Guard sticking with commitment to MU
Shaka Smart is slowly piecing together the roster for his first season as head coach of the Marquette men’s basketball team.
Stevie Mitchell, a talented 6foot-2 guard from Wilson (Pennsylvania) High School, said after talking with Smart he is sticking with his commitment to the Golden Eagles.
Mitchell and Kameron Jones, a 6-4 versatile guard from Evangelical Christian High School outside Memphis, signed national letters of intent to play for then-MU head coach Steve Wojciechowski in November.
Both players were heavily recruited by former MU assistant Dwayne Killings, who became the head coach at Albany last month.
Wojciechowski was fired March 19 and Smart was hired a week later. The new head coach began reaching out immediately to current MU players and the three-member recruiting class of Mitchell, Jones and Jonas Aidoo.
Even though Mitchell and Jones were signed to MU, Smart couldn’t visit them in person due to the NCAA’s recruiting dead period. But Smart quickly developed a rapport with them via phone and virtual conversations.
Jones seemed fired up to play for Smart, tweeting out a picture of himself in an MU uniform not long after Smart’s introductory news conference March 29.
But that same night the 6-11 Aidoo, who had committed to Wojciechowski but hadn’t signed his letter of intent, announced he was opening up his recruitment.
Mitchell was open about playing for Smart, telling the Reading Eagle last week: “I really do feel comfortable with Coach Smart. I feel he can help me be as good as I want to be. I’m looking forward to it.”
Then Mitchell told BVM Sports for a story published on Monday that “I am staying committed to Marquette.
I’ve been talking to Smart a lot recently and I’ve been getting to know him. He’s a really cool guy and really fun to talk to. Obviously he’s been a successful coach and he knows a lot about the game. So being able to learn from him is a great opportunity and I’m really excited to go to school there and get better on and off the court.”
Mitchell, who is very crafty around the basket, averaged 25.6 points this season for Wilson and scored more than 2,000 in his prep career. He also was recruited by Stanford, Villanova, Georgia Tech, Temple, Saint Joseph’s and Miami.
In an interesting development, Brookfield Central 6-7 forward David Joplin, who committed to Smart at Texas, asked to be released from his letter of intent with the Longhorns. Joplin had interest in MU before committing but was never offered a scholarship from Wojciechowski. Tamar Bates, a 6-4 four-star recruit signed by Smart at Texas, also asked out from his letter of intent.
The spring signing period begins April 14.
MU will have three scholarship slots available if all 10 of the returning scholarship players opt to come back.