Traci Carter to MU!!!

[Pakuni]

The chance to play in the Big East was key in Carter picking Marquette, as was the chance to play with the Golden Eagles' strong recruiting class. There was also an assist given to the Marquette staff from an unlikely source, the Washington Wizards All-Star point guard -- and former Rivals.com No. 1 player -- John Wall.

"That played a big part in my decision," said Carter of the recruiting class he will join. "They have an All-American big in Henry Ellenson who is great on the court and Haanif Cheatham is very good too.

"When I was down there on my visit, my uncle Rasual Butler, who plays for the Wizards, was in town. I was talking to John Wall when I met up with him and my uncle and he confirmed for me that it would be a good situation because they had exactly what a point guard would want."

John Wall talking up Marquette?
Can't say I saw that one coming.

[lurch91]

Wojo drinks coffee, as much as he wants.

[StillAWarrior]

Eric Bossi rivals

Losing a four-star prospect during the second semester of his senior season isn't easy for any program to overcome. Marquette has not only managed the loss of Nick Noskowiak, they've very likely gotten better after adding four-star point guard Traci Carter on Tuesday.



Traci Carter is a big score for Marquette.
After missing the summer of 2014 with injury, the six-footer at Burlington (N.J.) Life Center returned to the floor with vengeance as a senior, becoming one of the most hotly recruited players on the board. Tuesday, he confirmed to Rivals.com that he would play his college ball for Steve Wojciechowski and his staff.

"They have a great staff," Carter told Rivals.com. "All of the staff were guards and they've been to the highest levels and they can help me develop. They are going to give me the opportunity to develop and also the education to go to the next level."

One of the quicker floor generals in the class of 2015, Carter is a guy who plays in attack mode more often than not.

A slick ball-handler, Carter loves to use his speed to attack ball screens and get downhill and into the teeth of the defense. Though he isn't huge, Carter is physically tough and a relentless competitor on both ends of the floor. He has playing style that is similar to All-Big 12 point guard Juwan Staten in that he loves to get to the rim but can also hit pull-up jumpers to keep defenders honest.

The chance to play in the Big East was key in Carter picking Marquette, as was the chance to play with the Golden Eagles' strong recruiting class. There was also an assist given to the Marquette staff from an unlikely source, the Washington Wizards All-Star point guard -- and former Rivals.com No. 1 player -- John Wall.

"That played a big part in my decision," said Carter of the recruiting class he will join. "They have an All-American big in Henry Ellenson who is great on the court and Haanif Cheatham is very good too.

"When I was down there on my visit, my uncle Rasual Butler, who plays for the Wizards, was in town. I was talking to John Wall when I met up with him and my uncle and he confirmed for me that it would be a good situation because they had exactly what a point guard would want."

The fifth member of Marquette's recruiting class, Carter is currently an unranked four-star prospect who will debut in the 2015 Rivals150 when it gets finalized next month. In addition to the five-star Ellenson and four-star Cheatham, the class includes Rivals150 big man Matt Heldt and versatile three-star shooting guard Sacar Anim.

This is awesome and makes me excited for the future.

[GGGG]

What's most important is that Wojo strings together successive classes.  If you look at teams that win consistently, they put together a string of classes that allow you to weather the storm of a guy leaving for the NBA, or a transfer or two.

Buzz's biggest problem started in 2011-12, when he had a class in Anderson, Derrick and Todd.  He followed that up with Steve Taylor, TJ Taylor and Jamal Ferguson.  So in those two classes, you ended up with three transfers, two guys who could best be described as role players, and Steve Taylor.

I'm not expecting Wojo to put together top 10 classes every year, but he is going to have to avoid that type of mess.

[cheebs09]

John Wall talking up Marquette?
Can't say I saw that one coming.

I think he was pretty good friends with DJO. Has he played on Team USA at all and knows Wojo that way?

[willie warrior]

Kentucky North!

Duke of the Midwest!

[GooooMarquette]

Eric Bossi rivals

A slick ball-handler, Carter loves to use his speed to attack ball screens and get downhill and into the teeth of the defense. Though he isn't huge, Carter is physically tough and a relentless competitor on both ends of the floor. He has playing style that is similar to All-Big 12 point guard Juwan Staten in that he loves to get to the rim but can also hit pull-up jumpers to keep defenders honest.

I like the sound of that...especially the "physically tough and a relentless competitor" part.

[Lennys Tap]

They have 28 shooting guards in their top 100, so 36th would place him somewhere in the 120 range, I would guess.
His overall grade (80) might place him a bit higher, given that the players ranked 90-100 all have overall grades of 81.

Either way, he, like Carter, seems to be rising in stature.

Great news!

[forgetful]

I think he was pretty good friends with DJO. Has he played on Team USA at all and knows Wojo that way?

Our coaching staff has a ton of respect at the next level.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Great week for Marquette.  We haven't had a lot of them the past two seasons, but the future looks extremely bright.

[Dave Krupinski]

Great get for you guys. He's gonna be a solid 4 year starter for you.

[Marquette_g]

[Daniel]

Welcome to Marquette, Traci!
Congrats to Wojo and his staff. A great get!

[onepost]

Wow, Wojo calculates every last detail of his recruiting approach.  Coordinating a visit (some luck with the Wiz in town but certainly in the back of his mind) with Traci's uncle and having someone like John Wall pimp Marquette??  Would've never guessed that - so cool.  Behind Henry, I think Traci is definitely the biggest "get" for us all year, and I'd expect to see him and Duane starting in the backcourt.

I definitely feel like (and this is one guy's opinion), while Wojo has gotten some stud players and that in itself is crucially important, there's always a little more foresight going into it.  He immediately locked up Noskowiak and went out to get Wally knowing full well how important those connections were to landing Henry.  He made it a point to get the best players in Wisconsin (aside from Diamond) in Henry, Nick, Heldt to "put a fence" around Wisconsin when it comes to top recruits here going forward (a guy like Sam Hauser).  While other schools like Minnesota, Wisco, St. Johns, Miami were intrigued but hesitant to pull the trigger on Sacar Anim, Wojo quickly evaluated him and showed his faith by being Sacar's first big offer.  You have to think that leaves a positive impression with Sacar's good friend and big-time Wojo target Amir Coffey in next year's class.  Then you get to Traci Carter, and I am beyond thrilled he's now in the fold, but Buzz unnatural carnal knowledgeed us in Philadelphia ever since the D.J. Newbill fiasco (Buzz was pretty much banned from recruiting there at all), and now Wojo comes in and blows everyone away with his recruiting of Traci.  Now a fantastic recruiting area has reopened for us to go along with a great player.

Wojo - mad genius.

[willie warrior]

Yes! Congrats to Wojo and staff. Hope the kid turns out to be a good one.

Wojo can recruit. Keep it rolling for the next class.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Who wins a pickup game today?

Vets: Luke, Taylor, Cohen, JJJ, Duane

Frosh: Heldt, Henry, Haanif, Sacar, Carter

In all seriousness, it will be nice to have some depth next year with Wally and whatever grad transfer(s) come aboard.  Should be a fun team to watch next year.

[Tums Festival]

Welcome to MU, Traci!

[tower912]

Wojo's closing continues to impress.    Welcome to MU, Mr. Carter. 

[goinUptown]

Recruiting consistently well is the single most important part of creating a winning college basketball program -- which of course you and everybody else here knows.

It is impossible to be anything but totally impressed with what Wojo has accomplished in that regard in the 11+ months he has been on the job.

Will he prove to be a great game coach? None of us can know that yet, but we all should be willing to give him a chance to grow into the position. I am on the Wojo bandwagon big-time.

Those who have spent much of the last few months savaging him have zero credibility.

Exactly right,  82!   Scoop has been enjoyable,  informative, and once again generally readable without those bloggers who couldn't help but disparage Coach Wojo,  and based primarily on false assumptions.

goinUptown (aka/AlsDisciple)

[MUWarrior4Life]

MU moves up in ESPN rankings from 12 to 9.

http://insider.espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/classrankings

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

MU moves up in ESPN rankings from 12 to 9.

http://insider.espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/classrankings

Old information. That was after Sacar committed. They don't have Carter listed yet. We will probably jump 2-3 spots once they add Carter to our class.

[willie warrior]

MU moves up in ESPN rankings from 12 to 9.

http://insider.espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/classrankings

Not sure how accurate this is. They show us with 4 recruits--we have 5.

[MUWarrior4Life]

i checked info earlier this morning, and it had MU at 11 after Amin signing. Within last hour, had +3 with move to  #9

[Pakuni]

Recruiting consistently well is the single most important part of creating a winning college basketball program -- which of course you and everybody else here knows.

It is impossible to be anything but totally impressed with what Wojo has accomplished in that regard in the 11+ months he has been on the job.

Will he prove to be a great game coach? None of us can know that yet, but we all should be willing to give him a chance to grow into the position. I am on the Wojo bandwagon big-time.

Those who have spent much of the last few months savaging him have zero credibility.

Has anyone else been thinking Wojo has been doing this great job of recruiting just to play mind games with the players already at MU?

[Lennys Tap]

Who wins a pickup game today?

Vets: Luke, Taylor, Cohen, JJJ, Duane

Frosh: Heldt, Henry, Haanif, Sacar, Carter

In all seriousness, it will be nice to have some depth next year with Wally and whatever grad transfer(s) come aboard.  Should be a fun team to watch next year.

In all seriousness, it would be pretty close.