Elliott signs letter of intent
Detroit guard is fourth to commit
Just over a week after announcing he had committed to join the Marquette men’s basketball team next season, Greg Elliott made his decision official. The 6-foot-3, 165pound guard from Detroit’s East English Village high school signed and submitted his national letter of intent on Wednesday, becoming the fourth member of head coach Steve Wojciechowski’s 2017 recruiting class.
“We are thrilled that Greg will be joining our basketball family here at Marquette,” Wojciechowski said. “He is a high-level athlete and versatile player who had a tremendous senior year. His future is very bright and we can’t wait to get to work with him.”
Elliott’s recruitment took off relatively late in the process thanks to a strong senior season that ended with him finishing fourth in Michigan’s Mr. Basketball voting. He averaged 28.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 52.0% from the floor. He also scored 40 or more points on three occasions. For his career, Elliott netted 1,376 points, the second-most in the history of East English Village’s basketball program.
With those strong numbers, Elliott drew substantial interest from Michigan State, Providence and Detroit Mercy in addition to Marquette. Elliott told the Journal Sentinel last week that Marquette’s family atmosphere and his friendship with Jamal Cain, a 6-foot-7 incoming freshman wing who is also from the Detroit area, put the Golden Eagles over the top.
“Obviously we had heard early in the high school season that he was having an outstanding school year and we had a chance to watch him play earlier in his high school season and really liked his competitiveness, his athleticism, his upside and potential,” Wojciechowski said. “I think all of those things made him really attractive to our program . ...
“Certainly he’s going to need to add strength and you don’t know how quickly guys respond to nutrition and the weight program, but once he does I think he’s got the type of versatility and athleticism to really help us.”
As part of the Golden Eagles’ 2017 recruiting class, Elliott and Cain will be joined at Marquette by Ikechukwu Eke, a 6-foot-9 forward from University of Detroit Jesuit High School, and Theo John, a 6foot-9 forward from Champlin Park High School in Minnesota. Elliott, Cain and Eke all went to high school in the Detroit area and played on the same AAU team.
“It doesn’t happen that often, but anything can happen in college recruiting,” Wojciechowski said of signing three players from the same AAU team.
Collectively, Elliott, Cain, Eke and John will all add size at their positions as well as athleticism — things the Golden Eagles lacked during the 2016-’17 season.
With Elliott in the fold, Marquette has 11 of its 13 available scholarships accounted for in 2017-’18.