Recruiting Targets Expected to Decide this Week

UPDATED

The three top names that we know about are all expected to announce their decisions this week. First, SG Rodney Hood will announce at noon on Wed, according to Zagoria. Further, Zagoria says Hood will choose from among Florida State, Mississippi State, Louisville, Marquette and Alabama. Hood is currently ranked as the #36 player according to RSCI. Scout analyst Evan Daniels doesn't even think we are in Hood's top 3, but of course he also says that he doesn't know what or when Hood is going to announce.

On Thursday, two more names will make their decisions official as well. Again, according to Zagoria, Nick Faust will take official to Villanova this weekend & announce Oct. 28. Maryland, FSU, Oregon State & Marquette also involved. Zags tips Alex Kline for the info. The 6'5 WG is the #32 player according to RSCI. Here's a fun mixtape to watch. MU is still considered in the running, but Villanova has been making a strong late push and Maryland has long been considered the front runner.

6'8 PF Mike Shaw from Chicago is also making his announcement on Thursdays. MU has been in the running, but whispers are out that the #50 player is expected to choose Illinois. Also here from the Sun-Times. There's an outside chance on this one, but don't get your hopes up. We'll believe Marquette is out of it when the final announcement is made by Shaw.

With all three of these players, there is enough information to either be optimistic or pessimistic depending on your general perspective. As a sometimes curmudgeon, it is a very real possibility that at the end of this week, none of these players will have decided to come play for Marquette. We believe in MU's chances, but the nature of the recruiting game means a team misses more than they make. However, I'm not really worried about the recruiting under Buzz, and certainly won't have any angst about the info this week.

Episode 9 of Marquette Basketball: Revealed

We've been critical of some of these, but this one was really enjoyable. This episode could also be titled "Buzz yells at Vander and Junior"




Other Quick Links

The East Coast Bias did Round Two of the BE Blogger Roundtable. This version had each blogger take a guess at the starting fives. Plus, there is also a Round Three, where each blogger talked about what happened during the offseason. In particular, Round three is well worth reading to get a feel for the league.

Rosiak took a look at the team one week in, including the Haunted Hoops scrimmage and a lot of good things to say about Reggie Smith.

Yet Another Basketball Blog predicts the Big EAST and places Marquette 7th.

Steve Novak made the Mavericks Roster (for now). Do great, Steve!

Rush The Court looks at 2010-1011 Impact Players from the Midwest, and has some nice things to say about Jimmy F. Butler.

Ray Floriani, contributor to Villanova By the Numbers, talked Four Factors (especially turnover margin) with Buzz Williams at the BE Media Day. I still can't decide if Buzz really doesn't know about the Four Factors, or if he's just playing the "Aw Shucks" routine.

Time waster extraordinaire. Busting the Bracket's 2011 Season Preview.

edit: Added Marquette Revealed and BE Blogger Roundtable
edit: Added further BE Blogger Roundtable