Marquette Basketball: Takeaways from Golden Eagles so far in 2020-21 season
By Max Marmitt
4. Among a great Marquette recruiting class, Justin Lewis is a diamond in a rough in ESPN’s 2020 Top 100 recruits
While Steve Wojciehowski has received a sizable share of criticism over the course of his time at Marquette, it’s undeniable how great of a recruiter he’s been. His 2020 highest ranked recruit is McDonalds All-American 6’11” Dawson Garcia, who chose Marquette over Indiana, Baylor, Wisconsin, Arizona, Kansas, Minnesota (his home state) and many others.
Another recruit in Marquette’s 2020 class is a promising long term prospect is Arizona native 6’9″ Oso Ighodaro, who chose Marquette over Texas, Vanderbilt, and Stanford.
The last recruit I have not mentioned is Baltimore native 6’7″ Justin Lewis. Ranked 71st in the ESPN 100 as a 4-star recruit, Lewis has definitely outperformed that ranking as he proved he was one of the best sleepers in the entire rankings. Making an instant impact since game one, Lewis has been a beast for Marquette.
Marquette nation started to realize how special Lewis was in the first three games, but his official breakout performance came in game #4 where he went for 18 points (6/10 from the field, 2/3 from three), eight rebounds, and two blocks, highlighted by a buzzer-beating tip in against Wisconsin.
As great as Justin Lewis has been, Dawson Garcia has lived up to his hype so far as he also been a super impactful player for the Golden Eagles. Both players are very crucial pieces to Marquette’s rotation and have looked fantastic. Lewis has had a couple games where he’s looked his age, but nonetheless Marquette is usually at their best when he is on the floor. Garcia took a couple games to adapt to college basketball’s physicality, but he’s clearly been a stud, with 6 games scoring double figures and five games with 8+ rebounds.
Both players are legitimate NBA prospects, but it’s not unrealistic that they stay at least 1 more year at Marquette. Coming into Marquette, there was talk of Garcia’s potential as a lottery pick. With the way Lewis has played so far to go along with a 7’3″ wingspan, the consensus is that he could be an NBA draft pick in the next couple years.
As former Marquette star/NBA talent Jamil Wilson tweeted after the Wisconsin game, Marquette fans better enjoy Lewis while they can because he won’t be there long. One of the best Marquette Basketball twitter accounts “Paint Touches” (highly recommend following) agreed with Wilson’s take mentioning how he’s a next level athlete, amazing on the glass, and is a smooth shooter who can play big or small. Wilson added that day he’s only reached the surface: “huge potential, tremendous poise and not afraid of the moment.”
Oso Ighodaro has not been apart of Marquette’s rotation so far, but with Marquette in serious foul trouble against UCLA (even Bill Walton was appalled with the Marquette’s whistle that game), Ighodaro played a meaningful short stretch where he looked good on the defensive end (with a nice block).
According to his 247 sports page, he’s an “efficient midrange shooter who can take bigger defenders off dribble.” With three point range, he also “has plus vision for his position” and “impressive instincts as shot blocker and rebounder.”
247 Recruiting analyst Josh Gershon also included that he projects Ighodaro to fall into the “second round range” within the future. As Ighodaro becomes stronger and improves upon his weaknesses, he looks to have a high ceiling as a part of an already extremely talented recruiting class. Dawson Garcia has averaged 12.7 points and 6.7 rebounds, and Justin Lewis has averaged 8.3 points and 6.2 rebounds.