NCAA Basketball: Predicting best player from top 2021 recruiting classes

By Ian Mumm | Aug 14, 2021

Mar 21, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Oklahoma State Cowboys guard Cade Cunningham (2) yells from the sidelines during the second half in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament against the Oregon State Beavers at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /

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NCAA Basketball Shaka Smart Ebony Cox/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via USA TODAY NETWORK /

19. Marquette Golden Eagles

Recruiting Class: Stevie Mitchell, Emarion Ellis, David Joplin, Keeyan Itejere, and Kameron Jones

The dropoff from the Markus Howard era has started off steeply for Marquette. A 13-14 record on the year was filled with some positive moments, including a pair of wins over top-10 teams, but littered with disappointing ones.

These results were made even more shocking with the arrival of a pair of top-100 recruits, Dawson Garcia and Oso Ighodaro, in the offseason and star guard D.J. Carton from Ohio State. The potential for this team to put something special together was all there, but things didn’t pan out that way.

As a result, head coach Steve Wojciechowski was let go and the Golden Eagles hired Texas coach Shaka Smart. The coaching change has caused a large portion of the roster to seek other homes for next season and created a very young team in its place. There are 10 players either under “Freshman” or “Redshirt Freshman” status going into next season with plenty of room to sort out who will crack the starting lineup.

Coach Smart still managed to assemble a top-20 recruiting class to rebuild next year’s roster. Needing to bolster nearly every position on the floor, Smart pulled in a good mix of guys to find the optimal rotation: Stevie Mitchell, Emarion Ellis, David Joplin, Keeyan Itejere, and Kameron Jones. With only two players returning from next year’s roster averaging more than 6.0 PPG, the backcourt is a major area of concern to fix before the games start.

Smart’s best option is point guard Stevie Mitchell to build this team back up from the depth’s of the Big East conference. Mitchell, named Pennsylvania’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2020-21, is a high-level scorer and standout defender. He possesses great change-of-pace running the offense and has a mature skillset to help elevate Marquette’s young offense.

This team will need a steadying force to help propel them forward and Mitchell’s weapons will be a nice third piece to pair with transfers Darryl Morsell (Maryland) and Kur Kuath (Oklahoma).

Prediction: Stevie Mitchell

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