Most Important MU Recruits Ever

[Coleman]

Everyone forgets Wade was hardly recruited at all. Only other schools interested were Illinois State and DePaul. Definitely one of MU's most important PLAYERS ever but not a particularly big recruit.

When I think of biggest recruits I think of significant signings of high school players that changed the way MU was perceived vis a vis its ability to recruit. Landing Wesley Matthews, who was Wisconsin's Mr Basketball and a son of a UW alum turned NBA player, was a HUGE coup in the mid 2000s.

[wadesworld]

Everyone forgets Wade was hardly recruited at all. Only other schools interested were Illinois State and DePaul. Definitely one of MU's most important PLAYERS ever but not a particularly big recruit.

When I think of biggest recruits I think of significant signings of high school players that changed the way MU was perceived vis a vis its ability to recruit. Landing Wes Matthews, who was Wisconsin's Mr Basketball and a son of a UW alum turned NBA player, was a HUGE coup in the mid 2000s.

Yeah, my question was more in terms of looking back.  Maybe I should've worded it as "What MU players have had the biggest impact on the course of MU's program."

[Coleman]

Yeah, my question was more in terms of looking back.  Maybe I should've worded it as "What MU players have had the biggest impact on the course of MU's program."

Gotcha. Yeah that is a different question for me. Wade is definitely in that conversation.

[dgies9156]

My five:

1) George Thompson -- Without George and the stream he started, we would have been Creighton East. Thompson lifted us into the big times and started the procession of greatness for more than decade.

2) Jim Chones -- Chones was Marquette's first superstar. We crossed a plain into the very best with Chones and the result was getting folks like Bo Ellis, Butch Lee, Maurice Lucas and others.

3) Dwyane Wade -- Dwyane was more than a basketball player. He defined Marquette as a place willing to take a chance on someone. As others have said, he didn't qualify right away and was not highly recruited. We tried and we won big. Dwyane will be an ambassador for MU all of his life.

4) Doc Rivers -- The only really good "get" of Hank Raymonds tenure. We sucked in those days but Doc's impact as an NBA Coach and Trustee of the University was enormous.

5) Tyler Kolek -- Yes, Tyler Kolek. Our resurgence under Coach Shaka is in no small measure due to Mr. Kolek's presence and ability to run our offense. Without Mr. Kolek, would we be where we are today? I wonder, because it took the right temperament to run Shaka's offense and Tyler did it.

[swoopem]

After Hank took over did he continue to try and recruit New York?

[Goose]

Dgies

I said two years ago that Kolek will be the post Al version of George Thompson. He will be the guy we remember for getting the program rolling again.

[BCHoopster]

After Hank took over did he continue to try and recruit New York?

Hank recruited Sam Worthen and Artie Green but missed on Scooter McCray

[dgies9156]

Hank recruited Sam Worthen and Artie Green but missed on Scooter McCray

Wasn't Sam from Chicago and Artie from Memphis?

[BCHoopster]

No Michael Wilson was from Memphis.

[Lennys Tap]

My five:

1) George Thompson -- Without George and the stream he started, we would have been Creighton East. Thompson lifted us into the big times and started the procession of greatness for more than decade.

2) Jim Chones -- Chones was Marquette's first superstar. We crossed a plain into the very best with Chones and the result was getting folks like Bo Ellis, Butch Lee, Maurice Lucas and others.

3) Dwyane Wade -- Dwyane was more than a basketball player. He defined Marquette as a place willing to take a chance on someone. As others have said, he didn't qualify right away and was not highly recruited. We tried and we won big. Dwyane will be an ambassador for MU all of his life.

4) Doc Rivers -- The only really good "get" of Hank Raymonds tenure. We sucked in those days but Doc's impact as an NBA Coach and Trustee of the University was enormous.

5) Tyler Kolek -- Yes, Tyler Kolek. Our resurgence under Coach Shaka is in no small measure due to Mr. Kolek's presence and ability to run our offense. Without Mr. Kolek, would we be where we are today? I wonder, because it took the right temperament to run Shaka's offense and Tyler did it.

Regarding #2

I disagree. Dean Meminger was our first superstar. He and Kareem were the only two players to make All City in New York four times. If they would have had ratings back then he would have been top 10 (maybe top 5) out of high school.

[Dickthedribbler]

Wasn't Sam from Chicago and Artie from Memphis?

Sam Worthen and Artie Green were both from NYC. Sam was somewhat of a playground legend at the time.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Sam Worthen and Artie Green were both from NYC. Sam was somewhat of a playground legend at the time.

Mandy (NJ) and DJ. Note the Big East started in 1979 and changed everything recruiting wise for MU.

[PJDunn]

Mandy Johnson has to be a top 5 recruit. Put him alongside Pops Simms with Kerry Trotter on the wing and you had pure magic!!

[Jockey]

Anyone on here actually see George play?

Yes.

My dad took me to see him when I was a little kid. He was great (but only the 3rd best player on the court that night).

[Jockey]

Mandy (NJ) and DJ. Note the Big East started in 1979 and changed everything recruiting wise for MU.

DJ was from NYC, but played high school ball in Wisconsin.

[Not A Serious Person]

Biggest missed recruit? Jeenathan Williams('s neck)

Joe Wolf ... this 1983 miss defined 1980s MU basketball

[79Warrior]

Joe Wolf ... this 1983 miss defined 1980s MU basketball

I think the last minute switch by Scooter was a killer.

[Shooter McGavin]

As I understand the question I would rank them:

1. Brute Force
2. Wade
3. Ellis
4. The Class of 1990
5. The Three Amigos

The stories of Oso, F 'Em, O-Max, Kam, and crew are still being written. Could easily find themselves in the top 5 when it is all said and done.

Agreed with the whole post and especially with your last paragraph.

[Shooter McGavin]

TAMU

Shaka retaining everyone, aside from Omax,  might end being the most important recruiting job ever.

Agreed as well.

[muwarrior69]

For me it was not a player, but a coach:

https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/sports/2021/02/24/taking-a-look-back-at-the-hiring-of-al-mcguire#:~:text=Orford%20had%20met%20with%20Frank,stayed%20at%20the%20Pfister%20Hotel.

[MU82]

Scoop would have been thrilled in 1964 when Marquette announced the hiring of a guy who had just gone 13-39 in his last two seasons at Belmont Abbey and who thought MU was in Chicago.

[Dr. Blackheart]

DJ was from NYC, but played one year of high school ball stashed in Wisconsin with a MU Accounting professor

FIFY

[Goose]

Dr. B

DJ lived with one on the the most important guys in the program. That professor played a very big role in the program’s history.

[Dr. Blackheart]

On today's date in 2007, Warrior legend Pat Smith passed away of a heart attack at the age of 60 while exercising on a treadmill in his suburban Baltimore home.

“Pat Smith… was the first guy I ever recruited for Marquette,” recalled Al. “I remember I watched him playing on a blacktop in Harlem. He had a good cut above the eye and he didn’t leave the game. He was wearing a sailor’s hat. I said, ‘I gotta start out at Marquette and we need tough guys.’ That’s how I got Pat Smith. That’s how the merry-go-round started. I’m a chain recruiter. Pat Smith led to George Thompson. He led to Dean Meminger… It was a style.”

“The first player McGuire recruited for Marquette was 6'3" Pat Smith out of Harlem," confirmed Sports Illustrated's Curry Kirkpatrick, “a center who could not see and could not shoot, but who used what talents he did have to acquire a distinguished nickname, The Evil Doctor Blackheart."

“Another coach said to me,” Al continued, “‘What do you want Pat Smith for? You can get a hundred Pats,' but it worked out. He's always been my favorite, I guess, and in his own standoffish way I think he's been the leader of the black athletes here-- maybe by strong-arming them, come to think of it."

“He was 6'3", but he played at the 6'10" level," said Thompson, one of Smith’s dear friends. “Fear and intimidation was not in his vocabulary."

A fan favorite for his hustle and hard-nosed play, Smith may not have been an accomplished shooter, but he was a fierce defender and tenacious rebounder who still holds Marquette's single-game record for rebounds after he corralled 28 against Loyola of Chicago on February 8, 1967.

“I remember that game clearly," said Thompson. “He cleaned up like a Hoover vacuum. He cleaned up all the loose change. When we saw the stat sheet afterward, no one was surprised."

As a sophomore, Smith served as Marquette's starting center during the '66-'67 season, when he averaged 7.4 rebounds per game, just behind Brian Brunkhorst's team-leading 7.5, while chipping in 5.8 points per contest.

Smith helped lead Marquette to a 21-9 record that year, marking the program’s first 20-win season under Al.

As a junior on Al's '67-'68 squad, which was ranked as high as 8th by the AP, Smith averaged 8.4 rebounds per game, again just one-tenth of a rebound shy of the team leader, Thompson, who pulled down 8.5 per contest.

Smith also scored 8.8 points per game that season while hitting 59% of his field goals to help Marquette improve to 23-6, marking the first back-to-back 20-win seasons in Warrior history.

The following season, however, Smith was suspended by Al for the first semester of his senior year after failing to show up for Marquette’s season-opening practice.

Smith played in just four games during the ‘68-‘69 campaign before choosing to forego the rest of his senior season, which saw Al’s Warriors go 24-5 to finish the year ranked 14th by the AP.

When Smith graduated from Marquette in May of 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Al beamed, "I couldn't be prouder. I'm prouder of this than I was of winning the NIT. It's the finest accomplishment I've had in basketball. We did our thing together. Marquette stuck with him and did a lot for him. And he did a lot for us. It's a push."

“I never really had any doubts that I'd finish up (with my degree)," said Smith. “I really don't know if I'd have made it without Al though. There was never a time I couldn't speak to him, and he was constantly talking ‘degree, degree’."

Smith was a rags to riches story, growing up in abject poverty in the ghettos of New York City.

“I had never met Pat, and Al sent me to Chicago to pick him up," recalled Hank Raymonds. “It was the first time Pat had three meals in a day. He got sick the next day. He came from a lot of poverty. But he worked hard. He was Al's pet. Al really liked him a lot and was proud of what he accomplished."

In fact, after leaving the Warrior locker room to go back onto the Omni court and accept the 1977 Championship trophy, Al passed Smith and warmly shook hands with him to complete the circle.

“Pat," smiled Al. “You started it all, Pat."

Smith enjoyed a successful career in law enforcement and retired from the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commission in 2003.

“He had a bad heart but was given a clean bill of health," said a somber Thompson, who grew up with Smith in New York City, upon his friend’s passing.

"McGuire understands our background and environment, and he forces us to remember," Smith once remarked. “He keeps reminding us we have nothing to go back to and he's right. Men from the ghetto shape up here."

Indeed.

Rest in peace, Pat.

https://www.facebook.com/100042580727207/posts/pfbid0355CeV6RGUK4qULRnwZMPTVSFhWdSvTFvSB6yA4HbZrX8ViouSWj2AsnRwME7wVyDl/?mibextid=cr9u03

[BLWarrior91]

Joey Hauser… without him Wojo might still be here.

Love this one!