former MU coach and class act Hank Raymonds visited the Warriors last night.

Rivals shows the love for Jimmy F. Butler, slotting him in as the nation's 27th best player. I'm sure he'll get a plaque for that.