JaJuan Johnson Picks Marquette

Heavily recruited wing scorer JaJuan Johnson from Southwind Prep in Memphis has verbally committed to the Marquette Golden Eagles, ending a tense recruitment. Alabama and Miami were the other finalists, and over the past few months Johnson also eliminated Florida, Texas, and Louisville from his list.

Johnson is rated as highly as #33 in the 2013 class by Scout and according to the Summer RSCI rankings is the #57 player in his class, giving Buzz Williams his third top-60 recruit for 2013, along with #52 Deonte Burton and #60 Duane Wilson. To put that in perspective, Marquette has only had 2 RSCI top-60 recruits (Vander Blue and Junior Cadougan) in the past 7 years.

Marquette's newest assistant coach, Isaac Chew, was reportedly the lead recruiter for Johnson, showing that Buzz's tenacity in bringing Chew to Milwaukee is already paying off. The Warriors have also secured verbal commitments from JUCO All-American Jameel McKay and New Mexico native John Dawson.

Johnson was originally touted as a long-range sniper, but has diversified his game in the past two years. He can now get to the rim and effectively uses his long, wiry frame. To succeed in the Big East, Johnson will likely need to add some muscle to his 6'5" 185-lb frame, but he was the leading scorer for the Bluff City Legends in the Nike EYBL league over the summer. His shooting is definitely something Buzz Williams' team could use as he displayed a high, quick release in the EYBL.

In other recruiting news, Marquette is hosting 6'11" center Joel Embiid this weekend. It will be an excellent opportunity for the young man to see Buzz in action as Marquette hosts George Mason for a scrimmage at the Al today. Embiid is close with Milwaukee Bucks forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who introduced Embiid to the game of basketball just over a year ago at his Basketball Without Borders camp in Africa. Embiid is also considering Florida, Kansas, Texas, and Virginia.