Jeronne Maymon Picks Marquette

Madison Memorial prep superstar Jeronne Maymon will take his game to the Big East Conference starting in 2009. The 6'6" forward was courted by many big-time college programs over recent months, but will stay in-state with the Golden Eagles, who Maymon says guaranteed him a starting spot when he arrives on campus.

Maymon's comments from this morning's press conference indicated that two factors drew him to Marquette: the ability to be a playmaker in new coach Buzz Williams' offense and the close location to his hometown. Considering how vocal Maymon's father, Tim, has been in the entire recruitment process, that is no surprise. Everyone will be watching to see if that proximity helps or hinders Jeronne.

Tim Maymon said recently that Jeronne nearly committed to Baylor right away after receiving his first scholarship offer in December. Previous chatter from the father seemed to imply Iowa State and Baylor had the edge, based on what they were "offering," possibly alluding to playing time. Even after the offers came in from some more prestigious colleges, after last week's visit to Marquette, Maymon was ready to make his final choice. So, in the end, his family did seem to have a big vote in where he attended. Jeronne's mother applauded the decision to stay close to home rather than ship out to USC, praised her son's mental toughness and now looks forward to a less hectic home.

Maymon sets Marquette up quite well to remain strong at the wing positions in the coming years. With the return of Jerel McNeal, the Big 3 of McNeal, Dominic James and Wesley Matthews will all ride off into the sunset after the 2008-09 season. Maymon and fellow 2009 recruit Erik Williams would appear to have the forward positions set, providing depth and star power behind the 2008 class that includes JUCO wing Joseph Fulce. Unlike the Badgers, the Golden Eagles still have three scholarships to hand out for Maymon's freshman season. One of those will likely go to Milwaukee Bay View guard Johnnie Lacy.

Today's announcement means that Wisconsin and Marquette continue to battle for the rights to the Madison Memorial pipeline. Both programs have one former Spartan on the current roster and another verbally committed. Other former Memorial players have wound up at North Dakota State and various state schools, including Jerard Ajami, who will attempt to walk-on at UW-Milwaukee after starring at D-2 doormat Northern Michigan.

Now all Maymon has to do is hit the books.

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Since Madison Memorial players are the topic of the day, it's worth mentioning that UW commit Vander Blue had a nice weekend in Nashville's big AAU tournament. Blue teamed with slim Chicago point guard Anthony Johnson to lead the Illinois Warriors to a win the 16U championship at the Nike Memorial Day Classic. Each player totaled 39 points in the two final games of the tournament.

Now that Blue is a known commodity on the travel team circuit, look for more comments like the following analysis from Rivals.com:

"Blue is a well built and athletic guard who hits the boards with a vengeance and has a feel for making plays off the dribble. Johnson is a slick ball handler and scorer but doesn't have the physique and athleticism of Blue."

Must be nice to be Memorial head coach Steve Collins.

Despite the high praise for Blue, Rivals still is showing no love for Wisconsin's incoming group of recruits. The Internet recruiting website did not list the Badgers among its revised Top 30 Recruiting Classes for 2008. Just based on sheer size (5) of the class for a reigning conference champion, I was thinking maybe Wisconsin would get a mention, as some other programs in recent years. However, the "almighty" 5-star recruits appear to be driving these rankings.

Boasting two 4-stars, two three stars and one relative unknown (Evans), there is no doubt in my mind that even on paper Wisconsin's 2008 class is better than USC's (#20) and Duke's (#27) and equal to Kentucky's (#21) at a bare minimum.

Removed the following prospects from the recruiting sidebar:
: : : Class of 2008
C Kyle Rowley, Lake Forest IL {reclassified & signed w/Northwestern}
: : : Class of 2010
G Lenzelle Smith, Zion IL
PG Lavonte Dority, Chicago IL [+] [+] [v]
PG DeAndre McCamey, Chicago IL
PG Kenny Stevenson, Chicago IL
SG Flavien Davis, Milwaukee WI
SG Alex Rossi, Winnetka IL
F Cody Larson, Sioux Falls SD
F Chip Rank, Cedarburg WI
SF Marquis Mason, Madison WI
C Paul Bunch, Chicago IL
PF Calvin Godfrey, Milwaukee WI
PF Fred Heldring, Winnetka IL
PG Josh Gasser, Port Washington WI